The writers of the latest Blade Runner comic break down the creation of their retro-futurist Japan
Aug. 6, 2024Kianna Shore and Mellow Brown reveal how they envisioned the world of Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus
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The rain-lashed world of Ridley Scott’sBlade Runnerhas expanded again – and this time humans and replicants must work together if they want to survive a deadly mystery.
First up, however, is a selection of covers for the new issue by (from left to right) Christian Ward, Andy Belanger, Dagnino, Paul Pope, and Taibo.
“I am a huge fan of these particular pages,” said Mellow Brown of the preview pages above. “They definitely capture the ‘promise of the premise’ in a way that is distinct to Blade Runner. While many other cyberpunk universes would take the Japan setting and fill it with samurai and cyber ninjas, it instead chooses to comment on the state of a place that has issues that are ironically parallel to what’s happening in (the in-universe) Los Angeles.”
Brown went on to explain how the location reflects things about the series' protagonists. “It locks in on what it feels like to live in a false utopia and questions how much our lead, Mead, is willing to compromise themselves for peace they feel they’ve earned. It’s in juxtaposition to the dark, rainy, neon-soaked environments we’ve grown accustomed to. But, it shows that level of peace comes at a price, creating new challenges unique to this environment. It reminds the reader that they are in a noir and poses a philosophical challenge that makes us ask the same thing. Who are we willing to sacrifice for peace?”
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Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus #1 is out now from Titan Comics.
Check out where Blade Runner lands on the list of the30 best sci-fi movies of all time.
Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.
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