Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Dick, P.K., 1968, Parker, T., 2009)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a novel was written by Philip K. Dick 1968, comic book adaptation by Tony Parker, 2009

If you are a fan of the movie Blade Runner, and even if you are not, you might know, that it is based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, written by Philip K. Dick and published in 1968. In 2009 Tony Parker took the story and turned it into a more faithful adaptation in comic form. While it has been a while since I've read the original book, I don't think the claim of this comic containing all of the text from the book is that far off. So that in mind, this is a valid option for reading the book, if you have not done so.

Rick Deckard wakes up from his slumber and coaxes his wife Iran to dial something nice from the mood organ instead of succumbing to a day-long depression before he leaves to work. Before taking off, he watches their sheep, feeling blue because it is artificial, a scam for keeping up appearances. They bought it after their real shep died. His mind on the hopes of getting a real sheep, Rick finally blast towards the police station, from where he is given a big bounty hunting job of taking down 6 Nexus-6 android models. Holden, the previous bounty hunter on the job, had managed to take down 2 of the group but was now breathing through tubes in the hospital.

Deckard's first stopping point is at Rosen Association's headquarters, where he is to give a Voight-Kampf test to a select group of subjects in order to see if it still is a viable solution to detect the androids. Rachel Rosen, the niece of the CEO Eldon Rosen is the first subject and is revealed to be an android. After detecting her, Deckard is satisfied, that despite the new model being remarkably good, they still lack the capacity for genuine or even faked empathy.

Elsewhere, J.R. Isidore, a radioactive mutated low IQ special not suited for colonization, finds he isn't living alone anymore in the big apartment building he has occupied. He finds a woman, Pris, living in one of the derelict rooms. While she seems scared, there is something odd about her and he decides she is special as her, not realizing she is an android on the run, waiting for her fellow androids, the  Batty's, to arrive.

The first Nexus-6 Deckard manages to take out has disguised as a soviet cop looking for working with the local police. After a close call with him, Deckard wonders if he should ask Rachel to help him like she offered, but decides it the best to go after his next target alone. Luba is working as an opera singer and as her voice is great, Deckard bemoans the loss of it. He is morally conflicted about his work after all, despite he knows what the androids did in order to get to Earth.

During the Voight-Kampf test, Luba manages to trick Deckard and calls in the police, who is actually another android, working in a shadow police complex filled with others like him. Another one of the bounties Deckard is after works there as well and as they have been cocky, they have even employed genuine humans, one of them being their bounty hunter, who later on helps him escape after realising the true nature of the place.

The more androids Deckard kills, the harder his moral dilemmas become. The resident philosophical religion of the era, Mercerism, is all about human struggle, empathy and sympathy. Each day, millions of people all over the world join in to experience Merecrism and how he tries to climb up an endless hill while being belted with rocks. At the apartment building of Isodore, Deckard has an epiphany of Mercer, who saves his life and tells him how he needs to do what he needs to do, no matter if it is morally wrong. And Deckard isn't even a hardcore believer in Mercerism.

In the end, the seasoned bounty hunter he is, Deckard takes out the rest of the androids relatively easily. He has retired 6 of them in a times span of 24 hours, but he doesn't feel good about it. He drives to the desert, reflecting on what he has done, feeling guilty about it, feeling like a murderer.  It all weighs upon him until he, miraculously, finds a toad thought of being extinct.

Giddy, he returns home, where he shows what he has found to Iran, who finds a hidden door from it, revealing it to be artificial. Feeling tired, Rick finally drags himself to bed, wanting just to sleep. There will be a new day tomorrow and the job is done. And Iran feels better about herself as well, now realising she knows more of herself, of Rick and of their marriage.

the big question Dick asks in the story is how you define humanity. His answer to this is empathy. Throughout the story, the androids show a genuine lack of it or even understatement on what it is. When pushed, they are more than willing to give up another android to survive. In the movie Blade Runner, the androids are capable of learning or at least understanding the value of life and what empathy means. Roy Batty, the charismatic leader of the ragtag group of replicants finally finds his humanity after Deckard has killed all of his companions and is about to die himself. In the book, this never happens as the androids have no respect for living beings and no grasp of empathy.

Mercerisms, the empathy-based new religion is especially something the androids are unable to understand. They see it as a scam, a trick humans are using to prove their superiority when in reality the empathy boxes of Mercerism are something that allows even the chickenhead like J.R. Isodore to connect with the larger human community and experience all facets of it. Every human collectively feels the loss of animal and human life, the destruction of nature to the level, that even the smallest living things are regarded with admiration and excitement. Almost everyone walks around with a book on animals in their pockets just so they can check the rarity level of animals and their price ranges.

But the androids in all their bodily and mental perfection can't understand any of that. They understand how they have been placed in a lesser position in existence, them being less valuable to most people than an ant, but they can't extend that beyond themselves. All things said and done, they don't have teams or communities, just opportunistic possibilities of survival, no matter what it takes. they feel no sorrow if their companions die nor would they understand why Deckard would feel conflicted about killing them.

There are big differences between the movie Blade Runner and the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The differences are so big, that while the basic story is similar, a hunter trying to capture his prey, you could re-adapt the book into a movie that is very different from Blade Runner. The setting would be similar, but the story and its conclusion could be vastly different from where Scott ended up with his own vision.

Like I said in the beginning, this comic book adaptation is a very direct take on the source material. If you want to experience the story in an illustrated manner, then this is a good pick. If you want to experience it just as words, then choose a book. Either way, it is a great dystopic story about what it means to be human. You might not agree with all Philip K. Dick thought about the matter, but it still is a thought-provoking piece of writing.