Review: Tomb Raider #1 – Spoiled

I’m spoiling the crap out of this one, but it’s still a great read!

Lara Croft is Tomb Raider. Since she first came bouncing onto PCs everywhere, she has been a video game icon. The lovely archeologist has been leaping and climbing through many a fanboy’s dream, but this time things are different. Dark Horse Comics brings us a new series from writer Gail Simone and an awesome art team including Nicolas Daniel Selma, Juan Gedeon, and Michael Atiyeh. Tomb Raider #1 takes Lara from our dreams into her own nightmares as this series picks up where the new Tomb Raider video game leaves off.

This new comic is a thrill ride and a mystery wrapped up in a burrito of deja vu and topped with a delicate sauce of awesome. Lara Croft awakens from a vivid nightmare of her friends and former crew members trying to help/kill her as she struggles to survive. The problem is, they are all dead. She jolts awake and gets up to face the day.

Meanwhile, her friend Sam has been sleepwalking and, although she refuses to admit it, has been having nightmares as well. Lara helps her up off the floor and notices a strange handprint shaped mark on her arm, almost like a burn or bruise. Things are only starting to get weird for our intrepid explorer as she gets a strange phone call from the one other survivor of the Endeavor shipwreck.

So, Lara Croft travels to the American Southwest to meet an old friend and find out what is going on. I love that there is a point made to mention that this location, Devil’s Rest, has the lowest precipitation in North America. Lara finds her friend’s trailer and no one home. She is troubled by many things she sees, but none so troubling as when she finally runs into her friend and he begins ranting about Ka, the four guardians, and four calamities. And then comes the flood.

All in all, this is a great comic book. Who needs superheroes when you can have real people deal with fantastical events. This is another example of a comic book video game sequel done very well. Compare this book to DC Comic’s Injustice: Gods Among Us, and you will not see it come up short. This first issue sets up the five-issue miniseries and leaves so many questions to answer.

I enjoyed the previous series from Top Cow, but this series from Dark Horse is the “new” Lara Croft, revised for a more realistic idea of a female explorer. Gail Simone is a great writer of strong female characters and seems very suited to tell us this tale of mystery, magic, and adventure. What will Lara Croft uncover next? Find out by running out and picking up the new Tomb Raider series from Dark Horse Comics.

My Rating:4.5/5