Lazarus #14

by Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Santi Arcas & Tyler Boss

By now most people know that Lazarus is one of the best series on comic shelves right now. The distinguished team of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark seamlessly work as one, bringing their A-game to Lazarus. This week’s release of issue fourteen, sees Forever stuck with one of the hardest missions her father has given her yet. She has to assassinate her brother, Jonah.

The world in which Lazarus takes place is a difficult one for everyone living there. We’ve previously seen how bad the “Waste” have it. However, it seems even being a member of one the powerful families who control the world, still comes with a fair amount of baggage.  Having all of the families meeting on this luxurious oil rig, out in the middle of the ocean, brings a feeling of confinement that reflects on the readers. This issue in particular, when Forever interrogates her brother Jonah, you definitely read that scene with a sense of urgency to the intensity of the situation. Rucka has always been known as a master of character development and dialog. With Lazarus, he has really shown off an immense amount of world building that rounds out why Lazarus is such an exciting read.

When you discuss the vastness and complexity of the world that Lazarus takes place in, you must also mention how important Lark’s art is in reflecting that. Lark does an amazing job of capturing a certain atmosphere in scenes that really heighten the reading experience. Again, take the Jonah interrogation scene. Forever takes Jonah down into the catacombs of this secluded oil rig. His backgrounds are so perfect for setting mood for the characters that you almost don’t even notice it. That’s not to say it isn’t appreciated at all, Lark is just so good that he executes his job to the point that readers are entranced into the experience of reading Lazarus. Along with Tyler Boss and amazing colors from Santi Arcas, Lazarus has one of the best art teams working in comics right now.

Another great issue of Lazarus, which is a trend I personally love to see. This is one of those issues of Lazarus that may not have had a lot of action scenes, but sometime it’s those moments between characters that are the most intense. By the end of this issue it would seem that the small thread of peace keeping the families civil under this one roof has finally broken. With everything that happened in this issue of Lazarus, the next issue looks to be even better.