Blade Runner 2039 #4: As usual, Johnson tells a story where it isn't totally clear - in the best possible way - where we're going and it's definitely unclear if we're going to get anything close to a happy ending.
Ash has two goldfish-eating twins decrypt the disk Hythe gave her, revealing that Niander is trying to create Replicants who can breed. (One of them refers to the new Replicants as "new Isobels," so I'm not sure Isobel is safe, wherever she is.)
In her penthouse, Chloe reminds us how sharp she is when she figures out Luv isn't there to protect her. Luv lets Chloe know that it was Chloe's use of her mother's maiden name when she arrived on Earth that threw up the red flag. Ash arrives and hands Luv the disc, which I initially thought meant she didn't really care about Niander's efforts and just wanted to save Isobel. Instead, Luv departs to verify the disc, and Ash reveals to Chloe that it's blank. They bolt in Ash's spinner, but Luv is in pursuit. Ash crashes the spinner just past the Seawall, and she and Chloe swim to where Taki runs the Railroad. She informs him that she's closing the Railroad for a while and makes her way home with Chloe.
At home, she learns the Replicants from last issue are still trapped on Earth because the off-world smuggling network has gone to ground. Freysa and Ash are warmer here, which makes me happy. Freysa reveals that she knows about the Replicant cop, and Ash tells her that Luv seemed "less human than human" to her. (Johnson may be setting up some reveal where this breed of Replicant is indeed less human, which seems to track with K's portrayal in "Blade Runner 2049.") When Ash reveals Niander's experiments in fertility, Freysa pushes her to destroy the disc since no one should have that knowledge. Ash archly asks, "Not even Replicants?"
Chloe exits the bathroom having shaved her hair to make her look like Rabbit, and it's a really warm moment between the three of them, which, again, makes me happy. Chloe reveals that Isobel is likely in San Francisco since the original Isobel had family with money there. Freysa says the Bay is a "dark zone," making entry and exit difficult, and, man, I can't wait to see what the Bay is like after the glory of Vegas in "Blade Runner 2049."
The issue ends with Niander revealing to Luv that he made her a partner better able to navigate the world with information the LAPD gave him: a Replicant young Ash!
Local Man #3: The issue starts with Jack attending a book reading, which isn't exactly the way you'd expect this series to start an issue. It turns out Hodag's former teammate, Stacy Wohl, a.k.a. Frightside, wrote the book. Stacy's power is that a "hateful, whispering, inky monster from beyond" possesses her, and Jack doesn't find it a coincidence that Stacy is in Farmington the week someone murdered Hodag, particularly since The Fright (Stacy's monster) could perpetrate the crimes against Hodag's body the murderer did.
Jack shows Stacy Hodag's drawing of the Aphek Engine and wonders if the Desolators were trying to find it. To Jack's mind, Hodag couldn't join the team due to his condition, and the Desolators iced him given his knowledge. Stacy laughs and reveals that Hodag made the drawing based on a conversation they had in an online support group, the Constructors, which Hodag established for ex-villains. But Hodag never got the token because he kept backsliding, "trying to burrow into a quarry...looking for imaginary doomsday devices so he could play villain." Interestingly, Stacy reveals that Hodag developed an eidetic memory after the accident, even though all his drawings look like a toddler drew them. Stacy says that she was in town to help Hodak but is now just staying for the funeral.
There's then a hilarious sequence where Jack thanks the metal-detecting priest who watched Pepper for him (after Pepper yet again unexpectedly followed him) by letting him know God is real, even if God is a "weird android thing made out of gold and platinum" and "eats souls." He then saves said priest from a car hitting him.
Meanwhile, at Stacy's hotel room, someone attacks her, telling her that he read the parts of her book he was supposed to read. She admitted in the book that the Fright gets stronger the more scared she is, so it seems like he's trying to kill her to bring out the Fright.
We end with a few quick hits:
- Jack talks to Inga, and he (not unreasonably) thinks they're flirting. But he crosses a line when he kisses her, which is pretty much Jack to a T. She doesn't react too badly (though makes it clear it shouldn't happen again). When thinking about how Inga's husband is basically just guarding the quarry since nothing happens in the town, Jack realizes he needs to go to the quarry to investigate the Hodag mystery.
- At Third Gen HQ, Cutting Edge sends Soft-Kore into Camo Crusader's quarters; as he pulls a huge cross, she shows him a headline about Jack saving the priest.
- At Stacy's hotel, a maid discovers Stacy's body as the Fright appears ready to enter our dimension.
As expected, we're going interesting places that didn't seem obvious at the series' start.
Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black, White, and Red #1: I haven't been a fan of the previous iterations of this idea, to the point where I felt like an idiot buying this one. But I'm happy to say this one is much better, perhaps because Vader lends himself so well to the concept.
Aaron's story is the series' marquee event, in part because it's going to run through each issue. If I'm guessing correctly, "Doctor Sendvall" helped transform Anakin into Vader, a fact Sendvall's son leverages to lure Vader into an ambush. Vader is aware that the ambush is coming but mistakes Sendvall as a Rebel, which he assures Vader he isn't. Vader is impressive as usual, using a Stormtrooper as a battering ram and severing the hands of several of the attackers and then using said hands to continuing firing the weapons they're holding. (It's a little...much.) Vader corners Sendvall, who utters "Padmé...help me." (It's part of the reason I assume his father was in the room when Vader uttered those words.). Vader is enraged, and Sendvall uses his rage against him, triggering a device that incapacitates Vader. He then calls someone to say that he's bringing Vader to the chop shop. That'll go well.
Although I don't know who Momoko's character is, she dreams of Vader chasing her regardless of what she does to escape, definitely underscoring the story's "Inescapable" title.
The final story does involve rebels, though not the Rebels we know. A group of Torku residents engage in a suicide mission, planning to use an orbital weapon (I think) to destroy an Imperial base hosting a gathering of some of the Empire's most elite citizens, including Vader. The rebels sneak in a scientist who can fix the weapon, which they've been sabotaging for a year so the Empire couldn't use it. Of course, Vader somehow knew their plan, allowing the scientist to fix it and then killing him before he can use it. It's an interesting story in that it reminds us that not everyone was just waiting for the Rebellion to save them. But it does lean a little too much into omnipotent Vader for my tastes.
Also Read: Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures #2
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