Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? #1
Volume 1
Written by Philip K. Dick
Art by Tony Parker
BOOM! Studios
Release date: Issue #1 July 2009; Vol 1 December 1, 2009

By Kathulhu

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is adapted from the book by Philip K. Dick (which inspired the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner) and is presented in graphic form by BOOM! Studios. The art by Tony Parker is appropriately dark with muted coloring done by Blond, and the story follows the illustrations in a continuous panel-by-panel format. Warren Ellis provides an “introduction,” found at the end of the comic.

The future, as painted by Dick, is a bleak and desolate place. It is the year 2021 and the population on planet Earth has been decimated by a radioactive dust that is the byproduct of World War Terminus. Few people are left on Earth, as the majority of survivors have left to colonize other planets. Those who remain on Earth run the risk of being labeled as “biologically unacceptable” while emigrants to the off world colonies receive the android of their choice.

Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter working for the San Francisco police department and it’s his job to hunt down the rogue androids and “retire” them. Deckard dreams of owning a real sheep but he doesn’t make enough money at his current job to afford one. Real animals are rare but there is an obligation to own one or risk being looked down upon by his neighbors, so Deckard maintains the illusion by keeping an electric sheep. Deckard may get the opportunity he is looking for when he learns that the senior bounty hunter has been injured and it’s left to Deckard to hunt down the android responsible, a Nexus-6 model.

I have never read the Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? novel, although I have seen the movie and I find myself drawn to the graphic form because it gives me a different insight into Dick’s world. I want to know if the question posed by the title of the book is ever answered and I cannot wait to read the next issues.

I would recommend the graphic form of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to anyone, whether they’ve read the book or seen the movie, as another way of visualizing the story through the artwork.