Independent comic book publisher Boom! Studios has announced that they are releasing a new version of Philip K. Dick's classic novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This version promises to be considerably more faithful to the original than certain earlier adaptations. (Adaptations which I love, don't get me wrong, but Blade Runner* is probably more accurately described as "inspired by" rather than "adapted from.")
According to science fiction news blog IO9, this new version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? will "mix comic art with the original text" and "will include the full text of Dick's 1968 novel [...] alongside brand new sequential illustrations for something more than just illustrated prose."
I have to admit, I was a little puzzled by this description. It's not quite a comic book graphic novel, and not quite a book with lots of pretty pictures. The project is certainly ambitious - it will include all of the original text, and be released in 24 installments, one per month for the next two years. The first issue is set to be released in June.
Philip K. Dick's literary legacy has proved to be a gold mine for adaptations in the past 20 years, but I wish the industry would stray a little further into Dick's catalog for material.
* As much as I love Blade Runner, partly for nostalgic reasons, the Rotoscoped A Scanner Darkly is slowly edging up my personal list of favorite screen adaptations of Philip K Dick's works. And I don't think Minority Report gets the respect it really deserves.