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Blade Runner: Origins #2 really gets things going in the story, upping the ante and taking the action up a notch. But the less introspective pace, as seen in the last issue, doesn’t stop it from bringing up some interesting concepts that I hope the series continues to explore.
More Human Than Human
As the new Nexus 5 Replicant catches up to its prey, Cal sits down with Dr. Kine’s partner, Effie. Their conversation illuminates some interesting questions about the Blade Runner universe. The Tyrell Corporation created the Replicants to be robotic workers, nothing more, nothing less. But Tyrell himself had a motto, “More human than human,” it’s clear he had a certain vision for the replicants that others didn’t. So, as the models evolved, Kine and Effie were put in charge of making them need things. They gain curiosity, hopes, dreams; they became in every sense of the word human. But here is the catch, which Cal points out, why make them like us?
Think about it, a machine designed to be the most efficient worker or soldier wouldn’t have to be confined to the human shape and the human mind. As a matter of fact, molding them to look like us and act like us actually limits their effectiveness. So what exactly was the reason for making them human-like in the first place? In the movie, Tyrell treats the replicants as his children, a perfect angel, a creation that rivals God himself. Is it that, is it really human hubris, an attempt to beat God at his own game?
Dr. Kine’s office sheds some light on this. Her office background is a generic scenic view of trees, she could have had any number of backgrounds programmed, yet she chose trees. Trees are many things to many people, but the most important detail for this is that they are ageless preservers of history and life. Trees can grow to be ancient, and inside of each of them is a ring pattern that details its own unique history. So my thinking is that the reason to make the Replicants human is a legacy thing, that eventually humans will die out, and we need something to archive our existence. I don’t know, but clearly, K. Perkins and Mellow Brown have an idea they are toying with, and I’m interested to see where they go.
Devil’s In The Details
Letterer Jim Campbell and artist Fernando Dagnino deserve recognition for their work on Blade Runner: Origins #2. Campbell’s clever use of fonts and distorted tech helps convey a sense of unease and shock from Effie when she has her conversation with Ms. Stahl. It’s just a blink, and you miss its detail, but the letters in “Destroyed?” are spaced out and distorted in a way that makes you read it in a particular tone in your head—a panicked shock with a mixture of disbelief. Letterers often go unrecognized for their craft, but their subtle touches make the work that much more cohesive, and Campbell did an excellent job here.
Fernando Dagnino’s panel layouts are powerful in Blade Runner: Origins #2. Near the beginning, Cal is in shock, pointing his gun at a door, and doesn’t move a muscle. In dialogue, we find out he was like that for an hour. But the icing on the cake is what Dagnino does with the panels of Cal pointing the gun. He splits a close-up shot of Cal into three panels; this subtly guides the viewer into seeing Cal as unnerved and perhaps a little broken from this ordeal. In the previous issue, we saw that he had experience with a previous model of Replicant that slaughtered an entire squad, and it horrified him. The memories of the scene must be playing over and over again at this very moment as he is about to face another Replicant after so long. But the comic doesn’t need to hold out hands and explain this as Dagnino’s simple, but an effective split of the close-up into three panels conveys this perfectly.
Blade Runner: Origins #2 Packs A Punch But Knows When To Slow Down
Blade Runner: Origins #2 keeps with the Blade Runner tradition. After a more introspective opening, we ratchet up the action and tension but never lose sight of the philosophical discourse this franchise is so good at.