Writer: Nancy A Collins
Artist: Jesús Hervás
Colorist: Marco Lesko
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Editor: David Leach
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: March 4, 2026
Elle hoped to find sanctuary among her own kind in Las Vegas. Instead, she discovered that the Roman and the Egyptian Replicants had become oppressors. Nefertiti and Cleopatra welcomed Elle to their world. Yet she disliked the way they partied. How will the Queens of Las Vegas reward Elle's defiance? And will Elle meet the Semita, a clan of Replicants who view the Romans and Egyptians as their enemies? Let’s leap into Blade Runner Black Lotus: Las Vegas #4.
Story
Cleopatra and Nefertiti made Elle a princess. They threw gladiatorial games to welcome her to their family. But becoming a member of Egyptian royalty comes with responsibility. The Queens planned to wed her to Julius Caesar to cement their ties with the Romans. But when Elle saw Davis among the Human captives in the arena, she couldn't remain in her seat. For her defiance and assisting a Human, Cleopatra and Nefertiti sentenced her to death.
Nancy A Collins propels her story with confrontations among the Replicants, competition among two groups for Elle's head, and a Replicant faction opposed to Humans and any Replicants to perpetuate Human traditions. As each character gets a chance to shine, the central drama plays out between Davis and Elle in Blade Runner Black Lotus: Las Vegas #4. Niander Wallace Jr created Elle to kill others. Davis spent her Blade Runner career hunting Replicants. Yet both women want to make their own decisions about what is right, instead of being tools of others.
As Elle and Davis fight for their future, they learn more about what set them on this collision course. And when Elle needs help, she learns if she can count on her servant Vanna. As one of the Human intruders not killed or condemned to the arena, Vanna serves at the Egyptians' pleasure. Given how the Replicants welcomed her, Vanna has reason to hate them. But when she looks back on her life before Las Vegas, Vanna realizes that freedom and slavery are not as black and white as they seem.
Art
In the Las Vegas Sphere, Elle and Davis are tiny figures on the circular sand floor, about to be crushed between the soldiers' jaws. Egyptian obelisks on the floor and the raised arms of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe cheering in the stands frame the confrontation. Jesús Hervás immerses us in the action as the Egyptians and Romans leap and lunge, thrust and slash.
Up in the royal box, Julius Caesar rages at the Queens in Blade Runner Black Lotus: Las Vegas #4. While both women wear Egyptian usekh, Cleopatra’s golden headdress suggests she is the center of their universe. Adorned with her cap crown, Nefertiti wields an ornamental knife, punishing anyone who disrespects her sister.
While yellow light streams into the Sphere, green tinges the cheering crowds. Red splashes across backgrounds amid the fight. The green, red, and gold of the Sphere combine colors from the Italian and Egyptian flags. Marco Lesko adorns Blade Runner Black Lotus: Las Vegas #4 with a restrained palette dominated by green, beige, red, and purple. But when the action moves to the Semita’s domain, where homeless Humans like Vanna once sought sanctuary, red, yellow, and blue glow like neon.
Jim Campbell fills white dialogue balloons with black uppercase letters that grow bold for intonation. Davis and Elle share what brought them here with blue and tan narrative boxes. The narrator comments on proceedings with italicized letters in beige boxes. Sound effects accentuate the spectacle in the Sphere, while two groups battle for Elle’s bounty in the streets of the irradiated entertainment capital of the world. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Niander Wallace Jr brainwashed Elle. He made her believe that she was in love with him. Then he used her to increase his wealth and power. Blade Runner Black Lotus: Las Vegas #4 reminds us to be careful about who we identify with, who we allow to influence us, and the causes to which we dedicate our lives.
Rating: 9/10
To look inside see my preview of Blade Runner Black Lotus: Las Vegas #4.
For how this series began, see my preview of Blade Runner Black Lotus: Las Vegas #1.
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