Gears of War developer Cliff Bleszinski moves into comics with sci-fi adventure Scrapper

Will Salmon
·2 min read
Two dogs, a raccoon, some rats and pigeons look up.
Two dogs, a raccoon, some rats and pigeons look up.
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Cliff Bleszinski is a name that you may be familiar with from other parts of GamesRadar+. He's an acclaimed video games developer, best known for his work on the bestselling Gears of War series, the Unreal games, Jazz Jackrabbit, and more. He retired from games in 2012, before returning two years later to launch Boss Key Productions, which closed in 2018. Since then he's written a book about his experiences (Control Freak: My Epic Adventure Making Video Games), teased that he's making a new video game, and moved into theater work. Now he has a career in comics in his sights.

Scrapper is a new science fiction adventure series co-written by Bleszinski and Alex de Campi, described as "a mix between Brian K. Vaughan’s Pride of Baghdad and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner." The six issue series, published by Image, follows stray dog Scrapper and his friend Tank as they take on the totalitarian forces of SMITE (the Special Monopoly for Industrial Tech and Engineering) in the post-apocalyptic domed city of New Verona.

We've got a preview of the opening pages from Scrapper #1 below, which shows our plucky canine hero leaping into action.

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Scrapper interior pages: a dog looks at a sci-fi city.
Scrapper interior pages: a dog looks at a sci-fi city.

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Scrapper interior pages: dogs walk through the city, talking.
Scrapper interior pages: dogs walk through the city, talking.

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Scrapper interior pages: dogs look at a robot spider.
Scrapper interior pages: dogs look at a robot spider.

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Scrapper interior pages: dogs chase after a flying car.
Scrapper interior pages: dogs chase after a flying car.

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Scrapper interior pages: the dog jumps onto the craft.
Scrapper interior pages: the dog jumps onto the craft.

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Scrapper interior pages: the dog smashes the glass on the flying car.
Scrapper interior pages: the dog smashes the glass on the flying car.

Bleszinski, who describes himself as a lifelong comics fan, says the series was inspired in part by the loss of one of his beloved pet dogs. "Scrapper comes from the heart; first, the loss of my Aussie Teddy and then finding puppy love again with our Pomsky Lady. I truly hope everyone enjoys this deeply personal work."

Alex de Campi said of the project, "It's been a joy to get back to full-bore, edge-of-your seat action writing in a monthly comic, even more so when I get to base it around such a wonderful cast of urban animals as we've created in Scrapper...If you have pets you love, or you’ve ever just wanted to pet the dog in a video game, this is the book for you." Who hasn't wanted to pet the dog in a video game?

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At the top of the picture two dogs look on proudly. In the bottom half a dog stands on a flying car.
At the top of the picture two dogs look on proudly. In the bottom half a dog stands on a flying car.

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A group of animals look fierce.
A group of animals look fierce.

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A dog looks out over a futuristic city.
A dog looks out over a futuristic city.

Scrapper #1 is published by Image Comics on July 19.

Gears of War is expanding into movies and animation.