In 2020 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, and the anime TV series saw its own sequel this August in the pages of Blade Runner: Black Lotus. But before that, Blade Runner: Origins took fans back even earlier–to Los Angeles 2009— and it’s that exciting sci-fi series that will see its third volume released in a trade paperback/graphic novel edition this coming Wednesday.
Check out a preview below, courtesy of Titan Comics.
Uncovered in a strange Tyrell Corporation plot, LAPD Detective Cal Moreaux–the first Blade Runner–learns of the existence of a Replicant called Asa. He also learns that his sister Nia’s identity was subsumed into a prototype Replicant–the Replicant who killed her. That’s what we learned in the first two volumes of Blade Runner: Origins. But is that Nia’s complete story?
If you watched the TV series Humans, you’ll find these Replicants are a cyborg that take the technology ahead. These Replicants are manufactured to feel–it’s something the Humans series was only touching on. It also feels like it incorporates elements from Altered Carbon even more so than the first volumes.
Writers K. Perkins and Mellow Brown, and artists Fernando Dagnino and Marco Lesko take the story back to its 1980s movie and comics action. The Replicants will feel familiar to fans of the original movie, and Dagnino and Lesko’s images are pure Syd Mead-inspired. The first image we see of Mr. Tyrell is a brilliant rendering by Dagnino of the man theater audiences first met in 1982.
Volume 3 includes a full cover gallery from the individual issues, plus an insider look at pencil layouts for issues #9 and #10 of the series, along with a selection of script and page comparisons.
Here’s a look at four pages from Volume 3: “Burning”:
Don’t miss the end to this prequel series at the 40th anniversary of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic. Look for Volume 3 of Blade Runner Origins this coming Wednesday, at Elite Comics or your local comic book shop.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
