''Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner'' or just ''Blade Runner'' is a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

adaptation of the film ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

'', published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

in 1982. It was written by Archie Goodwin with art by

Al Williamson Alfonso Williamson (March 21, 1931 – June 12, 2010) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western, science fiction and fantasy. Born in New York City, he spent much of his early childhood in ...

, Carlos Garzon with Dan Green and

Ralph Reese Ralph Reese (born May 19, 1949) is an American artist who has illustrated for books, magazines, trading cards, comic books and comic strips, including a year drawing the ''Flash Gordon'' strip for King Features. Prolific from the 1960s to the 19 ...

Publication history

With a cover by

Jim Steranko James F. Steranko (; born November 5, 1938) is an American graphic artist, comics artist, comic book writer/artist, comics historian, Illusionist, magician, publisher and film production illustrator. His most famous comic book work was with th ...

, 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." This was issue 22 of the ''

Marvel Comics Super Special ''Marvel Comics Super Special'' was a 41-issue series of one-shot comic-magazines published by American company Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1986. They were cover-priced $1.50 to $2.50, while regular color comics were priced 30 cents to 60 cents, Be ...

'' 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. In the Netherlands, a Dutch language version of this comic was printed by Junior Press. 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.

Plot

The comic followed the events of the film but attempts to fill in gaps in the script.

Reception

According 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. Julian Darius of ''

Sequart Sequart Organization (; also known as Sequart Research & Literacy Organization) is an online magazine that focuses on the study of popular culture and the promotion of comic books as an art form. Sequart also publishes books and produces documen ...

'' 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."

Editions

Original single

Reprinted issues

Collected edition

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner, A 1982 comics debuts Blade Runner (franchise) comics

Comics by Archie Goodwin (comics) Individual issues of comic series Marvel Comics titles Science fiction comics Cyberpunk comics