Lazarus #1-4
by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark
(Image Comics, 2013)
Dystopian future sci-fi. Neo-feudal commentary on class divisions. Kick-ass lady with a sword.
Image comics description of issue #1:"FAMILY," Part OneIn a dystopian near-future government is a quaint concept, resources are coveted, and posession is 100% of the law. A handful of Families rule, jealously guarding what they have and exploiting the Waste who struggle to survive in their domains. Forever Carlyle defends her family's holdings through deception and force as their protector, their Lazarus. Shot dead defending the family home, Forever's day goes downhill from there....
Forever Carlyle, known as Eve, is the Lazarus of the Carlyle family. She appears to be able to recover from any wound (the cover to the first issue shows her with a gunshot wound to the head). In these issues we are introduced to the various members of the family and the internal power struggles which seem very much like those in A Game of Thrones.
The population of any given place we are shown is referred to in three categories: family, serfs and waste. This shorthand gives a strong sense of how the world works. You are either a part of the family, work for the family or you are utterly unimportant.
The first issue sets up this world and introduces us to Forever and some of her family. The second issue shows us more of the family and how they interact, the third introduces us to family Morray and the relationship between them and Carlyle. In the fourth we really see what the Lazarus can do and a big can of worms is opened.
I have been a fan of both Rucka and Lark together and separately for a while, They collaborated with co writer Ed Brubaker on the excellent Gotham Central, Rucka wrote the excellent British spy drama Queen & Country and Lark, with Ed Brubaker writing took on and lived up to the unenviable task of following Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev on Daredevil. Their work here is equally good. While some comics writers write as episodes of a serial (Brian K Vaughan in Saga comes to mind as a current comparison) Rucka’s pacing here seems more like chapters of a book. It really takes a few chapters to get a proper feel for the series but it is very worthwhile. By the end of issue #4 we are at the end of one of those episodes of a serial.
Issues #1-4 are available now and then first trade paperback, collecting these four chapters, will be released on the 9th of October.
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