Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Lazarus, Volume One

Wonder Woman's Greg Rucka pens a futuristic tale that takes the idea of a dystopia and skewers it just a little bit. Instead of a structured government,or a miltia faction order is maintained by powerful crime families. They control the limited amount of resources. Their most trusted 'employees' have privilege status of rations, clothes and shelter. All other citizens are considered waste.

To protect their interest, each family funnel a large portion of their resources into a single family member known as a Lazarus. Genetically modified with cybernetics, these family champions are the pinnacles of medical science. And this means a lot of rebuilds and a little bit of playing God.

The Carlyle Family's Lazarus is named Forever.  But something is off with 'Eve'. She's got a conscious. Everyone knows that a Lazarus cannot think for themselves because of their programming. With a coup brewing in the Carlyle household, Eve is an unknown factor. She may be loyal to father now. But that very well may change when the family feud formally begins.

I think my wife got me this. I love grab bags and I think this was a part of monthly subscription service called Comic Bento; which is sadly now defunct. I added this book to my collection and then it sat for several years. Man, was I a fool.

This opening volume was phenomenal! Rucka's story had hints of The Godfather, The Terminator and a futuristic medical drama. I've got a lot of questions that remain unanswered. Like what was responsible for the fall of the world governments? How did these crime families rise to power? Yes, I have questions. But they weren't questions that had to be answered in order to enjoy this introduction to the world of Lazarus. If anything, wanted to know those answers are what will bring me back to the series again for volume 2.

Not sure when I will get to visit the family Carlyle any time soon. I'm hoping my local library has the rest. Fingers crossed.

A unique look at the dystopia trope that seems to dominant 21st century comics and graphic novels.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

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