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Blade Runner 2039 #1 sees the third series in stories following the Blade Runner Ash, the fifth series in Titan Comics’ attempt to expand the universe of Blade Runner via comics, and as far as we can tell the final one planned.
The other series acted as prequels — or in some cases as sequels while adding elements from the sequel film set in the year 2049. As we are now ten years from that film in the timeline, that means characters from that said film can become prominent parts of the story, which Blade Runner 2039 #1 shows.
The Early Life Of Luv In Blade Runner 2049 To Blade Runner 2039 #1
Luv in the film Blade Runner 2049 serves a few purposes in the narrative. She is the “heavy” the villain with physical strength to oppose the protagonist as opposed to the ideological or intelligent main antagonist, Niander Wallace.
She is also the parallel of K, the film’s replicant protagonist, as Luv is what he would be if he did not question and blindly obeyed. Plus, in added irony near the end of the second act, Luv destroys the drive holding the holographic love interest of K named Joi. The joke, of course, when put into correct spellings of the words is that “Love killed Joy.”
Blade Runner 2039 #1 has decided to expand on the character of Luv in a way I never expected to see. Ash, the main protagonist of the mainline Blade Runner comics put out by Titan, doesn’t appear until the very end of the issue. Instead, Blade Runner 2039 #1 is told from the perspective of Luv, early on in her life as she is loaned from Wallace to the police as a Blade Runner.
The issue I have with this as a concept is I’m not sure how much Luv can carry the story. She believes in Replicant superiority, she believes she is better, stronger, faster, and smarter than everyone. Her only loyalty is to Wallace who she acts as bodyguard and executioner for. In a way, Luv is in love with him. This works well in the film as a foil for K, who feels so unloved he seeks the company of a hologram.
In this, Luv is subject to the racism of the police in regards to her status as a Replicant, she is seen fiddling with an item that she breaks out of frustration with her predicament, as though interacting with humans disgusts her on every level. And then she is shown to be brutal and efficient at her job, being a completely apathetic figure, a robot for the irony of using that word.
Compared to Ash, Luv is a rather dull character to view the story from. Maybe this was just a quick narrative trick for this issue, but if not, Mike Johnson and Mellow Brown, have an uphill battle to face in giving Luv a dimension that I somehow believe she doesn’t show in the film itself.
Blade Runner 2039 #1‘s Status As A Sequel & A Prequel
Blade Runner 2039 #1 is co-written by Mike Johnson and Mellow Brown; Johnson has been on this series since the beginning, co-writing with Michael Green who is now a consultant. Mellow Brown was one of the co-writers on the now-finished series coming out along with the previous series with Ash, Blade Runner: Origins.
The fact that this series can be considered a sequel and prequel to both the films and their own work makes it noteworthy, and as the events of the previous series begin to factor in, the cliffhanger of Blade Runner 2039 #1 shows, with the return of a character from Blade Runner 2019. There are also other references made to the films and to Blade Runner: Origins which was a fascinating series but had its issues. If this is the end of Titan Comics’ expansion of the universe, then we hope it does not get too stuck in the rut of being so much of a prequel and sequel that it loses sight of its characters.
Interestingly, Andres Guinaldo is the artist of Blade Runner 2039 #1; he was the artist on the mainline Blade Runner series from Titan, but with the merger of the writers of the other series, you would think Fernando Dagnino would have been brought on even merely as a guest artist.
We think that would be a better way to honor the work of Titan to expand the universe without falling into the classic prequel traps.
Blade Runner 2039 #1 Takes Strides In A New Direction!
Titan’s Blade Runner 2039 #1 breaks from what is expected of the series; it features a reimagined protagonist based upon the movie character Luv from Blade Runner 2049 in addition to writers from the other Titan series; even though this is only the first issue of the concluding series, we hope that they do not discard too much of the character enhancement from the previous series in order to make it more similar to the films.
