Philip K. Dick

Tag Archive: Philip K. Dick

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

Blade Runner Storyboards cover

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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Blade Runner Origins–Take a first look back before the 1982 movie today as new series begins

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March 10, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

Last year Titan Comics took fans of the Blade Runner movie franchise back to the future with the comic book series Blade Runner 2019 (reviewed here at borg). Both the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, the series expanded the franchise based on characters and settings created by Philip K. Dick. Then the series went back 20 years before the theatrical sequel in Blade Runner 2029. Now for the first time writers K. Perkins, Mellow Brown, and Mike Johnson, and artists Fernando Dagnino and Marco Lesko are taking the entire franchise–the canon stories and timeline–back before the original Ridley Scott movie in the series Blade Runner Origins. Dick’s universe is one of borgs called Replicants and those who hunt them, called Blade Runners. This is the story of the first Blade Runner, and we assume we’ll see another prequel one day about the creation of the first Replicants.

Check out our sneak preview of artwork from Issue #1 of Blade Runner Origins and 18 series variant covers below.

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Retro read–Philip K. Dick’s look at life in 1950s San Francisco, The Broken Bubble

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February 11, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

It’s always exciting to work your way through a Philip K. Dick novel for the first time. The singular futurist who created the worlds of Blade Runner, The Man in the High Castle, Minority Report, and Total Recall probably created his most spectacular characters, ideas, and fantastical places in the pages of his five volumes of collected short stories. His 38 novels are an up and down journey through a man who allowed his personal crises to seep in, and often obstruct his imagination. Most of these were science fiction novels, but his novels outside that genre are another matter. One of these, written around the year 1956 about a disc jockey in the changing streets of 1950s San Francisco, is The Broken Bubble, one of the closest and earliest read-alikes you’ll find from this author to the energy and twists of a Quentin Tarantino movie, in a compelling read that world pair nicely with a popular, more modern dramatic read like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

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Preview–Blade Runner lives on in third chapter of award-winning sequel

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January 15, 2021

Some of the best dystopian futurism in years comes to a conclusion in the third volume of Blade Runner 2019, the official 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), Blade Runner 2019 Volume 3–Home Again, Home Again finds ex-Blade Runner Ash returning from the Off-World colonies to the rain-soaked future Los Angeles.

Take a look at a preview of this new chapter in the Blade Runner story below courtesy of Titan Comics.

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Tags: Andres Guinaldo, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2019, Blade Runner 2019 Artist Edition, Blade Runner 2019 Volume 3--Home Again, Blade Runner 2019 Volume 3--Home Again Home Again, Blade Runner 2019 Volume 3--Home Again Home Again preview, Blade Runner Artist Edition Los Angeles, cyberpunk, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, future noir, Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott, Syd Mead, tech-noir, Titan Comics

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The 2020 Borg Hall of Fame

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December 21, 2020

It’s been another long year of great entertainment. It’s time for the eighth annual round of new honorees for the borg Hall of Fame. We have several honorees from 2020 films and television, plus you’ll find many from the past, and a peek at some from the future – 44 new borgs or updated variants in all, bringing the borg Hall of Fame total to 265.

You can always check out the updated borg Hall of Fame on our home page under “Know your borg.”

Some reminders about criteria. Borgs have technology integrated with biology. Wearing a technology-powered suit alone doesn’t qualify. Tony Stark aka Iron Man was named an honoree because the Arc Reactor kept him alive, not because of his incredible tech armor. The Spider-Man suit worn by Tom Holland is similar to Tony’s, but it’s not integrated with Peter Parker’s biology.

Also, if the creators tell us the characters are merely robots, automatons, or androids (as in Westworld, and as in the Synths of Star Trek: Picard, and the new Dark Troopers of The Mandalorian), we take their word for it. Again, integration is key, but in the Hall, once a member, always a member.

So let’s get on with it. Who’s in for 2020?

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Tags: 2020 borg Hall of Fame, 2020 borg Hall of Fame honorees, Admiral Delak Krennel, Aiolin Astarte, Altered Carbon, Altered Carbon: Resleeved, Anthony Mackie, April Wexler, Ashad the Lone Cyberman, Ashina, Beyond the Rim, bionisaurs, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2019, Blade Runner 2029, Bloodshot, Bloodshot KT, borg, Borg Hall of Fame, borg technology, borg tenth anniversary, borg.com Hall of Fame, Calvin Desautels, Captain Kligson, Captain Red, Chewbacca, Cratala, Cybermen, Cyberpunk 2077, Cyborg, Dante cyborg, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, Darth Vader comic book series, Dexter DeShawn, Doctor Aphra, Doctor Who, Dr Emil Harting, Dr Neela Sethi, Durge, Echo, Evelyn Parker, Ex Machina, Fennec Shand, General Grievous, Guy Pearce, Hugh borg, Icheb, Illyana Rasputin, Ivar Timewalker, Jackie Welles, Jaing Skirata, Jean-Luc Picard, Jimmy Dalton, Judy Alvarez, Karbin, Koren Shadmi, Lieutenant Keyla Detmer, Magnus Robot Fighter, Majik, Marvel Comics, MetalBeard, Ming-Na Wen, Misfire, Mon-Ark, Morit Astarte, Philip K. Dick, Plo Koon, Proto, Quellcrist Falconer, Raijin, Ray Garrison, Ray Park, Renee Goldsberry, Rexa Go, Rogue Amenderson, Russ Magnus, Sam Heughan, Samanthan Rutherford, Seven of Nine, Shadows of the Republic, Sharknado, Sleeves, Snoova, Star Trek Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Takeshi Kovacs, The Bad Batch, The LEGO Movie, The Mandalorian, The New Mutants, The October Faction, Titan Comics, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Valance, Valiant Comics, Vorten Fett, Yorinobu Arasaka, Zelig chip

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Blade Runner Artist’s Edition–A great noir take on the spin-off sci-fi series

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December 19, 2020

This year the Blade Runner movie franchise took fans into their past and future with the comic book series Blade Runner 2019 (review here at borg). Both the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, the series introduced a new Blade Runner, a female engineered cyborg named Ashina, or “Ash.” Earlier this month we previewed here at borg a new series featuring Ash ten years later in the pages of Blade Runner 2029. Coming next month, readers are in for a visual treat, as Titan Comics is releasing an Artist’s Edition of Blade Runner 2019: Los Angeles–the first volume collecting the first four issues of the series. Reproducing the pencil artwork of Andres Guinaldo without the overlaid inking and colors, this book provides a different reading experience, creating noir feel from a different angle. The result is gorgeous.

Check out our sneak preview of artwork from Volume #1 of the Artist’s Edition of Blade Runner 2019, courtesy of Titan Comics:

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Tags: Andres Guinaldo, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2019, Blade Runner 2019 Artist Edition, Blade Runner 2019 Artist Edition preview, Blade Runner Artist Edition Los Angeles, cyberpunk, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, future noir, Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott, Syd Mead, tech-noir, Titan Comics

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Blade Runner 2029–Sequel comics tie-in looks 10 years into the franchise’s future

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December 8, 2020

Just this past Fall, Titan Comics took fans of the Blade Runner movie franchise into their past and future with the comic book series Blade Runner 2019 (review here at borg). Both the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, the series introduced a new Blade Runner, a female engineered cyborg named Ash. Beginning next week readers will find Ash ten years later in the pages of Blade Runner 2029. With the ghosts of the Tyrell corporation always in the shadows, Ashina has a new mission, a personal one, and she decides to seek a lost target from her past.

Check out our sneak preview of artwork from Issue #1 of Blade Runner 2029, courtesy of Titan Comics:

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First look–New chapter begins for Blade Runner sequel/prequel

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September 23, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

It’s the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, giving fans of either or both a look into the world created by Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Blade Runner stories continue as Titan Comics looks to the parallel Earth future in Blade Runner 2019. The first nine issues introduced us to ex-Blade Runner Ash and Cleo, daughter of business magnate Alexander Selwyn. It’s now 2026. On returning to Los Angeles, Ash sleuthed out the location of Selwyn, but Selwyn knows Ash is after him, and has created a new Blade Runner. Of course the ghosts of Tyrell are always in the shadows.

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