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Blade Runner 2029 #1 continues the story of Blade Runner Aahna Ashina after a time jump from the previous series. The Selwyn’s have been dealt with, and Ash is now many years removed from them, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t changed as a result. Despite my initial distaste for how the last series ended, can this new series rise to the heights of its predecessor?
Establishing The Baseline
The Selwyn story was a deeply personal story for Ash. She was dealing with the anxieties that came from her mother, her want for a better life, and her own inadequacies as a parent. It was a really good story, and I expressed my unhappiness with the way it ended last month. Blade Runner 2029 #1 feels like a soft reboot in a way, not forgetting what happened previously, but returning back to basics, a more traditional status quo.
While Ash is technically a Blade Runner, she is no longer retiring Replicants. Instead, she is helping the underground to get them off-world. This fitted in well with her arc from the previous series and was something stated she was going to do in the last issue. But this is where the soft reboot thing comes in; while this isn’t the traditional status quo, we are still following the same traditional narrative beats. As established in the book as well as the subsequent movies and comics, the Blade Runner goes about their job, stumbles upon a mystery, unravels it, and in the process finds something out about themselves.
It’s a pretty good plot structure, however with the past few arcs in the previous series showing what this franchise could do outside of that bubble, I kind of wish we had kept experimenting with the storytelling. Regardless of personal preference, Michael Green and Mike Johnson have an intriguing premise that I’m interested to see where it goes. While attempting to free Replicants, Ash comes across the connection to an old case from when she failed to retire one. No matter how she has changed, Ash will have to answer for the sins of her past.
This story’s potential is good because the last series saw Ash coming to terms with her family history; now, in this series, she will come to terms with her work history.
The Devil’s In The Details
Andres Guinaldo returns as the series artist on Blade Runner 2029 #1, and as always, his art shines. It’s the perfect blend of grim and grit, as well as expressive characters and distinctive styles. The biggest detail that I quite liked the inclusion of was the Seawall. In the previous series, because parts of it were taking place at the exact same time as the first film, Andres Guinaldo used a lot of iconography and locations from said film. As the time between the first Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 gets shorter and shorter, there has been an attempt to blend the two films’ iconography.
Seeing the Seawall under construction and finding out why it was made in the first place was pretty cool. You can tell not only is one of the writers of Blade Runner 2049 working on this series, but the entire creative team cares about the franchise and wants to flesh it out with more worldbuilding. I noted this in several issues of Blade Runner 2019. Still, the appearance of something very iconic from Blade Runner 2049 really brings it full circle and demonstrates perfectly why this series has been a satisfying read.
I also like Andres Guinaldo’s change to Ash’s overall look. She looks older, a bit more mature in the face, but still have recognizable things that make it easy to identify her. Not only is this significant because of the time jump between the series, but also it demonstrates Ash’s continued evolution as a character. She isn’t the Blade Runner she used to be; she is something new, something wiser.
Blade Runner 2029 #1 Provides A Nice Return To Form
Blade Runner 2029 #1 sets up an interesting premise for the new series. The potential for this series to bypass the heights of Blade Runner 2019 is there and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.