Trade Of the Week: LAZARUS volume three CONCLAVE

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!!