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Tomb Raider 9
Kareem Ali 4.5

Tomb Raider #9

 

  • The good

    Great action sequences. Backstory of family and area makes current events more engrossing

  • The bad

    Kaz's actual activities resulting in her becoming an enemy of Trinity not revealed.

  • The ugly

    • Tomb Raider #9 continues with Lara trying to protect Kaz, Alex’s sister, from the organization that has hunted her across the globe. It opens up with Mr. Cruz, the assassin sent to kill her, holding Lara and her new friends at gunpoint demanding to know what Kaz has revealed about Trinity. Despite Lara having her own gun, his gun is already drawn so she doesn’t want to risk any of the others getting shot before she could kill Mr. Cruz. Aside from that, he’s a psychopath who takes joy in what he does, and that’s apparent when he mocks how one of Kaz’s friends screamed when he was torturing her, so he would have no problem unloading his weapon on them. However, Kaz’s dogs are able to cause enough harm to Cruz and enough of a distraction for Lara to get her gun before he flees into the woods. Kaz warns her not to follow him because the radiation levels in the woods are much higher than where they’ve been but Lara goes ahead anyway viewing this as an opportunity to finish Cruz. However, even if Lara is able to finish Cruz off without being exposed to too much radiation, what can she do against the organization out to kill Kaz when she knows so little about it?

    Tomb Raider 9
    This has been a really good story arc for a number of reasons, and the first 2 that come to mind are Lara’s refound assertiveness in exploring new territory and the revelation of a shadowy organization hunting Kaz. And I was looking forward to this issue because there would be action, answers or both considering the way last issue ended.  The start of this issue would lean towards action as Lara would assess the predicament before taking action and this was pretty intense. It would lead to an extended action sequence and I’ve been enjoying this a lot more since Derlis Santacruz took over the artwork. So the hand to hand combat complete with wounds was very entertaining. And it’s always good to see Lara in action. As far as the story goes there would be more character development for just about everyone that Lara has encountered this story arc. And even though I found the flashback from her childhood intriguing I did wonder about the placement of it as a missed opportunity this issue to shade some light on what it was exactly about Kaz’s activity that would make the Trinity organization come after her so hard. Despite that the backstory about the area and Kaz’s family did make the series of events more engrossing. And so the lead up to the final panel was interesting enough to make my jaw drop at the conclusion of this issue, which yours will probably do so too.

     

    SUMMARY

     

    Tomb Raider #9 raises the stakes in this story arc as the capabilities of Trinity become more apparent while Lara and company are more determined and ready to defend themselves. The action sequences this episode are arguably the best in the series so far, and it was good to see Lara’s growth in this respect. I would’ve liked to see more light shed on Kaz’s involvement with Trinity’s operations instead of another flashback from Lara’s childhood this issue but the overall backstory made the current events more engrossing. I felt this story arc had a lot of potential when it first started and it’s been exciting watching these events unfold.

     

    Release Date: 10/22/14

    Writer: Rhianna Pratchett, Gail Simone

    Artist: Derlis Santacruz

  • Rating ( 9.1 )
  • Total score 9.1

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