Tomb Raider #1
The fall of Lara Croft was quite painful to the children of the Nineties. The franchise was once the pinnacle of excitement and adventure, unfortunately Eidos thought that pumping out sequel after sequel would help the franchise. They were wrong and Lara went from brand name heroine to bargain bin princess. Flashforward just under a decade later and we find Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise back to being the critical darling, though far from the retail juggernaut it once was.
With the middling success of the rebooted videogame, Dark Horse is looking to find success of their own with a direct sequel in the form of a new comic series. Knowing full well the dangers of cash-grabbing licensed products, Dark Horse kept an ace up their sleeves; writer Gail Simone. Unfortunetly, the result is an underwhelming mix of adventure and wit that lacks anything truly substantial to stand out amongst the crowded shelves.
The story picks up right where the game left off. Those of you who haven’t played the game should be fine diving in. Simone creatively manages to get the necessary exposition out of the way with some fever dreams. However this also works against Simone; our interest is piqued, but seeking out a video game for backstory is not realistic. The story itself appears to be setting up the first arc quite nicely, however the scaled back scope of what was once seen as a globetrotting thrill ride hinders the readers excitement. It’s all character, and no spectacle and not in the good way. We only care about Lara Croft because we know who she is and even that bit is stretching it. Hopefully Simone can turn the tables and broaden the focus in later issues.
The art department is part of the reason the reader feels a lack of caring. While Selma’s pencils work nicely for the characters, the backgrounds are bland and uninspired. A shame considering how gorgeous the videogame is. Gedoen’s inks are mere outlines of the pencils, lacking any dynamic shading to help sell the dark tones Simone has peppered throughout the script. Atiyeh’s colours do work nicely, particularly his water works, but ultimately it’s too little, too late.
While they may have had good intentions, Tomb Raider #1 lacks any substance to stand out in the crowd. It’s not a complete failure, it's just not special, and nowadays isn’t that worse?
Tomb Raider #1
Writer: Gail Simone
Pencils: Nicolas Daniel Selma
Inks: Juan Gedeon
Colours: Michael Atiyeh
Lettering: Michael Heisler
Cover: Dan Dos Santos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Purchase: https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/4260.tomb-raider-1/
With the middling success of the rebooted videogame, Dark Horse is looking to find success of their own with a direct sequel in the form of a new comic series. Knowing full well the dangers of cash-grabbing licensed products, Dark Horse kept an ace up their sleeves; writer Gail Simone. Unfortunetly, the result is an underwhelming mix of adventure and wit that lacks anything truly substantial to stand out amongst the crowded shelves.
The story picks up right where the game left off. Those of you who haven’t played the game should be fine diving in. Simone creatively manages to get the necessary exposition out of the way with some fever dreams. However this also works against Simone; our interest is piqued, but seeking out a video game for backstory is not realistic. The story itself appears to be setting up the first arc quite nicely, however the scaled back scope of what was once seen as a globetrotting thrill ride hinders the readers excitement. It’s all character, and no spectacle and not in the good way. We only care about Lara Croft because we know who she is and even that bit is stretching it. Hopefully Simone can turn the tables and broaden the focus in later issues.
The art department is part of the reason the reader feels a lack of caring. While Selma’s pencils work nicely for the characters, the backgrounds are bland and uninspired. A shame considering how gorgeous the videogame is. Gedoen’s inks are mere outlines of the pencils, lacking any dynamic shading to help sell the dark tones Simone has peppered throughout the script. Atiyeh’s colours do work nicely, particularly his water works, but ultimately it’s too little, too late.
While they may have had good intentions, Tomb Raider #1 lacks any substance to stand out in the crowd. It’s not a complete failure, it's just not special, and nowadays isn’t that worse?
Tomb Raider #1
Writer: Gail Simone
Pencils: Nicolas Daniel Selma
Inks: Juan Gedeon
Colours: Michael Atiyeh
Lettering: Michael Heisler
Cover: Dan Dos Santos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Purchase: https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/4260.tomb-raider-1/
A Look Inside
