The Blade Runner movie series will be getting a new prequel comic, titled Origins. Published by Titan Comics, the book will feature the creative talents of Mike Johnson (Star Trek/Green Lantern), K Perkins (Superwoman) and Mellow Brown (American Gods) and will be in stores February 24, 2021.

The Blade Runner franchise has a long history with comics, dating back to Marvel’s adaptation of the 1982 film that starred Harrison Ford and was directed by Ridley Scott. Between 2009 and 2011, BOOM Studios published a 24-part adaptation of Blade Runner’s source material, the Philip K Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Written and drawn by Tony Parker, this series was a faithful adaptation of that book, but there are many differences between the movie and the novel that inspired it, making for a different take on the film. Beginning in 2019, Titan Comics began publishing a line of Blade Runner comics, all set within the continuity established by the movies and featuring talent such as Michael Green, one of the co-writers of the Blade Runner 2049 film. And now, with Origins, fans are getting treated to the story of the very first Blade Runners.

In a statement to Comic Book Resources, both Perkins and Brown expressed their excitement at working on the project, stating they were fans of the property. They expressed particular excitement over expanding the Blade Runner universe and bringing new perspectives to it by telling the story of the first Blade Runner unit.


Set seven years before the original film, the series tells the story of LAPD Detective Cal Moreaux, who is sent to investigate the apparent suicide of a top-ranking bioengineer for the Tyrell Corporation, the company responsible for Replicants, bio-engineered artificial lifeforms that perform work on off-world colonies. The detective soon learns there is much more to the scientist's death than initially thought and finds himself drawn into a conspiracy involving Tyrell and a prototype for a new kind of Replicant.

The Blade Runner universe is ripe with potential for new stories. Exploring the first Blade Runner unit will undoubtedly provide some serious mythos in the sci-fi universe. There have been several stories and short films that have filled in the gaps between the first and second movies, but this is the first to go back and explore where it all began. The Blade Runner franchise is also known for deep, philosophical musings, and there is so much potential for that here as well. Fans have seen in the movies how Replicants are viewed, but how did it get to that point? The Replicants are still new and watching society grapple with how to handle this amazing fresh technology could make for fascinating reading.