FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK | RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 7TH
After Blade Runner 2049 opened up the world of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic, creating a thirty-year gap in the narrative ripe for being filled in, Titan Comics jumped on the opportunity. Blade Runner 2019 is split into three volumes of four issues each, all collected here.
Volume 1 begins in the same year, and the same dystopian Los Angeles, as the original movie. It introduces a film noir-esque mystery to be solved – a billionaire’s wife and daughter have gone missing, apparently kidnapped by Replicants.
The script from Michael Green and Mike Johnson – Green was one of the screenwriters of 2049 – nails the world and tone, as does Andres Guinaldo’s art. There’s also a few surprises and an excellent new protagonist – Ash, a veteran Blade Runner who’s fanatical about her cause but held back by her hidden disability.
The second volume, Off-World, expands the scope by taking Ash to the outer-space colonies mentioned in the movies. She may think the case is closed, but the real villains are still on her trail. Here, the comic really comes into its own, and these frontier planets and mining colonies are impressively imagined; there’s no doubt the new and exciting locations Guinaldo presents are part of the same universe we know from the movies.
Volume 3, Home Again, Home Again, brings Ash back to Earth as various strands of the story come together. With Green having left writing duties to Johnson alone, this third volume feels a little too neat; it lacks the impact or ability to surprise of the first two volumes, though there is intriguing set-up for further adventures in Ash’s future.
Telling one epic new story that expands the horizons of the Blade Runner universe, 2019 is best experienced through this box set edition. Cover galleries, character designs, and some script pages are included as bonus treats.
