Author: Philip K Dick
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Rating: WORTHY!
Art work by Tony Parker
Colors by Blond
Letters by Richard Starkings
Back in August of 2014 I blogged a review of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Dust to Dust which, when I first picked it up, I had thought was the graphic novel version of the Philip K Dick novel. It wasn't! Finally, though, I can rectify that. This actually is the GN version of the original novel. It's also book one is a series of at least half-a-dozen.
That other book I reviewed was by Chris Roberson, he of the iZombie series, and I do recommend it. The review of the actual novel which I did in 2013 is here. My review of the movie is here. I liked this graphic novel.
The story here is pretty much the same thing, of course, as the original novel, with San Francisco, where this is set, and the rest of the world is smothered under radioactivity after an appalling world war. Those who can afford it have moved off planet. The ones who are stuck behind are a sorry lot, buying expensive robotic pets because animal life, both wild and domesticated has been all but destroyed. But it's the robot humans, built ever more lifelike, which are the problem.
This novel concerns itself with six in particular, advanced versions which have escaped the colonies and arrived on earth. Rick Deckard, a well regarded android terminator is assigned the task of tracking them down, but things are not going to go as smoothly as they might, especially when he discovers problems beyond the one of merely finding and shooting them.
The creators of this took every word from the original and crammed it into this effort. It was an interesting decision, but not a wise one. The original book was not that good. I recommend the movie over the original, but if graphic is your métier, then you can do worse than this one. The art work was certainly up to the task, but sometimes it fought with the words. However, overall, I think it's a worthy read.
