On the Edge of Blade Runner

Looking for the perfect way to spend a quiet Monday evening? Here’s a wonderful BBC documentary based on Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (oddly hosted by comic genius Chris Morris).

I can still remember the cold rainy day when I saw this film (at far too young an age). A groundbreaking film that never fails to make an impression and make me feel like I am watching it for the first time… I love Blade Runner.

As a bonus, here’s a lovely film about the life of author Philip K Dick with some very special cameos.

This week at your comic shop – 11/7/12

For the complete list of this week’s comics, click here.

Not sure where your local comic shop is? Try comicshoplocator.com!

(note: all information including ad copy is from the publisher)
If you can’t make it to the shop, just click on any of the images below to be taken to an online retailer. I don’t get any referrals for these sales, I’m just doing my bit to spread the word on some neat products.

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Doctor Who Tardis Collection

Doctor Who Tardis Collection
Join the eleventh Doctor on his adventures with Amy Pond in these six original stories based on the hit series, presented in a beautiful TARDIS-shaped box.

The Runaway Train: the Doctor and Amy chase an alien artifact in the Wild West. Ring of Steel: on Orkney they battle walking electricity pylons with powerful masters. The Jade Pyramid: in medieval Japan they encounter terrifying powerful mannequins. The Hounds of Artemis: in 1920s Smyrna they witness an ancient evil awakening. The Gemini Contagion: in the far future they’re caught up in a frightening virus outbreak. The Eye of the Jungle: with Rory they’re watched by an all-seeing Eye in the Amazon rainforest.
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Action Comics #14

Action Comics #14
By: Grant Morrison, Brad Walker, Rags Morales
Type: Comics
Genres: Superhero
Series: Action Comics
Publisher: DC Comics
Pub. Date: November 07, 2012
Availability: Pre-Order
UPC: 76194130637701411

Brainiac first warned of the Multitude, and now Superman comes face to face with them – on Mars!

Plus: In the backup story, what appointment is so important that Superman would drop everything to attend it?
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All About Bond HC

All About Bond HC
By: Terry O’Neill
This autumn James Bond celebrates his 50th anniversary as a celluloid hero, and All About Bond is a unique memoir that will delight, amuse, and inform Bond’s many fans.

All About Bond is packed with surprises, insights and candid memories, both personal and photographic from legendary names who cut their teeth and carved out careers in some of the most memorable scenes in movie history.

The humor, the drama, and the camaradarie, on set and off, is captured through the immortal lens of one of the world’s most legendary photographers.
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Defenders #12

Defenders #12
By: Matt Fraction, Jamie Mckelvie, Terry Dodson
Series finale! The end of the Defenders! All your questions answered! Everybody dies! Everything ends! So how do the good guys pull it off?
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Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Bd Book

Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Bd Book
‘The #1 Sci-Fi Film of all time’ marks it’s return post 10 month moratorium with an all new 3-Disc Blu-ray/DVD and UV 30th Anniversary commemorative gift set.

Revisit the illustrious Final Cut on Blu-ray, DVD and get a UV copy of the feature. Additionally, the gift set features an all new concept spinner car for your collection, action Lenticular and a 72 page art production book with never-before-seen Ridley sketches, poster art and photos from the set.

Special Features: 36 page Hard Cover book presentation with never-before-seen images from the set and scene sketches from Ridley Scott. · The commemorative gift set includes all 10+ hours of bonus content from the critically acclaimed Ultimate Collector’s Edition from 2007 plus a new, comprehensive photo gallery of newly discovered sketches from director Ridley Scott, photos from the set and more.

Content includes all five feature film versions – The Final Cut, ’92 Director’s Cut, Domestic and International Theatrical versions and the rare Work Print.
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Age Of Apocalypse #9

Age Of Apocalypse #9
By: David Lapham, Renato Arlem, Kris Anka
Jean Grey finds herself on the runÖ from Cyclops! Prophet’s final plan for human survival takes shape. A weapon that could kill Weapon X, a.k.a. the Overlord, is discovered!
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Detective Comics #14

Detective Comics #14
By: John Layman, Jason Fabok
When Bruce Wayne’s life is saved by The Penguin, what surprises are in store for The Dark Knight? And in the backup story, an intimate look at Gotham City’s most dangerous foes provides a hint of the maelstrom to come.

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Before Watchmen Rorschach Red By Pope T-Shirt

Before Watchmen Rorschach Red By Pope T-Shirt
Rorschach Red features the incredible design and art of Steranko screenprinted in color on a Deep Red, 100% cotton shirt.
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Doctor Who Castrovalva Action Figure Set

Doctor Who Castrovalva Action Figure Set
Imported from the UK!

The newly regenerated fifth Doctor escapes with his companions back to the TARDIS, suffering from post-regeneration trauma. He seeks sanctuary in the peaceful domain of Castrovalva, oly to discover that it’s a paradoxical trap set for him by the Master.

Underground Toys’ celebrates Peter Davison’s debut episode of Doctor Who as the Doctor with ‘Castrovalva’ Collector’s Set that comes with a Post-Regeneration Fifth Doctor Action Figure, a Shrunken Figure Accessory, and the Master’s TARDIS.
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Arrow T-Shirt

Arrow T-Shirt
Green Arrrow celebrates his TV debut on the new Arrow T-Shirt. Features the silhouetted Emerald Archer screenprinted in color on a Deep Forest, 100% cotton shirt. Check out the show and the great new shirt today. NOW AVAILABLE for sale in Canada and U.K.
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Uncanny X-Force #33

Uncanny X-Force #33
By: Rick Remender, Phil Noto, Jerome Opena
FINAL EXECUTION races to its thrilling conclusion! X-Force brings the attack to the Brotherhood, but there is dissension in the ranks. Genesis faces the truth about Apocalypse and his destiny!
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Doctor Who Companion Chron Project Nirvana Audio CD

Doctor Who Companion Chron Project Nirvana Audio CD
A new adventure with the Seventh Doctor, as told by his companion, Aristedes. The place is Easterm Europe.

The year is 2015. The TARDIS lands in mid-air, and Captain Lysandra Aristedes is dropped into a daring mission in her own past. There are enemies and creatures out there in the night, and the Doctor is waiting at the rendezvous point.

Because this is all part of his bigger picture. And Aristedes is going to learn something about herself.
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Marvel Classic Characters Series 2 #4: Silver Surfer

Marvel Classic Characters Series 2 #4: Silver Surfer
The fourth release in this second series is the herald of mighty Galactus: Silver Surfer.

One of the greatest moments in the “Marvel Age” of comics was the introduction of Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four #48 in 1966, created by Jack Kirby with an assist from writer/editor Stan Lee.

Silver Surfer features a rough surface texture, visible seam lines, and other slightly distressed aspects, such as paint application. Sculpted by Yoe! Studio.
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Animal Man #14

Animal Man #14
By: Jeff Lemire, Steve Pugh
‘ROTWORLD: THE RED KINGDOM’ part two!

How did The Rot infect the DC Universe? Guest star John Constantine is here to tell you the hideous truth! The Red Kingdom faces an all-out attack by an army of the Rot, led by Felix Faust!

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New Crusaders Rise Of The Heroes #3

New Crusaders Rise Of The Heroes #3
By: Ian Flynn, Ben Bates
‘Legacies,’ Part 1.

The days of being ordinary teens are over: it’s time for them to become the New Crusaders! But the over-confidence of Shield and his charges could spell doom for the fledgling team. Who remains standing at the end of the day? The Red Circle Universe’s greatest heroes begin their journey in this pulse-pounding issue!

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Doctor Who Lost Stories Rosemariners Audio CD

Doctor Who Lost Stories Rosemariners Audio CD
A new adventure in time and space for the Second Doctor, told by his companions Jamie and Zoe.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves on an almost deserted space lab. Years of research are coming to an end and only distinguished xeno-botantist Professor Arnold Biggs remains on board. But is there more to the closure than meets the eye? For the operation is being supervised by the Rosemariners of the planet Rosa Damascena.

Their terrifying Commander, Rugosa, seems to have something to hide. Who is he? What do the Rosemariners want with the scientists? And what is the secret of Rosedream?
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Planet of the Apes Cataclysm #3

Planet of the Apes Cataclysm #3
By: Corinna Bechko, Damian Couceiro, Alex Ross
Running out of options, Cornelius, Prisca and the others try to find shelter before the fragments of the moon set off an even greater calamity: the destruction of the dam, and the only thing keeping Ape City away from the devastating waters… Don’t forget to ask your retailer about the rare Alex Ross Black and White CGC 9.8 Near Mint variant!
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Avengers #33

Avengers #33
By: Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Mayhew, Brandon Peterson
Two classic Avengers return for the first time in years to celebrate the end of an era! But does this modern world really need the Avengers? A giant status quo shift is on the horizon. Watch as the Avengers come to terms with themselves as a team and a family.

PLUS: Hydra with alien tech? Uh oh!
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Time Tunnel Hist Of Television Series SC

Time Tunnel Hist Of Television Series SC
By: Martin Grams Jr, Usamaru Furuya
The Time Tunnel was by no means a superb product of Friday night entertainment. If the plot holes were not as large as the tunnel itself, viewers noticed the same props from Allen’s other television programs popping up on the show. This book documents the entire history of the program, the origin and conception of the series, why it never ran a second season, almost 200 never-before-published behind-the-scenes photographs, and a detailed episode guide.
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Swamp Thing #14

Swamp Thing #14
By: Scott Snyder, Yanick Paquette
‘ROTWORLD: THE GREEN KINGDOM’ continues! Swamp Thing must travel the rivers of Rotworld on his way to Gotham City! True terror awaits our hero on the undead waters!

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Shadow #7

Shadow #7
By: Victor Gischler, Jack Herbert, Alex Ross
The Shadow is known for the mystic power which allows him to cloud men’s minds and read their hearts. But what happens when this power fails him? After the Shadow fails to stop a routine mugging, he travels to the Far East with his pilot and sidekick WWI ace Miles Crofton. In Nepal, he hopes to reconnect with his old masters and to consult with them about what could be amiss with his powers. Instead, he finds opium smugglers. As always, The Shadow faces danger Ö but he must also look within himself.
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Earth 2 #6

Earth 2 #6
By: James Robinson, Nicola Scott, Ivan Reis
The Green vs. The Grey! Who will decide the fate of this dying Earth: Green Lantern or Grundy? Will the new wonders of Earth band together to form the first super team since the death of the Trinity? Does super-genius Sloan really know what’s best for this world?

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Iron Man #1

Iron Man #1
By: Kieron Gillen, Greg Land
Tony Stark-Iron Man: Technological visionary, wealthy playboy, unparalleled engineer, and armored Avenger. His greatest invention becomes his greatest mistake. Iron Man must act fast and Tony Stark must build faster! The lethal techno virus Extremis is out in the wild and out for grabs to the highest bidder! It’s up to Tony Stark to contain it and that means creating a new suit of armor NOW!
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Blast Off!: Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities From the Golden Age of Space Toys TPB

Blast Off!: Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities From the Golden Age of Space Toys TPB
By: S. Mark Young, Steve Duin, Mike Richardson
Back in print in softcover, Blast Off! chronicles the golden era of space toys, featuring hundreds of color photos of these beautiful and sometimes bizarre playthings, plus prototypes, original packaging and instructions, catalogs, advertisements, vintage comic-strip and pulp-magazine art, and more from every corner of the globe. An essential resource for the collector or anyone with an eye for pop culture and the love of fun!

* The definitive examination of vintage space toys.

* Introduction by Harlan Ellison.

* Now in paperback!
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Green Lantern #14

Green Lantern #14
By: Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke
‘Rise of the Third Army’ continues! The Justice League comes after the new Green Lantern, demanding answers about the missing Hal Jordan! The Green Lantern Corps makes a disturbing discovery about the Guardians!
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New Avengers #32

New Avengers #32
By: Brian Michael Bendis, Carlos Pacheco, Mike Deodato
END TIMES CONTINUES!

The New Avengers are thrown into disarray as one of their deadliest enemies has returned. Many hard and permanent choices need to be made in this final arc of the New Avengers saga.

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Blade Runner Blu-ray gift set announced

Don’t let the mixed results of Prometheus fool you, Ridley Scott once made amazing motion pictures. Like many members of my generation I was enamored with Star Wars as a child and eager to see more elaborate forays into science fiction. The only real pay off arrived in Blade Runner, a movie that I saw on a rainy afternoon at the local cinema after a medical visit in Boston, MA. It made an indelible mark on my psyche that has remained fresh until this day.

(I have a much longer article about Blade Runner here)

A breathtaking visual experiment, Blade Runner was based (loosely) on the work of Philip K. Dick, an author whom I would become more familiar with in my adulthood. Rather than depicting a story-book fantasy of George Lucas’ Star Wars, Blade Runner was set in a decaying over-crowded future-world where the very nature of reality and identity were suspect.

It’s funny that for years, the only version of Blade Runner on was a straight transfer, then a Director’s Cut version with hardly any special features. The limited edition HD-DVD/DVD set in a Voight-Kampff case featuring numerous cuts of the movie, an engrossing documentary, a bizarre 3-D film cell and a die-cast flying car is the pearl of my collection, but very few people were fortunate enough to find it.

Included in the set was the ‘final cut,’ which director Ridley Scott had the most say in. Sadly, author PKD did not live to see this or any finalized version but what he did get to watch before he passed pleased him. The film and the novel on which it is based ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ are both very different but of all the motion picture adaptions of Dick’s work, this comes closest to capturing the paranoia and alienation prevalent in his work. Blade Runner is also possibly the last ‘important’ sci-fi film made to date.

Close-up of Ertl spinner car and faux-origami unicorn

Click to pre-order from Amazon

Well, apparently there is such a thing as second chances. This autumn, a new Blu-ray special edition is being released which comes close to replicating the HD/DVD set if not… dare I say it… improving upon perfection.

Blade Runner Final Cut

When I was 10 I saw Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’ in the theater. I know, my parents were bored and it looked like the perfect movie for me. Turns out they were right (for once) since this is still my favorite movie.

The constant rain-drenched streets, flying cars and weary expression of my hero Harrison Ford won my little mind over. I had not yet read a single Philip K Dick story yet the tale of a robot hunting cop who may be a robot himself immediately clicked with me.

That morning, I can clearly remember the daily paper’s article on the future depicted in Blade Runner as being pessimistic and bleak. The article showed the spinner cars and towering edifices intended to be office buildings.

I was just a kid still into Star Wars at the time, but I knew a good thing when I saw it. The mashed together old and new designs were so unlike the Buck Rogers and Star Wars visions of the future my kiddie eyes were used to. It was more than interesting, it seemed feasible and sadly inevitable.

Blade Runner does more than simply embrace the film noir look, it makes love to it, giving birth to a dark and alienated world completely divorced from itself. The film gave us images so vibrant and otherworldly; monolithic sky scraping edifices, inescapable advertising, an over-populated planet, science gone mad, the constant flutter of cops overheads… things that more or less make up our current reality.

The pervasive theme of loneliness is almost painted over those left behind after a galactic expansion into the unknown, (as the announcer offers a ‘new life in the off-world colonies!’).  The world in Blade Runner ran in direct opposition to the science fiction films that I was then used to. Instead of zipping off into space for grand adventure, the characters in this world are living in a smoky haze filled with garbage and abandoned luggage.

A loner himself, Deckard (played by Ford) is a former cop trying to lose himself in the mishmash of urban cultures that. It’s almost a relief when he is pulled into service of hunting Replicants by creepy origami enthusiast Gaf (played by the future Adama from Battlestar Galactica, Edward James Olmos.

Yet Deckard still has such trouble understanding who he is and what he is doing in his life. Despite his boss assuring him that the subjects of his hunt are unfeeling androids, Deckard has trouble seeing himself as anything other than a murderer. He surrounds himself with his work but does very little detecting. His method seems to consist mainly of stumbling through a sloppy trail left by his quarry.

The theme of loneliness is personified in the Replicants, a life form so newly sentient that they are terrified by almost everything they experience. Unsure of what they are, unsure of what it is to be human (or if they even want to be human), they are lead into a mutiny in heaven (to coin a phrase from Nick Cave) by their leader Roy Batty. Roy embarks on a pilgrimage to meet his maker that ends in tears. The tale that Blade Runner tells is so epic that it feels like a masterpiece from the future.

The recurring idea of memory and what it means to human existence is remarkably poignant. The replicants are shown as having what appear to be random Kodak prints in their possession, as if they are not sure what they are for yet feel that they serve some kind of totemic importance.  Upon multiple viewings it suddenly dawned on me that Bryant, Deckard’s boss, also has what appear to be vintage snapshots in his office, as does Deckard himself. This lends to the theory that the entire population are replicants themselves living out their lives in a bizarre imitation of humanity. This would also explain the behavior between Deckard and Rachel which appears  aggressive but may be a kind of ersatz form of imitated affection.  For a movie that I have watched on heavy rotation for as far back as I can remember, there are always new things to find.

It wasn’t until 10 years later that I read the novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ and learned that life in the eyes of the author, Philip K Dick, was both beautiful and terrifying… and far closer to the eventual mad landscape our current world has become.

It’s interesting to note that much of Blade Runner was influenced by a comic by Dan O’Bannon and Moebius, The Long Tomorrow. O’Bannon and Moebius were brought together as collaborators on the infamous Dune project helmed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. A film that, while never made, spawned many a project including Alien and Blade Runner.

To accompany the film, Marvel Comics released one of their best film adaptations (the other being the often overlooked Time Bandits) with the help of Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson (of Flash Gordon fame). The comic was released as both a graphic novel and a mini-series.

For some confused reason, ERTL thought the movie was, like Star Wars, for kids and made a die-cast version of the spinner car used by the cops in the film.

A pair of video games were released as tie-ins, one for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC 6128 by CRL Group PLC (1985) lacking the signature soundtrack by Vangelis (due to licensing issues), and another action adventure PC game by Westwood Studios (1997).

Choose wisely which you hunt down on ebay first. Rumor has it that the Westwood Studios game is outstanding and years before it’s time.

The film is being released on a DVD for the 25th anniversary (much fancier than the digipak version I own). The rumor is that we’ll see a multi-disc box set including both 1982 original theatrical versions (U.S. domestic and uncensored International cuts), the 2006 remastered Director Cut’s, the remastered Final Cut, and bonus features, is scheduled for fall 2007. The Final Cut cleans up the print, sound mix and adds a few touches here and there to the overall product.

The entire set is due for release in autumn 2007 and will come as a five-disc set in Deckard’s Voight–Kampff briefcase with a state-of-the-art digital print along with a spinner toy replica and a host of other goodies.

Chances are, you are familiar with this movie, know it inside and out (with and without narration), but I urge you to look at the film with new eyes when it comes out in the fall.

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