COMIC REVIEW: FTN reviews Dark Horse’s Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen #1

LARA CROFT AND THE FROZEN OMEN #1
Dark Horse
Writer: Corinna Bechko
Penciller: Randy Green
Inker: Andy Owens
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Cover Artist: Jean-Sebastien Rossbach
released 07/10/15

With the battle cries of countless teenage boys the world over, it’s time for another adventure from everyone’s favourite tomb raider, Lara Croft. A cultural icon when it came to the evolution of video games, she did sort of fizzled out for a few years there, but following the revitalisation through the reboot game “Tomb Raider” (not even games are safe from reboot stories these days) in 2013, it has been pretty cool to see what a fresh coat of paint can do to the character.

With this, a brand new miniseries of the adventures of Lara Croft, we’re guided down the path to “The Frozen Omen” by writer Corinna Bechko, probably best known for her work on “Star Wars,” “Planet of the Apes” and recently the rather odd “Aliens/Vampirella” crossover.

Because proper archaeology isn’t here style, Lara finds herself squaring up to a group of cultists who, as cultists do, want to bring about the end of the world. Poor woman; Harrison Ford never had it this bad.

In classic pony-tailed, revealing-tanktop’d fashion, Lara ascends a rocky cliff face towards us – certain death far below, of course. “This had better be worth it,” she gasps. She’s not the only one wishing that under her breath right now.

To get our story rolling, an artefact is stolen from the British museum, right from underneath Croft’s nose – good thing she was there, really – under mysterious circumstances, which set the pieces into motion.

The ominous Mr Green sure seems to know something about it, but we don’t exactly get much from him, other than getting a look at his fine suit, the antlers on his head (yep) and the overpowering sense that bad things are about to go down.

Ever the international jet-setter, Croft follows her lead to Belize on a whim, but I guess that’s the luxury one can afford oneself when raiding tombs for a living – career advisors take note, this is where the money is it seems. Sure enough, she finds her man held up deep in the jungle, but never far from supernatural shenanigans, our hero finds herself wound up in some pesky vines that come outta nowhere, and left hanging, to be continued.

It’s a slow start to the run, with nothing yet out of the ordinary or startling or new for the character, and it could well be that what we ultimately end up with is another unremarkable entry into the “Tomb Raider” vault. Here’s hoping things pick up, because god knows it’s high time we get another Lara Croft story worth the character’s salt.

2 out of 5 Nerds