Titan Comics 2021
Written by K. Perkins & Mellow Brown
Illustrated by Fernando Dagnino
Coloured by Marco Lesko
Lettered by Jim Campbell
The climactic conclusion to the first arc of the brand-new Blade Runner series!
LAPD detective Cal delves deeper into the dark conspiracy that lies behind Dr. Tyrell’s Replicant empire.
If this had been my first introduction to the franchise I’d be a die-hard fan of it. As it stands right now I’m a huge fan of this series and while this may only be the first arc’s conclusion I do know that I’m in this for as long as they will be putting it out. The writing here is absolutely stunning and the interiors here are mindbogglingly brilliant to behold. I love the drama and tension that is created here between Cal and the Replicant he’s been chasing and while they aren’t as widely known as they’d later come to be he naive thinks that he’s got a shot at arresting this person. There is a stellar chase scene and it manages to make us feel more like an action movie film than most films on the big screen. The way that this is put together is phenomenal and it just continues and continues to build momentum with each turn of the page.
I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is perfectly presented. The character development is phenomenal and how we see the dialogue, the character interaction as well a how they characters act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter continually flesh them out with each new experience. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way really do this amazing job at electrifying the readers imagination.
How we see this being structured with the layers within the story constantly growing, evolving and emerging is really where the drama, complexity and tension actually stem from. It is almost like you can feel the blood racing through Cal’s veins as he’s chasing this perp all the while around him those layers play their parts to perfection. How we see everything working together to create the story's ebb & flow as well as how it moves it forward is achieved exceedingly well.
The interiors here leave me gobsmacked no matter how many times I read or flip through the book. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this quality and level of detail work that we see is mind numbing in how gorgeous it is. How we see backgrounds enhancing the moments and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story is beautifully rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is divine. How the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work demonstrate this amazing eye for how colour should, could and does actually work.
I love how the story unfolds so that the last page sneaks up on the reader leaving such an incredible bombshell cliffhanger. It also engages the readers mind because it makes you think about what we’re seeing in this issue and throughout the first four and how that plays into the ending and what’s going to come next. Personally I have my own theory as to what we are seeing and why but i’d rather not put that out in the universe just yet. This is the beginning and it’s just going to keep building and building from here on out until it’s time for the war of the Replicants and I cannot wait to see that happen.
This is an incredibly intelligent story with stellar characterisation and mindbogglingly brilliant interior artwork that captures the readers mind, imagination and creativity making them believe that anything, anything at all is possible.