Tomb Raider #5 out today

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Happy New Comic Wednesday. This is your friendly service announcement reminding you that Tomb Raider #5 is out today (preview 5 pages here), the penultimate issue in first story arc from writer Gail Simone and artist Nicolas Daniel Selma. For the record, Rhianna Pratchett joins Simone for co-writing duties from issue #7, and the series gets a new penciller, Derlis Santacruz, from issue #8.

Speaking of art, today's new issue certainly features the most striking of the new comic covers so far, drawn by the 2013 game reboot's art director Brian Horton. I certainly wouldn't mind a copy if the original work was released as a print. It's stunning.


Anyway in Tomb Raider #5, fledgling archaeologist Lara Croft is back on the legendary island of Yamatai to continue her sorry-not-sorry killing spree as she attempts to save her best friend, Sam - "the person [she] loves most in the world" - for the... third time now?

I must confess at this point I am a tad concerned about how effectively everything will be wrapped up in just two issues. There just seem to be so many disparate plot points - four guardians, four cataclysms, four treasures - mixed with logic chasms like "Why would a cult place so much importance in a man they've evidently known existed for like 5 minutes?", "Why aren't archaeologists and the press going gaga over the discovery of Yamatai even though it's apparently no longer hidden?" and "Why has Lara forgotten her grand 'I'm not going home' statement at the end of the preceding game?"

It's all rather frustrating.

I keep waiting for a spectacular plot twist - right now my money is on Lara being the hypnotised fourth guardian - but at this stage I think I'd even be happy with ye olde cop-out of an ending that has our heroine waking from a fever dream in a Japanese hospital.

I'm here until the end of the story, of course, but I'm not a fan of any pop culture product - horror films are especially bad for it - where nothing makes sense until the very end when one piece of information is revealed that causes everything else to fall into place. Tomb Raider: The Comic seems to have adopted this "Reward the Faithful" approach but the whole experience so far has served as a reminder why I dumped single-issue comic reading years ago in favour of volume collections with their more satisfying chunks of story in one place at one time.

Come on, Tomb Raider #5-6. I'm holding thumbs that you finally deliver something emotionally gratifying and/or intellectually rewarding. Please!
On a more cheerful, less irritable note, here's a piece of fan art I completed that brings together the Tomb Raider and Frozen franchises. The original image is online here, or here, although I have to confess I prefer the "extended lyrics" version below that Fionnuala J. uploaded.


Comments

Unknown said…
I still need to get Issue 3, 4 and now this one. Also need to take some time and read them and maybe play the game.

Do you suggest I read the comics first or play the game first?
9:23 AM
Pfangirl said…
Definitely play the game first, Pieter! :)
5:44 AM
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