Blade Runner is an incredible world with the 1982 Ridley Scott film and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and this comic book peeks at the Blade Runner world before the movies! It is written by K. Perkins, Mellow Brown, and Mike Johnson. Perkins previously wrote for Supergirl with Mike Johnson and is working on the Paper Girls series for Amazon. Johnson co-wrote the comic book, Blade Runner 2029, with screenwriter Michael Green who has creative consultant on this comic. The art by is Fernando Dagnino who has worked on Justice League: Generation Lost. He provided artwork for one of the covers with a moody cover of the first blade runner with a flashing Spinner at his eye, and holographic and ghostly faces in the foreground. One of the questions of comics adapting film material is how it fits in the world of the movie. This one fits seemlessly in terof art and story.
The original Blade Runner featuring Rick Deckard was set in 2019, the sequel had K wandering the Los Angeles of 2049, it had three short films; Blade Runner Black Out 2022, 2036: Nexus Dawn, and 2048: Nowhere to Run. Blade Runner 2029 featured the Blade Runner, Aahna “Ash” Ashina, all of these stories offer a complete picture of Blade Runner world. You can look at these stories separately, of course the original film was based on the Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), if you want more of the Blade Runner world, see them all. There is a prologue page that explains the Tyrell Corporation creating the Replicant. Then, the formation of the Blade Runner Units, and that this is the story of the first Blade Runner. His story is in Los Angeles, 2009. It begins with the The Siege of Kalanthia, 2007, this was an off-world colony. There were only hints of what happened outside of Earth and this colony was hinted at in the short film, Blade Runner Black Out 2022 and Blade Runner 2049.
We see a stand off with a soldier holding his pistol which looks like the PKD (Steyr Pflager Kasumata Series-D Blaster) used by Rick Deckard. He is taking cover behind a crate as helmeted soldiers fire at him. There are bodies scattered around the hangar. We see from his name badge that his name is Moreau, he has a short crop of blond hair, and he checks on his wounded soldier, Captain Avery. Moreau puts a helmet on Avery who points out the Tyrell crate that is to opened as a last resort. There is “Genetic Replicants” on the crate. Avery tells Moreau to hold down the South Hall while he opens the crate. There is a tight panels as we see Moreau in his suit going to the South Hall, he hears screaming and gunfire, the hissing sound makes me think of Ripley’s space suit in Alien (1979). It looks like there is red mist and this resolves to droplets of blood! Moreau is stunned to see the slaughter, there are two Replicants, one a male with spiky, blond hair and a female with short, red hair. They wear form-fitting, black suits. The female Replicant says to Moreau, “You’re welcome”! This is a short scene, a tease, but we finally get to the see the off-world colonies of Blade Runner!
This shifts to Los Angeles, 2009, we get a close-up of a woman’s face, catatonic and scarred. We see Moreau at her bedside in the hospital and he knows that Dante, a hospital worker, is about to enter the room of Dante’s wife, Nia. The next page is Los Angeles in sunset, about to construct the megapolis city in 2019. There is some great design work by Dagnino that also captures some of the visuals of the films. Moreau in trenchcoat heads to the rain swept headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department, a normal looking building, not elevated into the sky like the movies. He is working on his cases, identified as Detective Moreau, not Blade Runner yet. I hope that the origin of the name is revealed. It didn’t make sense in the other stories. The name sounded more like ice skaters. He is called into an office, a chief?, who assigns him to a suicide case at the secretive Tyrell Corporation.
Moreau arrives at Tyrell, flashes his badge, and is escorted by a woman with glasses and business attire. She takes him to the room with the body, the engineer, Dr. Kine, hung up by cables. The assistant says her name is Effie Koropey who is of course shaken by the death. They are interrupted by a woman in a white suit, Ilora Stahl, who takes over with a smile. She sends away Effie and answers Moreau’s questions. Ilora has already sent files to the police department, but of course Moreau had to witness the scene first hand. We get some facework that has the European detail and shadows, but I also sense the touches of Kevin Nowlan’s style. Moreau leaves Tyrell out in the rain and heads toward the club, La Plume Sauvage, Wild Feather in French. It is industrial with green lighting and birds in globes while performers and wait staff are in bird costumes. The stage performer joins Moreau as he is drinking at the bar. She looks like the Joker and carries a toucan on her shoulder. Hearing Tyrell, the performer warns Moreau. He is slowly drawn into a mystery that involves a Replicant.
Five Spinners out of Five!
#BladeRunnerOrigins, #KPerkins, #MellowBrown, #MikeJohnson, #FernandoDagnino, #Moreau
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