Lazarus #7

By Greg Rucka, Michael Lark & Santi Arcas

This week’s release of Lazarus continues the Lift storyline which has both shown us glimpses of Forever’s past upbringing while also showing us a first-hand look into what life is like for the “waste” who occupy the Carlyle family’s territory. After losing their home, the Barret family set out to try to make a better life for their children by hoping they are chosen by the Lift Selection to serve the Carlyle family.

This latest arc of Lazarus has done a wonderful job of really showing how the weakest and poorest people (the “waste”) strive to live under the various families who now control the wealth and thus the power of the world. Every issue has shown life get harder and harder for the Barret family but they suffer their worst loss yet in this issue. While seeing glimpses of the hardships of this one family of “waste,” we are also shown flashes of a young Forever Carlyle’s past as she is trained into the warrior Lazarus we know today. Rucka has been doing some interesting stuff with this arc of Lazarus, showing Forever’s past immensely helps to build her into a deeper character. Intercut the relations of the powerful families in charge with the suffering of the Barret family really shows the wide range of life that inhabit this world these creators have built. Rucka also has a present plotline with Forever dealing with a rogue group of “waste” that may be involved in some terrorist activities. That particular plot is fascinating because it shows Forever thinking and acting more like a compassionate human and not just a warrior killing machine but also merges both the privileged life of the families with the miserable existence that the “waste” must live in.

Lazarus has some of the best looking art of any series on the shelves right now. Michael Lark has been killing it on this book so far, this Lift arc in particular has been fairly impressive. One panel that stuck out this issue also happened to be the last, when the Barret’s finally see the line of people waiting for the Lift it truly shows how hard life is for most of this world’s population. Lark is able to superbly balance the sleek futuristic look to the Carlyle family’s environment, to the bleak and desolate landscapes that the “waste” are forced to occupy. Lark’s art on Lazarus is beautifully complex because it gives you a technologically advanced world that still carries a heavy, dark vibe of scarceness.

Lazarus continues to be one of the strongest ongoing series that is currently coming out on a monthly basis. Rucka and Lark work incredibly well together and it shows on every single page of Lazarus. Even though this arc seems different compared to the previous, its issues like this that make you realize that they are just two sides to the same coin. The Lift is still continuing Forever’s story but it’s also showing us different aspects of what life is like in this world Rucka and Lark have built which is turning out to be a very fascinating read.