This will take some ‘splaining. This is a series of 6 graphic novels based on the novel by Philip K. Dick that became the seminal movie Blade Runner. But the hit movie, weird as it was, was so different from Dick’s even weirder novel that it is usually said that his book “inspired” the movie. They are two different beings. There are far more currents and strange inventions in Dick’s story, and it is far more out of balance. But that offset between book and movie is nothing extraordinary. What’s extraordinary about these graphic novels is that they include *every word* of Dick’s book!
Graphic novels are usually cinematic and not literary. The only words are dialog, not descriptions. This weird graphic novel about a strange world has almost as many words as pictures. You are reading a novel and watching a movie at the same time. It is a great experience and I don’t know why there aren’t more novel-ish graphic novels like it. The story contains the original genius premise of a bounty hunter tracking down sociopathic robots nearly indistinguishable from humans, but there are other disturbing subtexts and sub stories. The art is great, too. The one downside: Regrettably, the graphic novel is divided into 6 slim booklets instead of bound into a single volume, forcing you to purchase all six for the full story.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Volume One, by Philip K. Dick (author), Tony Parker (illustrator) and Bill Sienkiewicz (illustrator)
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