Written by: Greg Rucka
Art by: Michael Lark
Publisher: Image
It’s really exciting when a book can throw the reader a curve ball like the one in Lazarus #19, even after the rules of the world have been established. What I thought had been a cheap cliffhanger at the end of issue #18 – which I mentioned in my review of the issue – turned out to actually have ramifications. This was far from expected, and what Rucka did with it was great. Of course, in hindsight it does make a lot of sense, so this feels completely justified. I do like that even this deep into the run, Rucka still has surprises up his sleeve, and hopefully this is indicative of thing still to come.
The events of this issue are largely major characters dealing with last issue’s cliffhanger – right up to the last page of the issue, in fact. Rucka does a great job of building up a sense of panic, in Duluth, Seattle, and in Puget Sound. The characters’ tones change slightly, you can feel it in the way Rucka writes them. There aren’t any massive departures or leaps of logic in terms of characterization, but it’s nice to see some of the Carlyles in a different light than their usual cool and collected (Except Stephen, panic has kind of become the norm for him in recent issues). The issue just feels super tense throughout, and it’s quite gripping. It’s also established here that there is some real risk involved for Forever, and if anything, that’s the most impactful part of this issue.
As per usual, Rucka injects a side story into the issue, which seems to be mostly building towards the next part of this story. This is actually something of a continuation of one of the stories from the book’s first arc, and it’s nice to see that it wasn’t forgotten about. The seeds for this were planted back in issue #4 or #5 (apologies for not remembering the exact issue), but seemed to have been forgotten in the interim. Those seeds are now being pulled through in a big through way, and it makes for some very exciting political subterfuge, which is always fun. The character that was re-introduced in issue #18 also comes back in this issue to play a fairly major role, and it seems like he’ll be sticking around for some time into the future.
The last aspect of this issue I want to touch on is the visual story telling. There are, as with the last issue, quite a few panels that are completely silent, and they’re some of the best of the issue. However, it’s even better when the visual story telling is used to complement the written story telling. There are a few panels where facial expressions and body language are just as important as the dialogue, and they mesh perfectly with one another. The creative team really takes full advantage of the medium, and this entire series – but especially the last couple of issues – have been incredible lessons in how to make comics.
