Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner or just Blade Runner is a comic book adaptation of the film Blade Runner, published by Marvel Comics in 1982. It was written by Archie Goodwin with art by Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon with Dan Green and Ralph Reese.[2][3]
| A Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner | |
|---|---|
 Cover to Blade Runner #1, art by Al Williamson. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Publication date | 1982 |
| Main character(s) | Rick Deckard |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Archie Goodwin |
| Artist(s) | Al Williamson Ralph Reese |
| Penciller(s) | Al Williamson Carlos Garzon |
| Inker(s) | Al Williamson Ralph Reese Dan Green letterer Ed King[1] |
| Colorist(s) | Marie Severin |
| Editor(s) | Jim Salicrup |
Publication history
editWith a cover by Jim Steranko, the 45-page adaptation includes one possible explanation of the title's significance in story context: the narrative line, "Blade runner. You're always movin' on the edge."[4]
This was issue 22 of the Marvel Comics Super Special series of titles, which by this time only printed Marvel's movie adaptations. It was reprinted in a two issue mini series but without the feature content contained in the special.
In the United Kingdom, it was reprinted as the Blade Runner Annual published by Grandreams. Again, the feature content of the original special was not reprinted.[5]
In the Netherlands, a Dutch language version of this comic was printed by Junior Press.[6]
The mass market paperback was published in black and white and contains images from the film, it is one of the rarest Marvel Comics paperbacks.[7]
Plot
editThe comic followed the events of the film but attempts to fill in gaps in the script.
Reception
editAccording to author Lawrence Raw, the Marvel adaptation was poorly received and widely ridiculed as having bad writing and misquoted lines of dialogue from the film script.[8] Julian Darius of Sequart stated that "most movie adaptations aren’t great comics in their own right, and the Blade Runner adaptation’s no different" but also noted that "the adaptation is something of a mixed bag, but the more time one spends with it, the more one likes it."[9]
Editions
editOriginal single
edit| Name | Tie-in to | Pages | Publication dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner | Blade Runner (film) | 64 | September 1982[8][10] |
Reprinted issues
edit| No. | Title | Cover date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Blade Runner | October 1982[11] | |
| #2 | Blade Runner | November 1982[12] | Cover by Brent Anderson. |
Collected edition
edit| Title | Format | Material collected | Pages | Publication date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade Runner, Volume 1 | Paperback | Blade Runner #1–2 | 159 | 1982 | ISBN 9780939766109 |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "List for Ed King" (PDF). www.comics.org.
- ^ Carnevale, Alex (October 6, 2008). "Blade Runner Started, And Ended, As A Comic Book". io9. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- ^ Vincent, Brittany (January 31, 2017). "Going Beyond Blade Runner: The Media That Expanded the Universe". Syfy. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- ^ Torres Cruz, Décio (2014). Postmodern Metanarratives: Blade Runner and Literature in the Age of Image. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137439727.
- ^ Kerman, Judith B. (1997). Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Madison, Wisconsin: The Popular Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0879725105.
- ^ Blade Runner Filmspecial. Netherlands: Junior Press. 1982.
- ^ Weiner, Robert G. (2008). Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications: An Annotated Guide to Comics, Prose Novels, Children's Books, Articles, Criticism and Reference Works, 1965-2005. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 218. ISBN 978-0786425006.
- ^ a b Raw, Laurence (2009). The Ridley Scott Encyclopedia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-0810869516.
- ^ Darius, Julian (November 9, 2014). "When Marvel Comics Adapted Blade Runner". Sequart Organization. Archived from the original on June 13, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- ^ "Marvel Super Special #22". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Blade Runner #1". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Blade Runner #2". Grand Comics Database.
External links
edit- Blade Runner at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Blade Runner at the Grand Comics Database