A look inside: Blade Runner 2019 #2

I liked Blade Runner 2019 #1. I just wasn’t sure who’s side I was on, and I imagine that’s exactly the reaction writers Michael Green and Mike Johnson wanted.

We have the Blade Runner detective Ashina (Ash) put on a special case because a rich white guy has lost his wife and daughter to an apparent kidnapping.

On the way, we discover that Ash is pretty brutal with some dark secrets of her own.

In Blade Runner 2019 #2 we get to see why Ash leans towards the dark side. Does it excuse her behaviour? I guess that’s a story arc we’ll explore together in following issues. We also get to see why she’s such a good and yet unpopular detective at the same time.

Usually, issue 1 is the strongest in the first half of any comic book series. I wonder if that’s the case this time around. Issue 2 feels more natural. Perhaps this is because issue 1 did the hard work in order to put some distance between 2019 and other Blade Runner stories. If so, issue 2 is successfully riding on the coattails of the opening act, but it feels more traditionally Blade Runner to me. In a good way.

2019 will be a good year for cyberpunks and Blade Runners. We have Shadowrun 6e and Cyberpunk Red RPGs to look forward too.

You can pre-order Issue 2 from Comixology where it is due out on August 21st.