Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? #1-24 (2009-2011)
Written by Philip K. Dick
Artwork by Tony Parker
Colors by Blond
Letters by Richard Starkings
Published by BOOM! Studios
Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? originally started off a novel and soon had the film Blade Runner based on it. Fans of Blade Runner maybe taken aback at the contrast of the comic to the film adaptation. But still Tony Parker teamed up with Philip K. Dick’s original text to create a graphic novel version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This allows the combination of comic images and the original text to flow fairly well together. Dick’s writing remains the strength from the original source, but some may find the beginning issues heavy on narration and information. The text heavy sections can be forgiven as Dick eloquently works to build his world in these sections. The major changes that develop from the adaptation from novel to comic is Parker’s visuals in the work. Parker’s drawings with Dick’s writing presents a fair interpretation of the novel.
For those less familiar with the novel or film adaptation, the story of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? follows the character of Rick Deckard, bounty hunter of rogue androids, in a post-World War era San Francisco. The world of the comic shows a dying world covered in layers of radioactive dust. Rick’s world doesn’t have many animals, and humanity is fleeing to space colonies. Any human being left behind faces a bleak and grim state. Rick sets forth in this dying place to seek out and kill six rogue androids.
Parker’s artwork comes with choices to change certain aspects of the story’s imagery. One such choice is giving the setting a more gritty realism to it. The stark contrast of Blond’s gray colors against everything else really reveals the decaying state of the world. Rick’s character is not the action hero looking character played by Harrison Ford of Blade Runner nor is he quite the character from the novel. Rick has a worn down feeling to him, but he still shows signs of strength and endurance in his body. Less gritty takes on the imagery allows for the weight of the story to become apparent. The world is an ugly place and many unhappy events unfolded here. Parker does well to make the world an unwelcoming one.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? does its job fairly well as an interpretation of the novel. Parts have been changed from the prose of the novel. Nor does it have the cleaner world of the movie version. But the comic has much to offer for readers and can serve as a good introduction to the tale.
