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Blade Runner 2029 #12 brings to a close this volume of the series as well as ends out the story of Yotun. The Yotun story has been a fascinating long-running story in this series, providing a lot of interesting social commentary at the same time giving us great character moments. For a story that began with a big bang, the story is now ending on a much more small scale, somber way, does it work?
The Owl
In the book from which Blade Runner is based, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Deckard and Rachel have a long conversation about the artificial owl in the place they meet. In this conversation, Rachel goes to great lengths to make Deckard believe it’s a real owl instead of an artificial one. Eventually, the ruse is revealed and it’s a great back and forth between the characters that begin their cat and mouse type relationship. In the movie, Blade Runner, this scene is trimmed down to a couple of lines, very memorable ones, but the ruse is no longer there.
In this version, Rachel was not trying to trick Deckard about the nature of life, for at the end of the day did it matter? In Blade Runner 2029 #12, Yotun travels to Tyrell’s old home in the mountains to dig up what he believes is the key to the future. What he finds is a box that contains the skeletal remains of an owl. It was not the key to the future he wanted, instead, it was the question that created the future he is living in. The question that leads to his creation, all replicant creation, even human procreation. Can you beat death?
All of human existence is built on the basic concept that you will die. It could be a minute from now or a hundred years from now, it doesn’t matter, death is inevitable. So much of our basic instincts are about creating a legacy that will go on past us. That could be putting our mark on something to shout to the world “I was here, I lived, and I was important” or it could be as simple as passing your genes down via offspring. Death in many ways determines everything about human life. For a Replicant, whose life spans are much shorter, those questions come quicker.
In the sister series from Titan Comics, Blade Runner: Origins, we found out that Replicants get to the point of sentience they are in the movies because of the transference of human minds into the Replicant bodies. The entire Replicant creation was an attempt by Tyrell to break the cycle of life and death, to live beyond his years while simultaneously leaving his mark on the world. The parallels between each part of this franchise, from the book to the movies, to the new comics, they all lead back to that owl scene. Does life exist after death? Is artificial life different from normal life? Does it even matter?
Yotun’s End
In Blade Runner 2029 #12, Yotun finally meets his end. He dies in a grave of his own making, both literally and metaphorically. He was a mass murderer, a terrorist, a manipulator, and a freedom fighter. Where the line is drawn between good and evil, a terrorist and a freedom fighter is a very fine line. I have talked at length in previous reviews of previous issues that Yotun had a messiah complex, he formed a cult around himself, propped himself up on the backs of his followers, and took advantage of their pain. This is all true, this was who he was.
But he also lit a fire, both for Tyrell and the Replicants in general. For the Replicants, he showed that they can stand up against their oppressors and declare themselves as real beings. He showed, despite his many failings and self-serving nature, showed that the Replicant lives matter. For Tyrell, he took on Eldon’s memories and kept himself going far past his life span expectancy of his particular Replicant model. He beat death, at least for a time. Eldon Tyrell lived on and made his mark on the world in the form of Yotun. But is it a mark that is worthy of remembering?
Blade Runner 2029 #12 Ends The Volume In A Way That Makes You Appreciate The Whole
Blade Runner 2029 #12 is a nice slower-paced issue compared to the past few and brings the Yotun story to an end. This volume of the series began at a sour spot for me, I felt the end of the Blade Runner 2019 volume was contrived in a way to continue a story that had come to a natural end. Do I still agree with that assessment? Yes for that volume, however, Blade Runner 2029 #12 ends this particular arc and volume in a way that makes it worth it in the end. Good job Mike Johnson and Andres Guinaldo for turning around on this volume of the series, as in the larger whole it is better than the first.