Comic books’ life cycle is different – if something sells well, it usually produces as many issues as the creators planned. There are also situations where despite the popularity of a given title, it takes a break – and although the publishing cycle has not been completed, no further issues are published. Such a vacation was for the Saga of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, who recently returned after a break of over three and a half years. It is a bit different with such items as Lady Killer or Invisible Republic , where in both cases the creators gained fame and went to large publishing houses, abandoning their original projects. Nevertheless, each such break is stressful for the reader, because you never know whether it will be temporary or permanent.
Lazarus also stopped being released at some point. This was due to the busy schedule of cartoonist Michael Lark. The last issue of the original series in the USA appeared in March 2017. Writer Greg Rucka , however, decided to use this time to write a spin-off called X + 66 , with guest participation from other artists. And an extremely rare thing happened here, as the side-work was as good as the main series (you can read more about X + 66 in this review). LazaursI loved the fact that each subsequent volume was clearly different in terms of climate from the rest – from post-apo drama, through a spy story, to a war story. The spin-off went a step further and presented the conflict around the Carlyle family from different perspectives, making the notebook changing the characters.
Play it again, Forever
Unfortunately, I have the impression that the sixth volume is losing that confidence. Lazarus returned to the US in March 2019 and luckily Taurus released it in Poland (which I can’t say about the end of The Living Dead and Black Science ). In the original, the new series has the subtitle Risen, however, we publish it in the old way. This time, Rucka provided readers with a script very similar to the fifth volume. The plot again focuses on the hostilities, where the Carlyle family takes the initiative this time, eliminating the enemy’s Lazar. Forever still feels lost, though her sister Bethany is the only one who seems honest with her. The plot of Eve, the younger version of Carlyle’s Lazarus, is also licked, but it does not lead to any conclusion. And that’s it. Very little happens on 142 pages, there are no breakthroughs (apart from the cliffhanger at the end, but that doesn’t count), and the story simply repeats the previous threads. And perhaps it would not be an objection if Rucka had not accustomed the audience to a higher level – at a time when each previous volume was unique, such a repeat simply fails. And I’ll explain right awayLazarus is not a bad comic, it still has many positive features of its predecessors, only such a slowdown fails expectations. Especially when the series had such a long break and there was time to refine the script.
Dark blue world
As already mentioned, the hiatus in the release of the main series of Lazarus was forced by Michael Lark. And it was worth waiting for him. A realistic line is usually boring, although in the case of this artist a similar accusation cannot be made. Everything is drawn with strong ink shadows, which works great with muted colors from Santi Arcas. The only problem I have with volume six is the weird decision to send Forever to the barber. And well, the hedgehog hairstyle certainly makes more sense in an armed conflict, but … it is already worn by another character in the series – Marisol. This way, the two characters look almost identical. It took me a while to realize that I was following not Forever, but her mentors. It is neither legible nor plot-based.
War… war never changes
The newest Lazarus is a comic, generally speaking, good, although it fares worse than its predecessors. It is possible that the reception of the continuation would have been different had it not been for the long break, during which my appetite increased significantly. And here, however, Greg Rucka served a reheated chop. I hope that the next publishing stops will not be anymore (although the pace of publishing new numbers in the US is quite slow …), and the next volumes will move the story forward to a greater extent.
