Written by Michael Green & Mike Johnson

Art by Andres Guinaldo

Titan Comics, out now

 

Los Angeles 2019, and ‘Blade Runner’ Detective Ashina is on her own in her investigation of the kidnapping of the wife and daughter of business tycoon Alexander Selwyn. Meanwhile, South of the border is an island populated by Replicants.

We’re only a couple of pages in to this fourth instalment of Michael Green and Mike Johnson’s continuation of the Blade Runner story when Ash arrives at El Santuario, and this signifies the unravelling of the plot. Ash is arriving with the reputation of being a Replicant butcher, but the bigger concern is that Selwyn has been in the process of signing over his daughter in return for a lifetime of new models – an infinite wife. Cleo has a genome that holds the secret to Replicant longevity, and that’s why she’s so desirable.

Selwyn and his armed forces arrive on the island, and pages of action-packed skirmishes ensue, with Isobel sacrificing herself so that Ash and Cleo can escape. Unfortunately, this is only a brief respite, and there’s nowhere to hide from someone with such vast resources at his finger tips. As we reach the end of Book One, where can we go? A new life awaits us on the Off-world colonies.

Verdict: Michaels Green and Johnson deliver a satisfying conclusion to their detective story, leaving Ash and Cleo in a strong place to start the next chapter. The art by Andres Guinaldo continues to impress, fusing Blade Runner iconography with new ideas, and Ash is more developed then Deckard ever was. Let’s see what happens next in this dystopian nightmare as we prepare to enter the real November 2019. 9/10

Nick Joy