Blade Runner Origins–Take a first look back before the 1982 movie today as new series begins

Review by C.J. Bunce

Last year Titan Comics took fans of the Blade Runner movie franchise back to the future with the comic book series Blade Runner 2019 (reviewed here at borg). Both the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, the series expanded the franchise based on characters and settings created by Philip K. Dick. Then the series went back 20 years before the theatrical sequel in Blade Runner 2029. Now for the first time writers K. Perkins, Mellow Brown, and Mike Johnson, and artists Fernando Dagnino and Marco Lesko are taking the entire franchise–the canon stories and timeline–back before the original Ridley Scott movie in the series Blade Runner Origins. Dick’s universe is one of borgs called Replicants and those who hunt them, called Blade Runners. This is the story of the first Blade Runner, and we assume we’ll see another prequel one day about the creation of the first Replicants.

Check out our sneak preview of artwork from Issue #1 of Blade Runner Origins and 18 series variant covers below.

Enter the world of Blade Runner’s alternate 2009. It feels a little like the past flashback from Terminator 2, when a certain scientist was creating robots that could think and act like humans. Envision a corporation that is closed to anyone outside of it, run by a madman who is breaking all kinds of laws, but unlikely to ever get caught because of the security dome he has created around him. Now there’s a report of a suicide of someone close to the executive of the corporation. This is the world where an LAPD detective gains his footing into the future and a new kind of criminal.

The set-up is well-handled. It feels more like Altered Carbon than what we’ve seen in the Blade Runner movies, but that’s probably because tech noir and Syd Mead’s futurism has flourished in many corners of science fiction now. The key player is Detective Calvin Moreaux, and he must unravel what Tyrell Corporation has let loose on the world. The series opener is sure to keep you coming back for more. Illustrated by Fernando Dagnino with brilliant color work by Marco Lesko, the franchise is continuing in the right direction.

Readers can pick from four cover options, from artists Robert Hack, Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau, Peach Momoko, Fernando Dagnino, and Piotr Kowalski, each also available as a “virgin” retailer incentive cover without the logo, and a blank sketch cover. Raymond Gay and Alan Quah have created two additional exclusive covers (available from Collector’s Choice and Slab City). Here’s a look at six pages and most of the cover art for the four issues of the series, courtesy of Titan Comics: