Dark Horse Comics has enlisted writer Gail Simone to continue Lara Croft’s story where the smash hit Tomb Raider game left off—in a new ongoing comics series. Following the game acclaimed for its bold and sophisticated new vision, this series launches Lara Croft on the formative adventures that will change her life forever.

The story picks up with Lara and her friends haunted by the affects of their latest adventure, unable to shake off what they experienced. I haven’t finished the game, so going into the comic, I only had a slight clue. A blank slate was fine, that didn’t throw me off at all.

After a lot of Lara and her friends talking about how they’re disturbed, she heads off to the desert to deal with a friend of hers that’s unhinged. There an ominous warning is given and then an event that was foreshadowed a bit, so not that shocking, happens, but still it left me with a thought of “what the hell.”

The comic itself is just ok. It’s not a bad adaptation of the video game series, but the first issue isn’t exciting enough to hook me. To me, Lara is a younger, flashier, Indiana Jones or Alan Quatermain. She’s a “tomb raider,” it’s in the title, so I want he being in death defying situations and there’s some of that here, but there’s too much setup, not enough jet setting, if that makes sense. The comic isn’t bad, it’s just a slower pace that I was looking for, and as a video game player, slower than probably what they want. I think this is an example that shows the storytelling techniques in the two mediums are very different… no duh. This is the scene before the movie credits, but even then, with only slight the excitement.

The art by Nicolás Daniel Selma is pretty good. The scenes and different situations are penciled well and unique enough and the characters are recognizable. It’s all good.

Overall, the comic is good, but didn’t blow me away. I was hoping for some more excitement, but something was missing. The energy and excitement of the youthful Lara Croft is missing here. It’s a tough adaptation, but we’ve seen others do something similar with the excitement. We’ll see how the first arc goes, hopefully it kicks it up a notch over the next few issues.

Story: Gail Simone Art: Nicolás Daniel Selma
Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review