SNBF
Sack Time
Talking Nerdy
LAZARUS volume three CONCLAVE
written by GREG RUCKA
art by MICHAEL LARK with TYLER BOSS
letters by JODI WYNNE
colors by SANTI ARCAS
If
you haven't read Lazarus at all it's about a dystopian future where
families own regions of the world kind of like medieval times. Most
families have an unstoppable soldier that can practically die and come
back. The main character is Forever Carlyle of the Carlyle family, and
she looks like Gina Carano. The Carlyle's are one of the most powerful
families in the world. She is the Lazarus of her family. This is a
strongly episodic series so I suggest you buy and read the previous
material before encountering this one.
It starts with a
dossier profile of the families and its members. Then it shows and
explains how Jonah Carlyle betrayed his family by working with their
arch nemesis even if it wasn't in the way he intended. This sparks a
series of events that lead to the conclave, a meet-up of all the leaders
and their allies. Multiple facets of this world are revealed in various
manners. One of which leads to Forever facing another Lazarus in a
trial by combat. It's peculiar how advanced yet so barbaric this society
is. Seeds of doubt are placed upon Forever through a mysterious
message. She is ordered to conduct certain missions she's not
comfortable or happy with.
It's sad to see how her family
uses and toys with Forever. They treat her like an instrument of death
to be used when needed. She's a useful and valuable pawn to them but
she's slowly catching on to the game. She starts taking steps of her own
choosing. She's almost like a child in a teenagers body. She even
experiences a budding romance. Seeing all the Lazarus interact was quite
interesting. All of this book sets up for a war to come brilliantly.
Greg
Rucka magnificently pens the arc for this story and it's characters.
He's definitely playing the long game for this one though. It's slow
moving but it's wonderful seeing the pieces of this puzzle coming
together. The world he's created here is delved deeper than ever before
and the same can be said for some of the characters especially our star,
Forever Carlyle. In previous volumes you he builds empathy for her. In
this one you feel for her in other ways, pride and joy, just to point
out a couple. These bread crumbs keep me hungry for more so Rucka is
doing something right.
Speaking of doing things right, I can't
imagine anyone doing a better job on the art. It's dark, gritty, yet
semi realistic and therefore colorful when it needs to be. For the most
part though this world is dreary and drab. The family, the serf, and the
waste are shown quite clearly. The expressions are subtle yet clearly
get the point across. It's impressive.
The combination of
writing and art are hitting the mark of what they're going for perfectly
as far as I'm considered. I'm not sure how this society got to this
point but I don't care, only about what happens going forward with
Forever. I want to see how her and her family traverses this political
mine field they're going into. I strongly feel you will too after
experiencing this story of betrayal, politics, family, and people used
as pawns who can defy death.
Grade: BUY!!
