SPOTLIGHT
LAZARUS #6
WRITER: Greg Rucka ¦ ARTIST: Michael Lark ¦ COLOURS: Santi Arcas ¦ PUBLISHER: Image Comics
Check this shit if you don’t know what Lazarus is.
Lazarus is a book that appears to be good without even trying. It’s so understated. Nothing is overdone. The pacing and character development is pitch-perfect, while the action and science fiction elements are delivered in small but gratifying doses. Lazarus is a book that knows exactly what it is, and exactly how much it wants you as the reader to know about it.
Issue #6 delves further into Forever Carlyle’s past, revealing more about her in her youth – her training, her role within the family and generally why she has become the person she is – or rather, how she has always been this person. Like everything else about the book, the emotional beats are handled subtly. It will make you feel for Forever Carlyle as a human being. However, Rucka never resorts to some trite, tear jerking mechanism to do this. It’s just a strong issue charged with enough of the right drama to trigger an empathetic response.
As well as learning more about Forever, issue #6 does a fine job of further fleshing out the world of Lazarus. Counter to East of West, which rarely portrays an adequate landscape of the world, we are gradually getting a sense of the world and its inhabitants – how it all works, and more importantly, why.
This is partly due to the introduction of some new, very interesting and very different characters, which by way of their standing in the world are forced to view it in a different way to the Carlyles. But it is also largely thanks to Michael Lark’s sedate and detailed artwork. Lark is a master of anatomy and spacing, but what is really impressive about his work on Lazarus is how much information is in every panel. Characters speak with their bodies and facial expressions, and the backgrounds are full of details and never bare. Every panel has a lot to it, but it is never confusing or cluttered. Larks work is so accomplished that sometimes there is no need for words – a fact that has not escaped Rucka, as he tactfully gives Lark space to breath in Lazarus. It’s an obvious sign of respect that really enriches the book as a whole.
If you are not already reading Lazarus then go to your nearest comic store and buy the first trade and issues 5 and 6. In fact stop reading this and go now – no, wait I still have another comic to tell you about! …hello?
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LOBSTER JOHNSON: GET THE LOBSTER #1 of 5
WRITER: Mike Mignola & John Arcudi ¦ ARTIST: Tonci Zonjic ¦ COLOURS: Dave Stewart ¦ PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
Throwback pulp book based on a character from the Hellboy universe. It’s a little goofy, very fun and a bit sinister. The story is well paced and the art has a great flow to it, especially in the action sequences. Good story, good art, good fun.
spoiled broth 