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Blade Runner 2029 #4 and #5 are the end of one arc and the beginning of another that all blend into each other. These arcs have all been about where Ash stands in the new status quo and building up the mystery of Yotun. Now he is out in the open, and his cult-like followers demonstrate how an understandable cry for justice can be co-opted by the selfish. Saviors are not chosen; they are made, and those that claim otherwise fall into the greatest fallacy of them all, hypocrisy.
Blade Runner 2029 #4
So, in Blade Runner 2029 #4, Yotun enacts his master plan in his usual flair for theatrics. He commandeers an airship full of the rich and powerful and shows how despite their privilege, they are powerless without those that prop them up. He destroys part of the Seawall, a construction project that costs Replicant lives to help the humans. This is his point; the humans are nothing without the Replicants, yet they are treated horribly. So, he calls for a revolution, that a new world order must be instated, one where Replicants are free from their oppressors. Certainly, a worthy goal, but the issue all lies in Yotun himself. He demonstrated in previous issues that he lives for longer than other Replicants of his model because he syphons the energy from other Replicants and gives it to himself. He treats this with so much ceremony that it feels like he is using the Replicant’s plight and need for hope, which is the basis of all religion, to prop himself up. And well, that’s exactly what he is doing.
The hypocrisy on display is quite astonishing. You have a man who accuses one group of people of using another group of people as slaves to make their lives easier, yet he uses that same group of people to extend his life. You can’t have it both ways, you are either the abuser or the abused, but someone like Yotun believes he can transcend that. That is the problem with righteous causes; no matter how just and right, those with ill intentions can steer it in the wrong direction.
Blade Runner 2029 #5
In Blade Runner 2029 #5, we see that Yotun truly buys into his hypocrisy, that he is blind to himself. When he confronts Ash, he does it in a waste reclamation site that has been overburdened with too much waste due to rapid human consumption. He has made it his base and wants Ash to truly see it as he does. It’s not just a trash heap to him; it’s a symbol. A symbol of human arrogance, of human greed, of human irresponsibility. That he has reclaimed this site and turned it into the home of his revolution means that he turns the symbol into something horrible to something great, right? Not at all; it’s just someone like Yotun, a classic egomaniac, understands that people remember things symbolically. If a savior is to rise, it must be from the ashes of the old world. That’s his statement, not hope for Replicants and a better world, but a message that he is important, that he matters.
The scene with Ash being confronted by several of the Replicants she retired in her old days was well done. I commend Mike Johnson on the excellent writing and Andres Guinaldo on the fantastic art and paneling. This scene is basically a series of ego-stroke for Yotun but also something much deeper for Ash. She has changed since her old days; she has taken a Replicant lover and tries to help Replicants off-world rather than retire them. But her past, her very problematic past, must be confronted before true reconciliation and growth can be made. This is compounded further by the ending where she is put in the tank, like all the other Replicants, she is now on their level, so it may help with the understanding.
Blade Runner 2029 Issues #4 And #5 Are Extensions Of Each Other
Blade Runner 2029 #4 and #5 may be part of two separate arcs, but they do make an interesting pair when read together. You get to see the folly of the hero and the folly of the villain in one package. On one side, you have a woman being confronted with her past decision that she regrets, and on the other, you have a man that refuses to acknowledge his regrets and would rather prop himself up.
