Tomb Raider #7 Review

Should fans latch onto this title or ignore it? Read on to find out.

The official description from Dark Horse:

A new story starts here, cowritten by Gail Simone and Rhianna Pratchett!

Lara Croft attempts to honor the past but is dragged into a dangerous new journey. A creepy amusement park and a mysterious woman with a personal connection to the terrifying events of Yamatai Island throw Lara’s world into peril once again!

What we’ve gotten out of this extension of the recently rebooted video game franchise is a helping of reality pie. We see the burden that the experiences our burgeoning Tomb Raider suffered through, as a key theme of survivor’s guilt builds up. It radiates during a hike and in the wake of a new arc carried because of a strong creative team, that while at the helm, makes Yamatai relevant.

Gail Simone and Rhianna Pratchett handle the narrative path of this journey by crafting an easy to follow script. Lara Croft and her now familiar allies continue to face the torment of their experiences, but our young heroine seems to be taking the brunt of it. As a whole this release gets the ball going on what could be a compelling journey for our incredibly capable adventurer but it also plays it safe. The authors never forge beyond where we know she’s already at, which does feel real but also overdone.

Even so the illustrations handed in by Derlis Santacruz capture the momentum of the franchise by offering a rather sturdy display. Slightly more detailed renditions compel wandering eyes, as each character is basked in delicate pencil strokes. It does differ a bit from what we’ve become accustomed to but the colors handed in by Michael Atiyeh smooth the works of the noticeable artist. In other word the visual component is capable as it does enough to impress.

Tomb Raider #7 is another solid outing that inspects the aftermath of a situation that forever changes the people that manage to survive it. For that the creative team indeed deserves credit but it feels a bit repetitive. Recommended.