Utopia Gets A Limited Edition Comic Book Spinoff

[Rich Johnston]

It's the big Channel 4 TV success of 2013 (until Black Mirror starts tonight, obviously). But Utopia, a cross between Pulp Fiction and Tideland, a political pharmaceutical thriller set in the urban and rural landscapes of Britain, uses the script to a graphic novel sequel as its big MacGuffin.

When I saw the first episode last month, I asked about the comic at the heart of the show, and was told it was an internally produced mockup, it didn't exist in any form other than the few pages or panels we'd seen that showed off a plot point here or there.

Well, that seems to have changed.

Alongside the release of the upcoming DVD and Blu Ray of the series, a comic book version of The Utopian Experiments has been realised.

There will only be a very limited edition released however, and in March we're planning to give copies away, to coincide with the DVD release. Above, is the cover...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWegepVpPKA[/youtube]

[Blackfist]

[ScotiaNova]

It's the big Channel 4 TV success of 2013 (until Black Mirror starts tonight, obviously).

Started last night, actually . . .

[Fysh]

I'm glad to hear something's been done about this - enough effort's been put into the visuals of the comic pages we've seen so far in the show that not releasing it as a complementary item seems a missed opportunity.

I'll be keeping an eye out for this

[thekeith82]

Man, I have been loving the living hell out of this show. Phenomenal piece of TV.

[Fysh]

Man, I have been loving the living hell out of this show. Phenomenal piece of TV.

Isn't it just?

There's but one thing I dislike, and that's the casting for Jessica Hyde - her voice irritates me. Bar that, everything's been done really well. Strong writing, good pacing, great production values, and a strong visual design and directorial flair. It's great to see people working in TV-land being able to throw in as many excellently-framed shots as Utopia has had; scenes like the No Country For Old Men homage or the framing of the shot where Jessica blows up the car add to the narrative by providing pitch-perfect delivery.

[thekeith82]

Isn't it just?

There's but one thing I dislike, and that's the casting for Jessica Hyde - her voice irritates me. Bar that, everything's been done really well. Strong writing, good pacing, great production values, and a strong visual design and directorial flair. It's great to see people working in TV-land being able to throw in as many excellently-framed shots as Utopia has had; scenes like the No Country For Old Men homage or the framing of the shot where Jessica blows up the car add to the narrative by providing pitch-perfect delivery.

Yeah, I get what you say about the girl playing Jessica. I've taken her performance as echoing Arby's lack of affectation, and that the monotone vocal delivery is deliberate, but maybe it's just the actress. It may well just be that she's a bit annoying

You're spot on about the style of the show. It's probably the best looking thing I've seen on British TV since...fuck, I don't know when. It's been a long time since I've seen anything that really shocked and affected me as well, and the torture scene in ep 1, and... the thing that happened at the start of ep3 (quite how they even got away with that I have no idea) really got to me. I mean, in a good way. How the consequences of that scene were worked into Arby's character was a deftly done bit of writing that left something extremely distasteful feeling justified and integral.