REVIEW: Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark

I still consider myself relatively new to this whole comic book scene. Over the summer, I read Saga under a then-new-friends advice. When I saw Lazarus in a comic book store at the end of the summer, I noticed it was by the same publisher and was thus intrigued. It has caught my eye a few times since then. With a stack of books at home, I am often reluctant to pick up new books. When I saw it on sale for less than six dollars on Amazon, I thought about the gift card I have been saving for months. Then I bought the trade paperback of Lazarus.

The trade paperback of Lazarus, written by Greg Rucka with art by Michael Lark, collects the first four issues of the dystopian story. Rucka and Lark seem to be relatively comic-book famous, known for other stories they have worked on.

Lazarus starts rather harshly, with the death of a young woman in an alley. This future dystopia is based around the idea that a handful of families picked up a majority of the wealth and status when the country (world?) caved in on itself. A sort of feudal system exists and Forever, our main character (yes, the one who died in the alley in the beginning – this story is called Lazarus, clearly this is not a spoiler), exists to resolve issues that arise between families. Her origin seems mysterious and inorganic, this is a piece of the story the collection dances around a bit.

The art is fantastic, the writing is compelling, and I am debating picking up Issue #5 (currently at a local comic seller) instead of waiting for the next trade paperback.

All-in-all, I would recommend this to those who like dark, gritty dystopia.

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Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (ISBN: 978-1607068099) is published by Image Comics and should be available at your local book or comic book seller.