Lazarus (2013) 1

Lazarus (2013) 1
Jun 2013

Family (Part 1)
By Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, and Sanyo Arcas

Forever Carlyle, Lazarus of the Carlyle Family, survives an attempt on her life by waste, unregistered citizens, at one of the family’s residences. She heads back to work fairly quickly. Her recovery is thanks in part to the help she receives from James, one of the family’s retainers. It isn’t long before she is meeting Jonah, her brother, at Harvest One, one of the family’s food production operations. James calls Jonah and tells him what he learned from talking to Forever. It is pretty clear who butters James’ bread. He told Forever that their conversation was confidential and wouldn’t be shared with anyone else. It was pretty clear when he said it that he was lying.

Someone broke into Harvest One. It is clearly an inside job although the Morray family is blamed for the actual hit. Someone betrayed the Carlyle family. It is Forever‘s job to find the transgressors and punish them. She threatens to kill all of the senior staff if the guilty party does not step forward. She is pressed to take action by Jonah. One of the men admits to doing it. Forever doubts his sincerity but she executes him anyway. It doesn’t leave her feeling good about herself. The issue ends with her lying to James as he asks her about how she feels about the execution. She tells him she feels fine but her body language says otherwise.

Thoughts

I like the way the bigger story begins. I like the feel of it and the hints that are being dropped. All is not as it claims to be. Forever is being kept in the dark about certain facts. That is implied, at the very least. I suspect that Jonah is the one behind the attack on Harvest One or in league with the one who is behind it.

Notes

I think Greg Rucka's words from the prologue to this book help to explain this world better than I could:

"The World now lies divided not amongst political or geographic boundaries but amongst financial ones.

"Wealth is power, and that power rests with only a handful of Families.

"The few who provide a service for their ruling Family are cared for.

"All others are Waste.

"In each Family , there is one person given the best they can offer, training and technology and assets, every scientific advantage. This person is named their Family’s sword and shield, their protector, their Lazarus.

"In the Family Carlyle, the Lazarus is called Forever.

"This is her story."

Forever Yours

In future issues this will probably be the letters page. In this one it is a text piece written by Greg Rucka about the origins and development of Lazarus. He talks about his first ideas for the book, how Michael Lark was added to the project, the role Warren Ellis played in it, and the future of the series.