Let’s get this out of the way; the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot was awesome. The originals, in my opinion, were far from classic games. I remember thinking that the story was boring, the characters were forgettable, and the controls were clunky and frustrating. If you ask me, the original Tomb Raider games were mostly popular due to giant and pointy pixelated boobs. The character of Lara Croft was a huge sex symbol adorning the cover of magazines and even starring in two awful live action movies. The games were severely dated relic from the 90’s, and I would have been perfectly fine if they just left it there.
But they didn’t, and to be honest I had no initial interest in picking up the reboot, but then I heard things going around about how Lara was going to be a real character, and not an invincible protagonist oozing sex appeal. I heard they were focusing on the character and telling a mature story…and then I heard the game was awesome. It garnered a ton of positive reviews and I felt compelled to buy a copy. After I finished the game I fell in love with the franchise and I was looking forward to more!
What better way to reintroduce the character as a positive female figure than in a comic book series written by the legendary Gail Simone? Honestly, she’s one of the most prolific female figures in comic book history and the fact that she’s writing the series based on what used to be a pre-internet 13 year old boy’s fantasy gave me a little extra hope in humanity and how far we’ve come in eight years. We are getting a great writer providing a great voice for a great character, who would have guessed?
How’s the comic though? I can say that I absolutely enjoyed it. It opens with a Lara Croft PTSD dream, and briefly explains what happened in the video game. Is this one of those books where you have to play the game to understand what’s going on? No, the recap does a well enough job in bringing everyone up to speed, but PLAY THE GAME! It’s awesome!
Anyway, the comic briefly examines how the events of the game affected the characters, and it’s really nice to see them again even if it’s not under the best of circumstances. Another nice touch is that we aren’t seeing a quip spewing, cliché’ action hero striking sexy poses that glamorize certain parts of the female anatomy. The characters are written and drawn like humans, which served the game and certainly serves the comic here. The first issue sets up a nice story, and I really don’t want to spoil anything else, so check it out as soon as you possibly can.
Script: Gail Simone
Pencils: Nicolás Daniel Selma
Inks: Juan Gedeon
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Lettering: Michael Heisler
Editor: Dave Marshall
