The Blade Runner Comics Panel at SDCC 2021 Talks Building a Universe

Ash is on the hunt in Blade Runner 2029: Reunion.

Image: Titan Comics

Titan Comics’ Andrew Sumner, David Leach, Mike Johnson, Kate Perkins, Fernando Dagnino, and Mellow Brown got together at San Diego Comic-Con @ Home to discuss the future of the Blade Runner comics.

The 12 issue series of Blade Runner 2019 —written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson—is the first original story to be canon within the universe. The SDCC 2021 panel discussed what fans can expect in the two new Blade Runner stories by Titan Comics: Blade Runner 2029: Reunion, a follow up to their series Blade Runner 2019, and a new story titled Blade Runner: Origins. As the first to speak, Mike Johnson talked about the 10-year journey of Ash, the central character of Blade Runner 2019 and 2029.

In 2019, Ash is a hardcore killer of replicants and has a severe disdain for them because to her they are soulless machines. Over the course of the book, her thoughts and feeling toward the replicants begin to change and by 2029, she’s turned 180 degrees. “In 2029, she’s living a double life,” Johnson said. “She’s a Blade Runner by day hunting dangerous replicants but lives with her lover Fraysa [who appears in the Denis Villeneuve film Blade Runner 2049], who is a replicant. By night, Ash helps non-violent replicants flee persecution and violence. But her double life isn’t sustainable.”

Blade Runner: Origins, meanwhile, explores the life of the first-ever replicant hunter. The story is told from the perspective of Kyle Morrow, the first Blade Runner to ever take the job—a member of the military who sees firsthand the horrors the replicants go through. Mellow Brown, the series’ writer, discussed the important themes the comic aims to tackle. “In the book, we’ll see the replicant program for what it really is,” Mellow says. “Not only from a corporate perspective but from the perspective of the people within Los Angeles and how replicants make them feel as a society.”

Both Blade Runner 2029: Reunion and Blade Runner: Origins are now available in comic shops and online. You can tune into the full panel above to get the individual perspectives of those involved with the creation of these stories.

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