The moment of breathing and calming the threads in the third installment of Lazarus passes forever. The duo of Greg Rucki and Michael Lark decide to throw the comic book reader into a whirlwind of changes. The next parts - Poison and Shots - are filled with escalating conflicts, leading to the outbreak of war. They also show more and more clearly the emerging dilemmas of the title defender of the Carlyle family - Forever.
The future is now
The near future is a world ruled by the families of mafia-millionaires. Geographical or cultural divisions are the past, the most important thing is money. Does this reality sound unbelievable? We already live in a time ruled by the rich. It may sound like a truism, but their primary concern is to increase their financial influence, not to improve the lives of the public. It is clearly shown by the rule of Trump or the practical dictatorship of Putin (with assets beyond estimation). Not only the presidents, but also the entire supporting entourage get richer and reward each other with cash bonuses, such as Russian ministers with huge villas hidden in reservations or Medvedev, who artificially brings snow to his property just to feel the atmosphere of winter. On the other hand, multinational corporations are doing very well and putting more and more pressure on states, and the value of the individual, the common man, is only losing importance. To all this, let’s add the present pandemic, predicted by scientists and ignored by the powerful of this world. Sounds dystopian enough?
A world full of divisions
In Lazarus, such activities are the norm. Only Families count. Their faithful subjects are only used pragmatically. They only have value if they are able to fulfill the functions specified by the principals. They can be called “modern slaves” because any objection in their case is pointless. The rest of the inhabitants, who do not play any significant role, are worthless the lowest social strata, contemptuously called “Waste”.
Volumes 4 and 5 greatly expand and reveal this world to readers. Plot , each of the previous Lazarus was very different from each other; it made him unique. Unfortunately, Poison and Gunshot have lost this unique feature, they are closer to each other – where one begins the war threads, the other continues them. It’s a pity. But this is at least an opportunity to see more Lazarus from different parts of the world in action – their cooperation and competition. Additionally, we can see how much they don’t count as individuals. They are treated almost exclusively as tools in the hands of their families.
A delicate (not?) Spoiler
The dynamics of the heroes’ development is still preserved. Both volumes are great with female characters: self-confident and complex, but also without flaws and doubts. We see how, after the attack on the senior Carlyle, his children try to find themselves in a new situation. Forever’s sister Johanna takes over. He becomes a skillful player who gradually turns the internally conflicted Forever to his side. It is a real transformation: from a self-righteous combinator to a determined, but also more responsible Johanna. Forever, on the other hand, becomes much more human. We discover her next face, full of emotions and suffering. A new, seemingly innocent girl also enters the game, who, I suspect, will mess with our Lazarus in the future.
Graphics for a medal
Drawings by Michael Lark and Tyler Boss, as well as their color by Santi Arcas are impressive. The individual pages, additionally curled up with skillful inking, make a great impression. Deep black, which outlines the figures and background elements in detail, intertwines with delicate, pastel colors. The frames are dynamic, and among them we can also find many beautifully bloody ones. Owen Freeman, on the other hand, made the title pages and additional boards wonderfully. It was the great cover of the first comic that caught my eye and encouraged me to buy it. Visually, it’s just great: both at the beginning of the series and in its newest installments.
As for the edition, I have only one small remark: the four and five on the spines of the comic book are bold, which makes them slightly stand out from the previous volumes on the shelf. But I only take it as a pick on my part.
Pending the revival of the series
Volume 5 ends with a brutal cliffhanger and screams out to heaven for vengeance that Rucka is really sluggish with new material! There is only one volume left on the horizon, which is a spin-off of the series, and it seems that we will have a long wait for the fate of Forever and the rest to unfold.
