Where do I even begin with my love for Lazarus? I mean, ll I should have to say is “Hey, guys, Greg Rucka is writing a comic” and everyone should just run out and start buying it. As with Deadly Class, Lazarus was the best it’s ever been this year. If it continues its upward trend – hell, if Rucka and Michael Lark just maintain the book’s current quality – it will likely be remembered as Rucka’s masterstroke.
For me, Lazarus is the perfect blend of political thriller and action movie – it’s smartly written, does a great job building characters, but isn’t afraid to pull out the big action set pieces when appropriate. It’s what every piece of dystopian fiction ever created should aspire to be. Because Lazarus exists, there’s no excuse for other dystopian fiction to not be equally brilliant. The protagonist, Forever Carlyle, puts Katniss Everdeen, Thomas from The Maze Runner, and Beatrice Prior to shame. No, it really does.
It’s also an exercise in how you do visual storytelling. I’ve raved about how multiple issues of the series this year don’t even use dialogue for extended stretches of time. Part of what makes Rucka so brilliant is that he knows when to step back and let Lark take over, and handle the storytelling all on his own. And, honestly, Lark really proved that he’s more than capable of doing just that.
Lazarus was firing on all cylinders this year. It’s a book that seemed to hit its groove in its first arc, and has never been bad, or ever really suffered from growing pains. But this year, the creative team pulled out all the stops. They went bigger than ever before, and deepened character dynamics. Everything about Lazarus was just better than it’s ever been before.
