LAZARUS, the upcoming Image Comics series by the Eisner Award-winning creative team of Greg Rucka (Whiteout, Queen and Country, Gotham Central, Wonder Woman) and Michael Lark (Daredevil, Gotham Central, Scene of the Crime)
is set in a dystopia where society has reverted to a feudal state — the
elite Families who control the wealth control every aspect of the
world, and those without are their vassals and serfs. Serving these
powerful Families are individuals called their "Lazarus” — lethal
protectors of their families' interests. The Lazarus of the Carlyle
Family, which controls the world's genetic research and development, is a
young woman
called Forever. Her story starts the day she is killed.
To
writer Rucka, the dystopia he created for LAZARUS isn't a far-fetched
science fiction world; it's a logical extrapolation of where our society
is heading. After talking to a friend who works in finance and
considering the Occupy Movement, Rucka asked himself, "What would the
world look like if 99% became 99.99999%? What if the 1% became the
.00001%? What happens when that much wealth and power becomes that
concentrated?”
He
continued, "That's how the world was born, this idea that wealth equals
power, until such a point that the wealth becomes almost irrelevant to
that power because everything is now owned, and power settles amongst a
very select few, and everyone else is on the outside.”
Concentration
of power leads to the powerful using all means to protect what they
have — and that is where Forever comes in. Manipulated by her Family
patriarch to believe she is his beloved daughter, Forever is willing to
kill and die for him. But even though she lives in the elite world, she
will never be part of it. Regarded variably as a tool, pet, and science
project, Forever must break through her lifelong conditioning to find
out what and who she really is in a world that sees her as something
less — and more — than human.
"If
you ask me what the series is about, yes, it's about this dark vision
of the future, certainly,” said Rucka. "But it's about Forever, her
journey, the questions of nature versus nurture, and of power, and of
corruption.”
Lark's art, on gorgeous display in the four-page "prelude”
released after its unveiling at Emerald City Comicon in March, renders
Forever's world in deep shadow and is heightened with moody colors by Santi Arcas,
perfectly capturing the fractured, violent world of LAZARUS as well as
Forever's vulnerability and naïveté, which her deadly exterior belies.
"I'm
trying to demonstrate the contrast between the 'haves' and the
'have-nots,'” said artist Lark. "Because one side has, literally,
EVERYTHING, and the other has NOTHING, the contrast is strong. In issue
two we are really going to see that, with scenes in the homes of the
Carlyles juxtaposed with scenes of the extreme poverty facing the rest
of society. I realize that while we in the United States haven't seen
this come to pass — yet — there are other parts of the world where it is
already a stark reality.”
"LAZARUS
is a book I've been looking forward to from the moment Greg shared the
rough idea with me," said Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson. "Every
step of the process leading up to this series' debut has just further
fueled my anticipation: learning that Greg would be collaborating with
the amazing Michael Lark, reading the first script, seeing Michael's
initial pages, see the first colored work… This is truly inspired work
by a pair of comics' absolute best, and I can't wait for everyone else
to be able to love this book as much as I do."
LAZARUS #1 will be in stores on June 26 and is available for pre-order now (Diamond Comics code APR130420) from the April issue of Previews.
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