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Blade Runner 2029 #6 and #7 see some startling revelations in past and present for both Ash and Freysa in relation to Yotun. Meanwhile, Yotun’s forces march on LAPD headquarters and render Los Angeles defenseless in the current Replicant Revolution. But as we have seen in the previous issues, Yotun can’t help but make everything about himself and his vision.
Blade Runner 2029 #6
Yotun puts Ash in a rejuvenation tank and monologues about this being a chrysalis moment for her. I have talked before that Yotun is the classic cult leader, thinking himself the bringer of justice and the saviour of all. So, in Blade Runner 2029 #6, Ash’s back disability is cured by Yotun. As we see in both Blade Runner 2029 #6 and #7, he even fixed her eyesight, meaning she no longer needs her glasses or her back brace.
This feels like a classic manipulation trick on the behalf of Yotun, which becomes apparent in the following issue. Previously, Yotun subjected Ash to a brainwashing session where she was confronted with the Replicants she has attempted to retire in her past. Even though she is no longer a true blade runner and actually helps the Replicant Underground, this is not public knowledge. So Yotun saw this confrontation with Ash as a tool to teach her a lesson, a lesson that she has already learned long ago, that Replicants are people. He then gives her spine and eyes, something that was offered to her before, and she turned down because she believed her disability was a part of her and not something to be ashamed of. This is to make her more sympathetic in the long run.
Yotun is trying to twist the narrative so that he can come out looking like the good guy. He showed Ash the error of her ways and gave her a normal life. In some twisted and messed up way, he sees himself as helping her see the world the way he sees it and that maybe she is the only human worth keeping around. It cost countless lives in a radical revolution that feels more like a monument for Yotun to prop himself up rather than any grand statement.
Blade Runner 2029 #7
In Blade Runner 2029 #7, the Yotun propping himself up and making himself more sympathetic to Ash is driven home even further. In a brilliant use of flashbacks by Mike Johnson, we see Freysa’s past as well as Ash’s. Ash was a troublemaker who caught the ire of the law because she was trying to fend for herself. She was young, full of resentment and anger, and spots lines about the classist society she lives in that are reminiscent of Yotun’s overall vision. Meanwhile, Freysa was a combat medic thrown on the front lines to keep the Replicant soldiers up and running so that money wasn’t wasted on replacing them and human lives weren’t lost. It’s war as business, and she saw firsthand how the dehumanization that happens in war and business collide to kill her friends and nearly kill her as well.
But that’s the rub, Yotun was there at the Battle of Mesa Echo Erebus; he was the soldier that saved her life on that miserable battlefield. So, in a twisted way, she owes him for saving her life. So now, both Freysa and Ash have this twisted tie to Yotun that is simultaneously personal and manipulative. They owe something of value, a part of their lives, to him. This twisted connection can lead to a lot of potential drama in the coming issue as Ash zeros in on the final confrontation with Yotun with Freysa stuck in the middle. How will the events of Blade Runner 2029 #6 and #7 will affect their relationship going forward? How will Yotun be dealt with now that he has a deep personal connection to both of them? It’s anyone’s guess, and I can’t wait to find out.
Andres Guinaldo has consistently knocked it out of the park with his art, but Blade Runner 2029 #6 and #7 need special attention because of the way he handles Ash. Her getting accustomed to not having a back brace, being cured, and not even wearing glasses anymore makes her suddenly stand out to the viewer. We feel her confusion and uncertainty because Andres Guinaldo makes us feel uneasy about this change. Something about Ash feels off without the glasses and the back brace, which makes each panel where that is called attention to stand out. The final two pages of Blade Runner 2029 #7 create a sense of tension not just in the velocity and the stakes of the story, but in the way a very unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time Ash gets closer to the camera. Great visual storytelling all around.
Blade Runner 2029 #6 And #7 Ensures We And The Characters Are Closely Tied To Yotun
Blade Runner 2029 #6 and 7 see us delve into the pasts of Ash and Freysa and see their connection to Yotun. His already narcissistic attitudes are amplified by the fact that he has made both these characters, are heroes, connected and in some ways sympathetic to him. This ratchets up the tension that makes the already unlikable Yotun seem all the more menacing.