Blade Runner Tokyo Nexus #3 Review

 

Writer: Kianna Shore

Artist: Mariano Taibo

Colorist: Marco Lesko

Letterer: Jim Campbell

Editor: David Leach

Creative Consultant: Mellow Brown

Cover Artists: Gabriel Iumazark, Sam Lofti & Mariano Taibo

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 25, 2024

 

Mead and Stix fought together on Kalanthia. Now, the ex-Marine and combat Replicant work as private investigators in Japan. But Stix has been letting Mead down lately. She tried to learn why, but Sayo interrupted with a plea to help her find her sister. Then Stix refused to search for Miyuki, leaving Mead to check out Sayo’s story. A Blade Runner from Los Angeles told Mead that Sayo’s sister was in the morgue. Sayo identified her sister and let Mead and the Blade Runner search Miyuki's apartment. Then, an arrow impaled Sayo. Sayo told Mead it was her Skinjob partner before she died. But why would Stix shoot Sayo? Let’s leap into Blade Runner Tokyo Nexus #3 and see if we can unravel this perplexing mystery!

 

Story

Mead and Stix realized Sayo’s family had links with the Yakuza. Miyuki's fiancée Alura told Mead that Miyuki disappeared while working on a job for Tyrell. Yet when they searched Miyuki's apartment, Mead and the Blade Runner Rumika discovered she worked for Cheshire. The startup hires Tyrell researchers who experiment on replicants that immigrated to Japan illegally. The Tyrell Corporation sent Rumika to investigate rumors that Cheshire was improving their Replicant models. Rumika’s search led her to Mead, which is why the ex-Marine is working with the Blade Runner.

 

A rumor that a new, unsanctioned combat model is killing people brings Tokyo to the boiling point. Mead discovered that someone killed everyone in the Higashi-gumi (East gang?) organization. In response to the ruthless and efficient slaughter, Yakuza groups are attacking any replicants they find. The societal breakdown may not be as overwhelming as Kalanthia's, the colony world where Stix and Mead served together. But as Tokyo devolves into gang warfare, Tyrell gives Rumika new orders in Blade Runner Tokyo Nexus #3. Instead of retiring replicants, Rumika must arrest or kill any Tyrell scientists and terminate Cheshire's workforce.

 

All of this makes Mead wonder how well she knows her partner. She insists Stix is her associate. Yet, as Rumika points out, Stix lives with her. (At least he does when he’s not chasing after the Yakuza abducting his fellow replicants). Rumika also reminds Mead that Replicants have limited lifespans and grow erratic before they wind down. Stix’s enhanced abilities further shorten a combat replicant’s life. Still, Mead saw too much death in the military. Stix’s enthusiasm for life keeps Mead going. Plagued by the horrors of war, Stix’s presence calms and restrains Mead. She cannot believe that Stix is a murderer. Yet Mead saw him running away as Sayo collapsed. And then, there was Sayo’s dying indictment.

 

 

 

Art

Mead clutches Miyuki’s taxi tickets with Sayo’s blood on her hands. White figures behind a black window regard a replicant in an inclined examination chamber. Computer banks, piping, and overhead lights surround the unconscious replicant bound by a foot-wide band across his chest and arms.

 

A silhouette enters an arcade in Blade Runner Tokyo Nexus #3. Rumika’s left hand toggles a lever sideways while she presses a button with her right. Skull-like ships descend toward one of four bunkers while a tank fires up at the invasion fleet before Game Over prompts Rumika to abandon the classic arcade game. The Blade Runner approaches a wall-mounted payphone, and the cord stretches toward her as she places the receiver to her ear. Then, Rumika returns the receiver to the cradle and walks down a hall created by the backs of arcade games.

 

Neon signs and pink lights color the wall and floor near the red telephone in the arcade. Like Rick Deckard's apartment, yellow and orange light streams through the shutters covering the window of Mead's mauve and tan office. Mead sits in one of many semicircular upholstered couches while other nightclub guests enjoy the singing pink and blue holograms. Silhouettes leap from a roof to a fragile skeletal building. Then their green and blue clothing returns as Mead pursues Stix against a blue and purple sky speckled with white.

 

Jim Campbell fills white balloons and colored narrative boxes with black uppercase dialogue in Blade Runner Tokyo Nexus #3. The letters grow bold for emphasis, italicize for off-camera conversations, and occasionally shrink. Giant red letters enhance Rumika’s gunfire. But the most heartfelt effects are Mead's plaintive cry to her fleeing partner and the sound of her plowing through her Human attackers. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Tyrell made replicants to serve off-world. Yet many illegally immigrated to Earth. As Stix helps people whom others regard as property, his Human partner begins to distrust him. His secret life and rumors of a murderous Replicant could cost Stix his life in Blade Runner Tokyo Nexus #3.

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

To preview interior art see my preview at The Dragon's Cache.