BLADE RUNNER 2019 Starts Off Strong
Blade Runner 2049 may not have been the giant, epic hit of the year, but that’s not stopping Titan Comics from offering up new stories set in the world of the replicant.
Set in the same time as the original Blade Runner, the story in Blade Runner 2019 introduces us to another of the detectives known as Blade Runners, the special officers of the Los Angeles Police Department who are tasked with retiring any and all Replicants (more human than human androids) should they be found on Earth. Aahna Ashina, or “Ash” for short, is a tough, no-nonsense detective who has a little side hustle going that would probably cause her some … issues if the department found out.
Ash gets called in for a special assignment: a missing persons case. True to the “reluctant hero” trope, Ash refuses at first, but she’s been specifically requested. Which, of course, will mean that there’s more to this case than meets the eye. And we certainly get confirmation of that by the time we get to the end of the first issue.
All in all, it’s a pretty strong setup for a story that absolutely feels like it belongs in this world. Michael Green and Mike Johnson give us characters with depth and a heroine who doesn’t just check off the boxes for virtue points (although saying “She was the best of them.” irritates my sensibilities somewhat). She’s got flaws, and she’s got secrets, and there’s enough setup in this first issue to indicate that all of those will come into play as we move further into her investigation.
The artwork looks like it could have been pulled from the film’s concept art. Andres Guindldo’s lines and Marco Lesko’s colors look so much like the movie to the point where you can imagine the spotlights on the blimps moving to and fro. The spinner vehicle is a good match, but it’s not slavishly drawn. These characters have their own identity and aesthetic even when they evoke characters from Ridley Scott’s films.
And Ash had to have been modeled on Sarah Douglas. Fight me.
Overall, it’s a good start to what looks to be a solid noir cop story.
