BLADE RUNNER 2039: THE COMPLETE SERIES OMNIBUS - graphic novel

I'm a very big fan of Philip K Dick, his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and the two feature-length Blade Runner movies (the original would probably make my top five favorite films of all time). I've not read any of the sequel novels by K. W. Jeter, nor, prior to this, have I read any of the comics or graphic novels. But given the expanding universe, I was very curious and wanted to give this a shot.

The story follows Aahna ‘Ash’ Ashina, the first female Blade Runner. It's been 20 years since Ash helped a young girl and her replicant mother escape off-world. But now the new leader of the Tyrell Corporation, Niander Wallace, is trying to bring Cleo back because he believes her DNA holds the secret to Replicant fertility - something that could completely change the course of Replicant evolution. Ash has to stay vigilant in protecting Cleo, warding off Wallace and his hired thugs and, perhaps most challenging, Wallace's personal assistant, LUV, the Replicant Blade Runner.

I definitely enjoyed this dive back into this world. The book creators, led by writer Mike Johnson and artist Andres Guinaldo, have done a great job in staying true to the look and feel of the world of Tyrell and Replicants. The mood and tone of the films, first created by director Ridley Scott, is still present here, brought forward through the art and coloring. It definitely helped for me to fall into this story by feeling like I was in the world.

The idea of a Replicant who might hold the key to the next (final?) step in being more human seems to be the natural progression of the story and it worked well for me. Though the character of LUV seemed to add more confusion to the story than interest. I'm not convinced we needed this added conflict to create tension.

The story jumps around a bit which disrupted my reading as it created some confusion ("Wait, why are we here?") and I'd have to page backward a bit to make sure I hadn't missed something.

And while I liked the tone created through Guinaldo's art and Marco Lesko's coloring, I'm not a fan of this style of art. I'm not sure what the term would be for this style, but I call it 'skewed realism' - it's realistic but it's missing depth. I think about a panel  like this, that is, but isn't 'realistic':


Like a lot of graphic novels, the pages aren't completely taken up by story. Fifty pages here are taken up with covers, alternative covers, sample script pages, sketches, rough art, etc. I love seeing the process of a graphic novel, but I didn't need 50 pages worth.

Looking for a good book? The graphic novel, Blade Runner 2039: The Complete Series Omnibus, collects (and finishes?) Ash's story and definitely adds to the intrigue of Replicants and the quest to being human, but hits a few bumps in the process to telling the story.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Blade Runner 2039: The Complete Series Omnibus

authors: Mike Johnson & Mellow Brown

artist: Andres Guinaldo

colorist: Marco Lesko

publisher: Titan Comics

ISBN: 9781787748088

hardcover, 336 pages

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