‘Blade Runner Origins #11’ Review
Written by K Perkins, Mellow Brown | Art by Fernando Dagnino | Published by Titan Comics
This has proved to be a book where a little bit of patience is required. The writers have enough confidence in their abilities, and in the attention span of their readers, to sometimes spread plots and developments out what some may consider a tad too much. I’ve found some unevenness in the run, some issues have a lot happening, some take up an entire issue with very little. Last issue was a good one, with plenty to get excited about, the one before not so much. I’m hoping this proves to be one of the stronger issues as we reach what seems to be the imminent conclusion of this storyline. Let’s take a look.
Last issue saw out and out carnage as Ilora Stahl, Tyrell Corp loyalist executive who happily shoots first and asks questions later, attacked the Los Angeles slums of Sector-6B, where her target, the Nexus-5 Replicant, was located. That Replicant contains the consciousness of Cal’s sister, Nia, who has been liberating Replicants and gathering a collective of them. The Replicants won, but at a huge cost, and Nia has come to the conclusion that while Ilora Stahl lives, they are all in danger. Despite Cal’s attempts to dissuade her, it seems that either Nia or Ilora won’t make it to the end of this storyline.
We start with some beautiful artwork, as Nia and Desiree travel by hovercar over the raining neon landscapes of LA. Dagnino really captures the decadent beauty of it all, as Nia justifies to Desiree what’s she about to do. They land on a rooftop, and a few dead guards later, Nia’s inside. Ilora Stahl, meanwhile, is going on television to engineer a suitable cover-up for the massacre in Sector-2B. ‘We’re truly sorry’, ‘mistakes were made’, ‘let us help rebuild’ etc etc, you know the score. The tension ramps up as we see Cal racing towards the building as well, being chased down by two police cruisers, as Nia continues her descent through the building one guard at a time. Dagnino again is having an absolute blast with all this, page after page of outstanding composition and line work.
So, quick recap. We have Ilora Stahl in a television interview, Nia fighting her way to her from the top of the building down, with Cal fighting from the bottom lobby upwards. It’s definitely the visuals centre stage this month, and I love the full page panel with the building showing all this going on through the windows from outside. Top stuff. Finally, the inevitable confrontation is upon us. Nia has Ilora in her sights, and she’s about to do the unthinkable. Then we find out it’s all been a lie.
Turns out Perkins and Brown threw one hell of a curve ball at us readers. Cal wasn’t chasing Nia at all, wasn’t racing to save Ilora. Nia and Cal had a plan, or rather Nia had a plan she asked Cal to go along with. Nia realised that if things continued the way they were going, every Replicant everywhere was in danger. What they needed to do was give the people a villain, and give the people a hero. Nia would be the villain, the ‘bad’ Replicant who need hunting down, Cal the brave policeman who stopped her. If people believed that bad Replicants could be dealt with, it meant ‘good’ Replicants would be left alone. Great plan. For it to really work though, it would need to be convincing, and that’s a really gut-wrenching final page we’re left with.
Well that was a rollercoaster of an issue. I think it may have been Dagnino’s best yet, with some absolutely sublime art throughout. The art carries two thirds of the book, no doubt. The final third is made up of some very clever writing. A pretty standard race to kill, race to stop scenario was turned on its head by Perkins and Brown. Not just a gimmick either, but a cleverly threaded outcome that if you look the clues were all there for you to see. Great art, great story, great work by all.
Pieces are well and truly falling into place for the birth of the Blade Runner.
