Philip K. Dick

Tag Archive: Philip K. Dick

Black Lotus–Blade Runner anime continues in monthly comic series this week

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August 11, 2022

Review by C.J. Bunce

Last year Netflix delivered what Blade Runner creator Philip K. Dick would have flipped over–the futurism and dark beauty of Adult Swim and Crunchyroll’s Japanese and American half-hour anime series Blade Runner: Black Lotus. With a second season of the brilliant Blade Runner anime up in the air, Titan Comics is offering the next best thing. This week the TV series continues in the first issue of Blade Runner: Black Lotus–the monthly comic. This past May we previewed the comic here at borg.

So how does the comic compare to the TV series that made our annual best TV of the year, kick-ass heroines, and the Borg Hall of Fame?

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The Next Time I Die–Hard Case Crime goes sci-fi in new crime story

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August 5, 2022

Review by C.J. Bunce

It’s fun to both know what you’re getting and to get some surprises, too. That’s the case with Hard Case Crime’s latest novel, Jason Starr’s The Next Time I Die. It’s billed as a paranoid thriller, a mix of Philip K. Dick and The Twilight Zone. But the publisher is the home of classic crime novels, right? It so happens that not only is The Next Time I Die a retelling of sorts of a few PKD short stories, it’s a mix of a number of sci-fi tropes while pulling in a protagonist you might find in old crime stories like Rudolph Maté’s D.O.A., James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, and Vera Caspary’s Laura. All in, it’s a lot of fun.

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Black Lotus–Blade Runner anime continues in monthly comic series

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May 19, 2022

Even creator Philip K. Dick would be impressed with the futurism and dark beauty of Adult Swim and Crunchyroll’s 2021 Japanese and American half-hour anime series Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Is the mysterious drifter Elle a young woman with amnesia or a new type of replicant that can fool the Voight-Kampff test? What does it mean to be an android or cyborg with feelings and memories? Those were the questions asked in the series, and this summer the story continues in Titan Comics’ new monthly comic book, Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Get your first look at the covers for the first issue, a look inside, and a peek at Issue #2 below.

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Worlds of Exile and Illusion–Ursula K. Le Guin’s first trilogy of sci-fi/fantasy novels returns

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April 18, 2022

Review by C.J. Bunce

Is it possible Ursula K. Le Guin’s first novels were her greatest works of fantasy and science fiction? The author, one of both genre’s greatest contributors, revisited the “Hainish” world she created multiple times over the course of her 60 years as an American novelist The scope of these stories is grand and her writing style immediate and urgent. Is this a world of our own future, or of a future combined with other worlds? She keeps the possibilities open, something like Planet of the Apes. In three novels, Rocannon’s World, Planet of Exile, and City of Illusions–published from 1966 to 1967 in lengths that likely would be considered novellas today–she exhibits a deep understanding of all the important components of culture, while digging mercilessly into what traits best define mankind across time. The trilogy, re-issued with a new foreword as part of MacMillan Publishing’s Tor Essentials library under the title Worlds of Exile and Illusion, is now available here at Amazon. What does it take to be able to present brilliant fantasy and science fiction in a single vision?

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Rudow Can’t Fail–Arnett and Schamberger deliver a new sci-fi noir colonization world

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March 9, 2022

Review by C.J. Bunce

Fans of sci-fi noir have another world to dive into. It’s Jason Arnett and Rob Schamberger’s The Wave, a future world of colonization in the realm of Altered Carbon, Blade Runner, and Total Recall. The first novella of The Wave is Rudow Can’t Fail (available now here at Amazon), following a few days in the life of Mars colonist William Rudow, a “fixit” who falls for the wrong dame, the wife of a wealthy corporate executive.

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Tags: Altered Carbon, Blade Runner, Jason Arnett, Max Allan Collins, Michael Mammay, novellas, Philip K. Dick, pulp noir, Richard K. Morgan, Rob Schamberger, Rudow Can't Fail, Rudow Can't Fail book review, sci-fi noir, The Wave, Total Recall

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Blade Runner: Black Lotus–Animated series gets look and feel of Syd Mead’s original tech noir just right

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December 11, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

I’d wager even story creator Philip K. Dick would be impressed with the futurism and dark beauty of Adult Swim and Crunchyroll’s new Japanese and American half-hour animated series Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Is the mysterious drifter Elle a young woman with amnesia or a new type of replicant that can fool the Voight-Kampff test? What does it mean to be an android or cyborg with feelings and memories? Those are the questions asked in the first five episodes of the excellent new series, now streaming on Adult Swim and the Adult Swim app.

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Tags: Adult Swim, Alita: Battle Angel, Andres Guinaldo, Anna Silk, Arisa Shida, Best of 2021, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2019, Blade Runner 2032, Blade Runner animated series, Blade Runner anime, Blade Runner Black Lotus, Blade Runner Black Lotus series review, Blade Runner Black Lotus trailer, Brian Cox, Cartoon Network, Comic-Con @Home 2021, Cowboy Bebop, Crunchyroll, cyberpunk, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, future noir, Henry Czerny, Jessica Henwick, Josh Duhamel, Kenji Kamiyama, Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Misty Knight, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Ridley Scott, Rip Van Winkle, Samira Wiley, SDCC 2021, Shinichiro Watanabe, Shinji Aramaki, Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) and Kenji KamiyamaStand Alone Complex, Sleeping Beauty, Syd Mead, Takako Honda, tech-noir, The Matrix, The Most Dangerous Game, Titan Comics, Total Recall, Washington Irving

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The Simulated Multiverse–New book revisits fringe Philip K. Dick postulate that we all live in the Matrix

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October 29, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

Ancient philosophers have discussed the concept for millenia: What is the nature of life? Are we part of the plan of an architect of all things or do we have a say in our future? The latest exploration of this subject uses science fiction stories as analogies to these unanswered questions in The Simulated Multiverse, by Rizwan Virk. Virk skips over the scientific method to dabble in ideas of pseudoscience like Erich von Däniken or an episode of In Search Of…, blending bits of the history of science with the “what ifs” of a Dan Brown novel, James Rollins’ The Last Odyssey, or the Wachowskis’ The Matrix. It’s an interesting trip full of elements that are integral to understanding much of pop culture fiction. The book’s impetus is an obscure postulate by science fiction’s own Philip K. Dick, and the conversation interconnects everything from Sliders to Star Trek.

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SDCC @Home 2021–Futurism and tech noir enter a new era in first trailer for Blade Runner: Black Lotus

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July 24, 2021

Some of the best dystopian futurism in years came to a conclusion this year in the pages of Titan Comics’ Blade Runner 2019, the official comic book sequel to the cult classic 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. Co-written by Michael Green, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Logan, Blade Runner 2049, and Murder on the Orient Express, and prolific comics writer Mike Johnson (Batman, Star Trek, Transformers) with artwork from Andres Guinaldo (Nightwing, Justice League Dark), this year’s Blade Runner 2019 story arc found an ex-Blade Runner named Ash returning from the Off-World colonies to the rain-soaked future Los Angeles. A new Replicant will lead an animated series from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim this fall, taking Philip K. Dick’s Replicants into the untapped territory of the year 2032 in Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Check out the very Alita: Battle Angel-evoking series coming this fall in this first trailer, released at San Diego Comic-Con 2021 aka Comic-Con @Home this weekend:

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Get a crash course in cinematography and storyboarding in Blade Runner 2049: The Storyboards

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May 24, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

It’s been four years since the arrival of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi cult classic, Blade Runner, itself based on Philip K. Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Since then we’ve seen two looks behind the scenes of the film: a worthy tribute to the artwork behind the production with Blade Runner 2049 Interlinked–The Art and The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049, a more general look at the entire production. Fans of the Blade Runner franchise and anyone who has ever wanted to know how to storyboard an entire film are in for a treat with the next look at the production of the film, this time at the process of cinematography. Storyboard artists Sam Hudecki and Darryl Henley’s Blade Runner 2049: The Storyboards is a rare glimpse at all the storyboards for the film, a director and camera tool rarely released for any production. It’s out now and available here at Amazon from Titan Books.

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The Mitchells vs. The Machines–Good storytelling highlights Sony Pictures Animation’s latest visual spectacle

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May 2, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

Surprisingly great, surprisingly real, and surprisingly… current? Sony Pictures Animation, the studio that brought you Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse brings its latest and greatest animated film to Netflix this weekend. It’s The Mitchells vs. The Machines–a sci-fi, apocalypse, coming of age, story about a weird family that ends up being the last family on the planet to be exterminated from the planet by the very technologies humans are so addicted to. Gravity Falls creators Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe wrote and directed this story, a visually stunning spectacle reflecting life as we knew it in 2020… and may know it again, with contributions by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (both known for the LEGO movies and Into the Spider-verse). The themes are influenced by Tron and Tron: Legacy, National Lampoon’s Vacation, and the Terminator movies, leaning hard on the plot of Terminator: Genisys. It’s loud, colorful, crazy, and it gets family relationships just right, at least of the 21st century variety. It’s also the movie I was hoping for with The Incredibles 2.

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