Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Volume 1

Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Graphic Novel, vol. 1. 2009. 144p. ISBN 978-1608865000. GFX DIC on the library shelves.

In this illustrated dystopian world, most of humanity has migrated to the stars, leaving behind those who are too sick, too old, or not smart enough, to slowly rot on a war-ravaged Earth. To entice people to move off-world, corporations and governments are providing androids, robots who look humans and who become personal servants.

Unfortunately, some of these androids escape and make their way to Earth, hoping to achieve a level of freedom impossible elsewhere. Tests have been developed to distinguish androids from humans, as even the dumbest human has the capacity to show compassion for others, something androids are unable to do.

Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter whose job is to hunt these renegade androids and terminate them. Suffering from the loss of his animal, Rick is hoping that catching a batch of androids who recently infiltrated Earth will provide him with the funds needed to purchase a live animal and not have to continue the charade of having an electric sheep living on his roof. These androids, however, feature the Nexus-6 brain, the most evolved android brain ever, and they may very well be able to pass the empathy test. Rick must head to Seattle and test new androids from the Rosen Corporation to determine whether they can in fact be detected.

John Isidore lives alone in an abandoned building, spending him miserable life as a van driver for a vet service. He’s a special, one of those not smart enough to be allowed off the planet. He was smart once, but his ability to bring animals back from the dead was frowned upon. He was operated and now he’s lost a part of himself. When a girl moves into his abandoned apartment complex, John hopes to connect with her.

These two individuals are completely alienated from their own humanity, and yet as the novel progresses they begin to discover that there may remain vestiges of decency left in them. Their adventures continue in Volume 2.