Lazarus #1 Review
Writing: Greg Rucka
Art: Michael Lark
Review by Melissa Megan
Forever Carlyle was shot dead in her family home, trying to defend it from intruders. Then she woke up and killed them all. Next, she fixed herself up and went to meet with her military forces and her brother to work out if the intruders were connected to the attack on her family resources. This is all in a day for the Carlyle family “Lazarus”, who is Forever. She is tasked with protecting her family and their wealth from other families and from the “Waste”, or the less fortunate population. Each family has military forces and resources to survive, those who are not part of these families simply exist to work for them. The Waste are expendable labor, the families precious treasures.
Forever is forced to do her job using brutal force and no mercy. In this new world it is survive or fall and the Carlyle family depends on Forever to do whatever is necessary to keep them in power. She struggles with feelings of insecurity and distress over the actions she must take and her conflicted feelings could become a crack in her armor.
Lazarus is a near future story of survival, wealth and power. It’s a bleak future with only a few lucky families remaining in the top 1%, fighting every day to keep their place. Each family is protected by a chosen member, genetically enhanced to be stronger and better equipped for the responsibility. Everyone else is simply labor, slaves, employees of the lowest form. Economic imbalance rules this world and staying alive means maintaining wealth.
Verdict: Read this. Issue #1 is powerful and smart, a fresh look at a near future for all of us that isn’t so fantastical. This is only the beginning for Lazarus, but already I find the concept very interesting and the writing and artwork exciting. This could turn out to be a rad new sci-fi series that delivers heavy blows, thematically and emotionally.
