I’d wager even story creator Philip K. Dick would be impressed with the futurism and dark beauty of Adult Swim and Crunchyroll’s new Japanese and American half-hour animated series Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Is the mysterious drifter Elle a young woman with amnesia or a new type of replicant that can fool the Voight-Kampff test? What does it mean to be an android or cyborg with feelings and memories? Those are the questions asked in the first five episodes of the excellent new series, now streaming on Adult Swim and the Adult Swim app.
Some of the best dystopian futurism in years came to a conclusion this year in the pages of Titan Comics’ Blade Runner 2019, the official comic book sequel to the cult classic 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. Co-written by Michael Green, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Logan, Blade Runner 2049, and Murder on the Orient Express, and prolific comics writer Mike Johnson (Batman, Star Trek, Transformers) with artwork from Andres Guinaldo (Nightwing, Justice League Dark), this year’s Blade Runner 2019story arc found an ex-Blade Runner named Ash returning from the Off-World colonies to the rain-soaked future Los Angeles. A new Replicant will lead an animated series from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim this fall, taking Philip K. Dick’s Replicants into the untapped territory of the year 2032 in Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Check out the very Alita: Battle Angel-evoking series coming this fall in this first trailer, released at San Diego Comic-Con 2021 aka Comic-Con @Home this weekend:
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 toBlade 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.
Some of the best dystopian futurism in years comes to a conclusion in the third volume of Blade Runner 2019, the official sequel to the cult classic 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. Co-written by Michael Green, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Logan, Blade Runner 2049, and Murder on the Orient Express, and prolific comics writer Mike Johnson (Batman, Star Trek, Transformers) with artwork from Andres Guinaldo (Nightwing, Justice League Dark), Blade Runner 2019 Volume 3–Home Again, Home Againfinds ex-Blade Runner Ash returning from the Off-World colonies to the rain-soaked future Los Angeles.
Take a look at a preview of this new chapter in the Blade Runner story below courtesy of Titan Comics.
It’s been another long year of great entertainment. It’s time for the eighth annual round of new honorees for the borg Hall of Fame. We have several honorees from 2020 films and television, plus you’ll find many from the past, and a peek at some from the future – 44 new borgs or updated variants in all, bringing the borg Hall of Fame total to 265.
You can always check out the updated borg Hall of Fame on our home page under “Know your borg.”
Some reminders about criteria. Borgs have technology integrated with biology. Wearing a technology-powered suit alone doesn’t qualify. Tony Stark aka Iron Man was named an honoree because the Arc Reactor kept him alive, not because of his incredible tech armor. The Spider-Man suit worn by Tom Holland is similar to Tony’s, but it’s not integrated with Peter Parker’s biology.
Also, if the creators tell us the characters are merely robots, automatons, or androids (as in Westworld, and as in the Synths of Star Trek: Picard, and the new Dark Troopers of The Mandalorian), we take their word for it. Again, integration is key, but in the Hall, once a member, always a member.
This year the Blade Runner movie franchise took fans into their past and future with the comic book series Blade Runner 2019(review here at borg). Both the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, the series introduced a new Blade Runner, a female engineered cyborg named Ashina, or “Ash.” Earlier this month we previewed here at borg a new series featuring Ash ten years later in the pages of Blade Runner 2029. Coming next month, readers are in for a visual treat, as Titan Comics is releasing an Artist’s Edition of Blade Runner 2019: Los Angeles–the first volume collecting the first four issues of the series. Reproducing the pencil artwork of Andres Guinaldo without the overlaid inking and colors, this book provides a different reading experience, creating noir feel from a different angle. The result is gorgeous.
Check out our sneak preview of artwork from Volume #1 of the Artist’s Edition of Blade Runner 2019, courtesy of Titan Comics:
Just this past Fall, Titan Comics took fans of the Blade Runner movie franchise into their past and future with the comic book series Blade Runner 2019(review here at borg). Both the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, the series introduced a new Blade Runner, a female engineered cyborg named Ash. Beginning next week readers will find Ash ten years later in the pages of Blade Runner 2029. With the ghosts of the Tyrell corporation always in the shadows, Ashina has a new mission, a personal one, and she decides to seek a lost target from her past.
Check out our sneak preview of artwork from Issue #1 of Blade Runner 2029, courtesy of Titan Comics:
It’s the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, giving fans of either or both a look into the world created by Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Blade Runnerstories continue as Titan Comics looks to the parallel Earth future in Blade Runner 2019. The first nine issues introduced us to ex-Blade Runner Ash and Cleo, daughter of business magnate Alexander Selwyn. It’s now 2026. On returning to Los Angeles, Ash sleuthed out the location of Selwyn, but Selwyn knows Ash is after him, and has created a new Blade Runner. Of course the ghosts of Tyrell are always in the shadows.
It’s what Blade Runner fans have been waiting for, and if your appetite was whetted by the movie Blade Runner 2049, then you’re going to want to check our the next era of Blade Runnerstories as Titan Comics goes back to a parallel Earth future in Blade Runner 2019. The future is now. It’s been worth the wait, as the new story looks and feels like we’re back inside Philip K. Dick’s original vision in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In the neo-noir city of Los Angeles, 2019, Ash, a veteran Blade Runner, is working the kidnapping of a billionaire’s wife and child. Is the CEO of the new Canaan Corporation any better than those behind the Tyrell Corporation? Written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Michael Green(Logan, Blade Runner 2049), with co-writer Mike Johnson(Supergirl, Star Trek), get ready for Blade Runner to experience the treatment we’ve seen in recent years for franchises like Firefly, Planet of the Apes, and Alien, as another new world of science fiction storytelling opens up. Green and Johnson have written a perfect first chapter.
This very first original, in-canon story set in the Blade Runner universe is illustrated by Andres Guinaldo(Justice League Dark, Captain America) with brilliant color work by Marco Lesko. You’re going to see something surprising in Guinaldo’s artwork–not only is this the world of Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott, and Syd Mead′s neo-noir future, readers will see influences from cyberpunk and tech-noir classics like John Carpenter′s Escape from New York, Luc Besson′s The Fifth Element and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Neill Blomkamp′s Elysium,James Cameron′s The Terminator and Aliens, Robert Rodriguez′s Alita: Battle Angel, and the other futureworlds adapted to film from Philip K. Dick′s stories. It all probably comes down to the versatility, breadth, and influence of concept artist Syd Mead, but the creators do give due credit to Dick, Scott, Hampton Fancher, David Peoples, Michael Deeley–and Mead–for the look and feel of their new story.
The first issue arrives next Wednesday, and you can pick from four cover options, from Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Andreas Guinaldo, John Royle, and an original concept piece by Syd Mead.
Check out our sneak preview of the first issue of Blade Runner 2019, courtesy of Titan Comics, plus a new trailer for the series released just today:
As we first previewed here at borg last July, Titan Publishing and Alcon Media Group, the producer behind more than 30 films over the past 20 years, announced a partnership that will mean the beginning of an expanded universe of stories for Rick Deckard, Replicants, and the world of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Today Titan Comics released its first look at the new comic book series, and revealed its title, Blade Runner 2019. The original film and this year have been the subject of millions of shared memes commenting on the fact that the real 2019 looks little like Ridley Scott’s 1982 vision of 2019.
The new series will be “in canon” comics and graphic novels that dive deeper into the BladeRunnerworld. According to an Alcon representative, “The BladeRunner universe has barely been explored; there is so much more there. It’s an honour to be bringing this world to life in new ways for a new audience – and to reveal tales from that universe that you’ve never seen before.” Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was adapted from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a novel by science fiction legend Philip K. Dick, who endorsed the original film project in 1982, but died before its release.
New character concept drawings for Blade Runner 2019.
Launching this summer, Titan Comics’ new series will be set during the exact timeframe of the original 1982 Blade Runner film, and feature a mostly new set of characters and situations. Artist Andres Guinaldo(Justice League Dark, Captain America) created the above first looks at characters featured in the new story. He joins Oscar-nominated Blade Runner 2049 screenwriter Michael Green(Logan) and Mike Johnson (Star Trek, Superman/Batman) on the series.
