BLADE RUNNER ORIGINS #10 – Review

BLADE RUNNER ORIGINS #10, from Titan Comics on March 16th, 2022, weighs the consequences in the aftermath of the battle of Sector-6B. Nia reaches a breaking point, and Ilora is called to account before a higher power.

The Details

• Written By: K. Perkins, Mellow Brown
• Art By: Fernando Dagnino
• Colors By: Marco Lesko
• Letters By: Jim Campbell
• Cover Art By: Dani Strips (cover A)
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: March 16, 2022

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Was It Good?

BLADE RUNNER ORIGINS #10 takes the long-overdue step of revealing how/why Nia came to be in a Nexus body and Ilora Stahl’s master plan. The reveals fit the narrative of the story, but the motivations are odd, so the satisfaction level may not work for everyone.

Up to this point, were three major, unanswered questions surrounding the series. 1. Why did Dr. Kine transfer herself into a replicant body who resembles her brother’s imaginary friend from childhood? 2. How/why did Cal’s sister get transferred into a replicant body? 3. What was Ilora Stahl’s plan? Well, this issue earns high marks for answering 2 out of 3, and that ain’t bad.

We’ll cover some spoiler-ish specifics in the next section, but we’ll cover how effectively those reveals played out here.

The reveal of Nia’s “transition” makes sense in the context of the story. The machinations of Tyrell corporation are never above using people as guinea pigs, and unfortunately, Nia gets caught up Stahl’s plan in a scenario that reads and feels very much like Robocop. If you know the movie, you get the reference, so it makes sense how it plays out.

The only offputting part is Nia’s early interactions with Stahl. Their conversation is contentious as Stahl’s project involves using replicants in teaching positions, and Nia pushes back with some subtly racist comments that make it difficult to get on her side and tear down the character a bit.

Moving on to Stahl’s plan. It makes sense from a particular point of view, but it feels overly complicated. There are much simpler, less controversial ways of winning the public trust, and it feels like the writers spent too much energy focusing on a social message about advancing out of poverty through a corporate/capitalist lens and did it at the expense of making a plan that makes sense.

On the plus side, Dagnino’s art is consistently excellent. The character expressions are authentic and expressive, and Lesko’s colors capture the dusty sunset feel of the near future.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

If you’re unsure about what happened at the battle of Sector-6B, first read our BLADE RUNNER ORIGINS #9 review.

We begin with a flashback to Nia’s time as a teacher. The Tyrell corporation received an agreement from the school district to start implementing replicants as teachers, and Nia is tasked with training the replicants during the semester break. It’s clear she’s unhappy about being replaced and she says as much (and more) when Ilora Stahl shows up to check progress when Ilora tries to recruit Nia to act as a Tyrell advocate.

Later, Nia develops a mild friendship with the replicants when she learns they’re not all bad, and they seem to have a genuine desire to learn and be good teachers. Suddenly, an explosion rips through the school, killing several teachers and critically injuring Nia. When Ilora hears of the incident, she arranges for Nia’s ambulance to be intercepted and asks Dr. Kine to prepare her experimental transference procedure. Nia will become an advocate whether she likes it or not.

We conclude the issue in the now with Cal and Nia arguing about what to do next, and Ilora receiving a call to headquarters to atone for her actions.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.

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