Review of "Lazarus Risen, issue 2," comic by Greg Rucka et. al.

 Review of

Lazarus Risen, issue 2, comic by Greg Rucka et. al.

Five out of five stars

 I spotted this comic in a used bookstore and it looked interesting, so I bought it. It remained interesting throughout the read, even though it was difficult to understand due to no context being established in the images. The reader is dropped right into a three-way battle where the heroine is going against two allied protagonists.

 Fortunately, there is a page of text at the beginning that explains some of the situation. It is a dystopia, where the world is ruled by a few very powerful families. Their power is based on economic control of nearly all the world. Almost seventy years ago the families made an agreement as to how the world would be parceled and governed. Each family names a champion that has great powers to do battle and recover from severe wounds. That champion is known as a Lazarus.  

 While war is still the killing grounds that it has always been, there are now strange protocols, for even within the domain of a family there are other families that will not hesitate to attempt to usurp the leaders. In many ways it is similar to the days of royal houses, where loyalty to the ruling house is based more on the perception of power that can be lost at any time.

 The opening action is brutal and bloody, but after that it shifts to being more in the area of intrigue and maneuver than a physical battle. The reader learns that even though there are agreements in place between families, there is a lot of room to maneuver, even before the rules are bent.

 This is a dark dystopia with a heroine capable of whipping all comers. Yet, despite her fighting ability, in many ways she is a mere tool to be used in a deadly game of great political and economic power.