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Blade Runner: Origins #9 and #10 are in an interesting predicament when it comes to reviewing. They are opposites in pace, tone, and overall style. Yet one could not exist without the other. Blade Runner: Origins #9 is an action-heavy issue finishing out the major fight from the previous issue. Meanwhile, Blade Runner: Origins #10 is a slower-paced issue with a lot of great character beats.
Blade Runner: Origins #9
After the crazy yet cathartic personal brawl in the previous issue, Blade Runner: Origins #9 takes the fight to the whole neighbourhood. I talked about how the action was well-paced in the previous issue yet at times stretched believability and consistency with other parts of this franchise. I am pleased to say that the action, while still bombastic and excellently drawn by Fernando Dagino, is much more toned down in the superheroic department. Instead, this issue has the opposite problem of the previous one, it’s the character interactions that come off a bit cheesy.
Several of Nia’s Replicant resistance sacrifice themselves for the sake of the neighbourhood but because we only met them a few issues ago and their personalities are very one-note, it’s hard to feel anything. This is seen no better than Issac’s death defending Cal. Issac is in a relationship with Nia, Cal’s sister, so there is supposed to be more emotional weight there. Instead, there isn’t any because Issac has maybe had a few pages of screen time over the past four or so issues. So when Issac dies slowly in a very B-movie style death scene, Cal is supposed to feel defeated and miserable, same with the audience, instead, I feel nothing. This would have had more impact if the relationship between Issac and Nia were fleshed out more, something Blade Runner: Origins #10 fixes.
Blade Runner: Origins #10
In contrast to the bombast of the last issue, Blade Runner: Origins #10 gives us a nice slower-paced and character-focused story that makes the impacts of the previous one better. Seeing Nia as the teacher she was prior to the Replicant transference is great because it shows how she developed with Issac and grew a new sense of identity. In many ways, Nia was a Replicant racist. She saw the Replicants as a way for the elite to push out the lower classes from their jobs, she saw these Replicants as not human, probably less than human.
Considering her background as growing up in the slums, and her scene where she has a big argument with a previous resident, really shows what K. Perkins and Mellow Brown are shooting for. As a society we categorize people, separate them among various lines in order to create easily definable groups. We then present the society with a system that dehumanizes the other groups, creating an endless circle of hate for each group. Nia sees the injustice she was born into and yet she perpetuates it until she is given insight of the other side. Often those of oppressed groups can do things that reflect the mentality of their oppressors, it’s the nature of the system.
Cal getting a moment to sit down and consider everything is great because of where it puts him in his arc. He used to be a cop, then a corporate stooge, then a free spirit, and now he is stuck in the uneasy position of being the protective brother that he was too busy being the other things to truly be. Nia’s plans are rash, understandable but not well thought out both for the immediate effects and the aftereffects. So can Cal be the brother despite him failing and abandoning all his previous roles?
Bringing in Eldon Tyrell is an interesting move as it coincides well with the end of the sister series Blade Runner 2029 which dealt with his legacy. I’m interested to see where this creative team takes him especially since we know very well what happens to him thanks to the movie.
Blade Runner: Origins #9 And #10 Work Well Together
Both issues are good in their own right, but I think it’s clear I value one more than the other. Blade Runner: Origins #9 is a pure unadulterated fun action romp, but this comes at the expense of true character interactions that I feel are key to this series from the previous issue. Blade Runner: Origins #10 is a return to form, with great social commentary, and character beats, it also makes Blade Runner: Origins #9 better in retrospect.