What makes the show Walking Dead so magnetic is its exploration of humanity. This is exactly what makes this whole world that they explore so interesting. The zombies are mere landscape and it’s what we do to each other as humans when everything is gone is what’s so fascinating.

Anyone who has read or watched the many adaptations of Lord Of The Flies experiences the same awe and shock of the ending as it speaks directly to our primal origins. This is where the fight or flight in each of us gets ignited and you never know until you are in that position. In the debut issue of Lazarus: Risen, we find a world at war where our protagonist is rearing to battle.

We catch up with Forever Carlyle, the Lazarus (champion of her family), in a world divided by 16 families who hold power based on wealth and Johanna Carlyle, the current head of her family, whose current power lies in is the fact that it is the main food supplier for most of the world. Forever and Johanna bring out a traitor and broker a deal that helps the Carlyles and the other family. We are also taken to the family’s testing lab in the Sierra Nevadas, where Bethany Carlyle is testing Marisol Carlyle’s durability as a Lazarus, where recovery is extraordinarily fast. We are taken to Puget Sound, in the family’s headquarters where a family meeting reveals Johanna’s plan to go on the offensive to protect the family’s borders. By issue’s end, an old enemy resurfaces, already broken through the border, and looking to end the family’s muscle.

Overall, an engaging story that dips the reader right into this captivating world and the people who inhabit it. The story by Greg Rucka is entertaining and action packed. The art by Michael Lark, Santi Arcas, and Simon Bowland is lifelike and gorgeous. Altogether, an arresting tale that will pull the reader right in.

Story: Greg Rucka Art: Michael Lark, Santi Arcas and Simon Bowland
Story: 10 Art: 9.8 Overall: 9.7 Recommendation: Buy

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review