Fans of London-based Titan Comics’ exceptional “Blade Runner 2019,” “Blade Runner 2029,” and “Blade Runner Origins” comics will rejoice to hear that the indie publisher will be dipping back into the neon-splashed hardboiled universe once more with “Blade Runner 2039” beginning this December.
Titan’s ongoing partnership with Alcon Entertainment will again showcase the formidable android assassin named Ashna “Ash” Ashina. The 12-issue series will be the final chapter in the decades-spanning saga of this fan favorite, which began in 2019 with “Blade Runner 2019” and continued in last year’s “Blade Runner 2029.”Â
The award-winning title’s third decade sees Ash colliding with the character of Luv, Niander Wallace’s deadly “First Angel,” who was initially encountered in director Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049” and chillingly played by actress Sylvia Hoeks.
Heading back into this hardboiled futuristic universe is the veteran creative team of writer Mike Johnson (“Supergirl,” “Star Trek”), illustrator Andres Guinaldo (“Justice League Dark”), and colorist Marco Lesko. Having worked together on the previous two “Blade Runner” series, the talented crew brings an instant credibility and experience delivering readers into this dystopian realm first seen in Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, “Blade Runner.”
“This new series marks both the continuation as well as the conclusion of Ash’s story, which started in ‘Blade Runner 2019.’ It’s going to be the most dramatic of the series, and that’s saying a lot after what went down in ‘Blade Runner 2029!'” said Titan’s Senior Creative Editor, David Leach. “It’s great to be working with Johnson, Guinaldo and Lesko again, these guys are what makes it scream ‘Blade Runner!'”
Here’s the official synopsis:
“Los Angeles 2039. It has been three years since Niander Wallace introduced his brand of ‘perfectly obedient’ Replicants, and the ban on synthetic humans has been lifted, at least for the new Wallace models―the older Tyrell Corp’s Nexus 8 units are still hunted by Blade Runners. Cleo Selwyn, first seen as a small child in BR2019, Issue #1, has returned to L.A. some twenty years later, searching for Isobel, a Replicant copy of her real mother who died when she was three. Cleo believes that Niander Wallace is holding Isobel captive, and the only person she can call on for help is the one who saved her so many years ago: Aahna ‘Ash’ Ashina, now an aging and disgraced ex-Blade Runner.”
“Blade Runner 2039 #1 (opens in new tab)” arrives with four stimulating covers for fans to collect: three variant art covers by artists Junggeun Yoon, Veronica Fish, and Butch Guice, and a concept art offering from the late Syd Mead, the acclaimed “futurist” whose visionary preproduction illustrations were responsible for the visual style and exotic 21st century vehicles of “Blade Runner’s” world.
“It’s refreshing to have a comic character to grow and evolve the way Ash has,” noted Alcon’s director of publishing, Jeff Conner. “Mike and Andres are really doing something special. Fans of the series should be very pleased.”
“Blade Runner 2039 #1 (opens in new tab)” lands in comic shops and online outlets in December 2022.
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