writer: Greg Rucka / artist: Michael Lark
What a great day to be a comic book fan. What a great day to be a fan of good story telling with great female leads and complex environments for them to navigate. Lazarus continues to be my favorite comic book. It might be challenged each week by exceptional issues, from other great comics, but I enjoy the overall artistry of Lazarus probably more than anything else. The story continues from the not so happy return of Jonah in last month’s issue as Family Hock is making its move against Family Carlyle by way of Family Bittner. Meet Sonja Bittner, the Bittner Family’s own Lazarus. It’s amazing that we’ve made it through this many great Lazarus issues and haven’t yet had a Lazarus vs Lazarus showdown. I’m guessing, we’re not that far from it yet. There’s also a revisiting and intensifying of Forever’s questioning of her origin as her questions become much more direct. Surely, this will send the rest of the family scrambling to pacify Forerver, but that almost certainly has a shelf life on it. It also brings into question, if all the other Family’s Lazarus have a similar “origin” to Forever.
I’ve noted before that I love what Rucka and Lark do with space, specifically with implied silence as a story telling mechanic. This world is cold and empty and heartless. Those moments are nailed in throughout the run in this book and in this issue specifically. There is such a stock and constant feel to the visuals that when the something violent or abrupt does it occur it is so stark and startling. Just a really well done collaboration with great results.
Lazarus has moved on to a different arc, but it seems to be bigger than the first couple of arcs combined. With open hostilities and involvement with the other Families, the stakes are much higher and the consequences will have to be as well.
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