Cover by Dan Scott
Well, this review is a bit late and I apologize for that. I have a lot of catching up to do and I’d rather not burden you readers with details of my personal life as an excuse for the tardiness of my work, so without further ado…
This issue of Tomb Raider was AWESOME! This has definitely been my favorite of the series as it was action packed and it perfectly treaded the line of old school Lara Croft and reboot Lara Croft that I’m sure would make both sides of the argument happy. Lara kicked ass, cracked wise, but she was still vulnerable and far from invincible. We can see her becoming more confident and embracing her survival instincts rather than being apologetic about them. She has no qualms with killing as long as her life or the lives of her friends are on the line. This is a lesson I never truly felt she’d been at ease with when I played through Tomb Raider 2013, at the end of the game I saw her as a much stronger woman than she’d started out as, but I felt she’d be haunted by nightmares that would give her PTSD that would inform her next adventure. This issue finally put Lara into a solid frame of mind where she easily conquered her fear and saved the day completely.
This issue wraps up the Solarii Cult plot rather well, and I suspect the next issue will lead into a brand new adventure that isn’t rehashed territory from the game. I’d say the ending is climactic and action packed with a twist I saw coming a 100 miles away but was still satisfying. I’m trying not to spoil anything, but the story is concluded with no loose ends; if there are I certainly didn’t notice any myself.
As for the art, well, the backgrounds still leave much to be desired. The game this series is based on had a luscious flora and fauna and the temples and rooms were beautiful and inspired. Unfortunately Nicolás Daniel Selma (Pencils), Juan Gedeon (Inks), and Michael Atiyeh (Colors) never even came close to capturing that in the comics. I will give them this though, their attention to detail and background diversity did improve as time went on but still I felt their settings were flat and far from immersive. The characters fared rather well, but still I would like to see more attention given to the environment and more elaboration to the settings.
I highly recommend this series, and although it can be quite slow to get going once it hits its stride it’s a fun story that continues on the adventure from the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. Fans of the games (both old and new) will find something that represents the Lara they’re accustomed to without it being too alienating and different. The Solarii Cult story has been wrapped up for now and I’m excited to find out where the next issue will lead readers to!
Writer: Gail Simeone
Penciller: Nicolás Daniel Selma
Inker: Juan Gedeon
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Cover Artist: Dan Scott
