Review: Blade Runner 2029 #10
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Publisher: Titan Comics
Writers: Mike Johnson
Artist : Andres Guinaldo
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Colorist:Â Marco Lesko
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
Blade Runner 2029 #10 – Yotun, whom Ash had failed to retire 12 years previously, had somehow outlived his expiration date.
He is now leading an army of Replicants who have destroyed a section of the seawall and murdered the political and corporate elite of Los Angeles.
Now it is up to Detective Ash to retire cult leader Yotun before he destroys both her and the city she loves. But the walls are closing in as Ash’s precinct is very suspect of her in her lack of retiring Replicants.
Positives
 Mike Johnson just keeps us on the edge of our seat as he writes each issue in the Blade Runner series. For those of you that may be a casual Blade Runner fan of the movies or even the three books that are out (Origins, 2019 and 2029) Johnson keeps weaving canon to this story that is arguably is better than what the film offers.
Ash has now been rebuilt/reborn…what terminology is there for when your mind is placed in a Replicant body that may or may not have an expiration date? What philosophical questions do you address here? Is it really Ash? If you could live pain free, but with an unexpected expiration date, would you turn in your weaker battle-torn body for a new one?
She also is hot on the trail of capturing Yotun, however, her department suspects that she is not retiring Replicants at the rate she needs to. Who knew there is a quota? That being said, the walls are closing in on her both from those that she hunts and those that she hunts for. How do you hunt down a Replicant when in theory you are one now….?
Johnson should be a philosophy teacher at his local university!
Positives 2.0
Fernando Dagnino captures the grit and the dirtiness and the neon of a Blade Runner LA. His pulp noir style is on fire. Or rather…on rain! Again, the rain is a character in this book. The vehicles, the cityscapes, the costuming, the noodle bars and the list goes on and on. You feel disappointed if these elements are not included.
Check out the alternate cover above…all homages to the rainy futuristic world of a rainy Los Angeles. We just need a loose eyeball rolling on the table. Dagnino has the art and the feel down to a science!
Negatives (Nah…it’s more Positives!)
This is a page-turner and what Blade Runner fans have been wishing for. I love that this team has provided both origins, time jumps, and updates that keep providing more and more canon for long-time fans to latch onto. Finally, someone gets futuristic pulp noir right on the artistic and script levels!
Verdict
We get to really see the seeds of what the Tyrell Corp puts into play.  Ash is a character worthy of both book and cinema. This adventure is worthy of a big-screen treatment, but for now, it is pure science fiction noir candy for the soul! Mike Johnson has put gasoline on the fire….we did not know we wanted this much Blade Runner until now!
