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“Lazarus” #28

By | May 31st, 2018
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With a cover like that, did you think this would end well for Jonah? This is “Lazarus.”

Written by Greg Rucka
Illustrated by Michael Lark and Tyler Boss
Colored by Santi Arcas
Lettered by Simon Bowland

“FRACTURE: PRELUDE,” CONCLUSIONJonah Carlyle is dead, and Jonah Ker has made a new life for himself on the edges of Bittner Territory. But as much as Jonah may have escaped his Family, he cannot escape the world his Family has made.

The resurrection of Jonah Ker née Carlyle continues in “Lazarus” #29. The prelude to ‘Fracture’ manages to do a surprisingly good job at building sympathy for this Devil. It is still an odd feeling to have for a character who at the start of “Lazarus” was all Jamie Lannister in ugly privileged spirit with none of the good looks or subversive charm. Than again, that lift gets to the core of what Roger Ebert talked about when he described films as machines that could generate empathy. Which is why it feels so tragic, and fitting, that the system he helped operate comes back to haunt him and threaten to take this better life away.

This feeling of sympathy and the means of its production is an interesting one to consider. Is it primarily the product of a projection on the part of the reader, or is it a feeling that is supported in the text? Reduced to Waste, Jonah’s arc has been about realizing and witnessing the inequities of the neo-feudal system he helped run. In an issue that spans weeks and months in a single page, there is no one moment of realization for Jonah. The figure of Jonah is something of a cipher in Lark and Boss’s art. He is presented primarily in profiles, his eye patch, which is inked in pure black, creates a mask like lack goes across his face. The patch also makes angles that aren’t strict profiles emphasize a particular side, as if like Two Face he is stuck between presenting as Carlyle and Ker. It’s hard to get a real good look at his eyes, but his body language tells a different story. One thing is certain, he can pull off the Snake Plissken/Solid Snake look quite well.

The primary source of sympathy seems to be derived from how the story is told as the issue goes into a near silent back half. The system Jonah Carlyle helped operate strikes against his new life and he is forced to witness the callus way the ruling families treat their very extended one, ironically because of the privileged position he previously held, which furthers the tragic quality to the character. He is rendered powerless to stop it, he is Waste. The feeling of sympathy comes from seeing the world of “Lazarus” do what it does best, oppress and destroy that which it deems not useful no matter the protagonist. This turns the mask and cipher quality of Jonah into an advantage, he is treated anonymously by the world around him while we understand where he is going and how all the signs plastered around him are very bad ones. The near silent finale is a different beast than the duel between Forever and Sonia Bittner. It’s much slower, even with pages that have been horizontally quartered. It’s a mood piece as Jonah wanders through this space, the drudgery montage on the Factory Ship was priming the reader for this moody expedition. The story and emotion are generated from the context of the image as a whole not the emotive potential of his one eyed face.

Colorist Santi Arcas has developed a very distinct pallet and texture for the series. Generally things are muted with plenty of greens and greys that give the sense of a fallen world. But I can’t quite recall anything in the main series from Arcas that matches the fire that consumes the issues final pages. It isn’t that it brings a luminescence that overpowers the earthy sense of decay. It’s how they pepper in shades of yellow and a lower opacity orange that makes it read as surprisingly realistic compared to everything else. It reads as alive in a way other fires and explosions haven’t and deserves special note.

Continued below

The inconsistent “Lazarus” release schedule has made this two part story rather enjoyable. It was a nice reminder of what the series is about at it’s core removed from the Game of Thrones politic it’s about breaking down systems of control and forging meaningful, genuine, connections with another person. Forever is still working on that, but Jonah seems to have managed this metamorphosis with his new family. “Lazarus” hasn’t been an overly romantic or sexual when it comes to the various relationships in the series, the story world doesn’t really allow for it. Those two things however are what make Jonah and Pernille’s relationship such a potent symbol in comparison to the relationship and “family” dynamic created by the Bittner’s. Michael Lark and Tyler Boss picture them literally connected during their final night together, with a special panel emphasizing their entwined hands. Their union is a nice reminder of the humanist heart at the center of this depressing, dystopian, series.

This physical connection, and relationship in general, is contrasted twice this issue. First by the heartfelt proclamation from Sevra Bittner about the state of the Conclave War. Second by the pornographic propaganda broadcast to the Factory Ship the Ker family is conscripted to. In both cases these relationships are mediated by communication technology, a hologram and TV-like broadcast. Each time these ethereal women make statements their being a family or desire for physical partnership, but they’re so completely false in comparison to how Jonah and Pernille’s relationship is presented. Those two are consistently pictured united. These technological relationships can only be presented by their fractured state, from the flickering hologram or omnipresent, physically absent, monologuing from the adult star. In comparison there isn’t anything worthwhile there. When Jonah eventually smashes the TV screen it seems to be done as much out of anger and exhaustion as annoyance at the fakery everyone is presented with.

Recommending an issue of a series nearly 30 in sounds foolish, but due to the inconsistent release schedule issues #27-28 is an effective primer for “Lazarus” in forty and so pages. The arc Jonah is forced through gets to “Lazarus” at the core. It features many the formal ticks of the series from the studious location and demographic breakdowns to a silent sequence. Issue #28 is a fitting close to this prelude that teases new possibilities as the series switches to a quarterly magazine like format and enters into the year X+68.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – As “Lazarus” tries to steady itself as it shifts to a new publishing format, the finale of the prelude ‘Fracture’ is an effective reminder of what the series is and can be even when it isn’t following the exploits of Forever and the empowered family Carlyle.


Michael Mazzacane

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