An early preview of the highly anticipated upcoming series Lazarus: Fallen shows that lead character Forever Carlyle is not afraid to get bloody to prove her point. As she sets out to destroy the Families–the wealthy few running this “near future” dystopian world—she’ll need to make allies along the way. Helmed by Eisner Award-winning creators writer Greg Rucka (The Old Guard) and artist Michael Lark (Gotham Central), and colorist Santi Arcas, the New York Times bestselling dystopian sci-fi series Lazarusis returning for a final installment.
Fans of Andor, Silo, and Blade Runner will enjoy this futuristic, and yet prescient, tale about what those in power will do to obtain more power and to silence those in opposition…and what rebels, whether genetically engineered or not, will do to stop them. Along with early preview pages from Lazarus: Fallen #2, a look at the process and cover artwork from the series tease a little of what’s to come soon.
Rucka, Lark, and Arcas are joined by letterer Ariana Maher, editor Alejandro Arbona, and graphic designers Eric Trautmann and Richard Howe for the new series, with issue #1 debuting June 25 (with a Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers today, June 2). Lazarus: The Fourth Collection—a hardcover volume that collects Lazarus #27 and #28, and for the first time, the complete seven-issue run of Lazarus: Risen—is also now available, along with the first three collections, for those looking to catch up on the series ahead of Lazarus: Fallen.
“The first arc, ’Rise’—which is taken in part from the Free slogan of ‘Rise, Resist, Be Free’—very much hits the ground running, dealing with the immediate repercussions of the end of Lazarus: Risen,” said Rucka. “It’s been less than two days in the story since the end of Lazarus: Risen, and Lazarus: Fallen is throwing the reader right back into the action and the story. That’s deliberate. Readers are smart, and they know how to read and extrapolate from context, so new readers to the series will be able to understand what’s going on. That said, it’s going to be a far more rewarding read if you know how we got to this point.”
The Lazarus series follows Forever Carlyle, an unkillable, genetically-engineered soldier, controlled by the mechanisms of her father, Malcolm Carlyle. Malcolm is the patriarch of one of the powerful Families that rose to rule the world after an economic-driven apocalypse. The Families now own everything and everyone; in this neo-feudalist order, you are either of value to the Families and made a Serf, or you are irrelevant, disposable labor, called Waste.
But the Families are driven by greed, and in their unending pursuit of more and more, each created a Lazarus—a man or woman created and trained to be the loyal instrument of their Family’s will. Forever Carlyle is the Lazarus of the Carlyle Family, raised to absolutely believe in her duty to her family, and with an unquestioning loyalty to her father. That time is over, and now Forever—with the aid of her younger sister and next iteration of the Carlyle Lazarus, Infinity—means to destroy the world her father created.
“Our first issues are about framing this new world that Forever’s actions have created, about her and her sister finding allies, and about her father, Malcolm’s, own machinations,” Rucka added. “Like Forever, Malcolm knows the endgame is approaching. The question is whether or not it’s the endgame he’s envisioned all along. Amidst all this, there’s interpersonal drama and continued growth—both for Forever and her sister, now calling herself Infinity—as well as others. But Forever and Infinity are hunted from the word go, and there are other Families, and their Lazari, on their heels, including, especially, Sonja Bittner. After all, Forever has committed the ultimate crime: she’s betrayed the Family.”
Lazarus: Fallen #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, June 25, featuring a cover by Lark (Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is today, June 2; Lunar Code 0425IM294). Issue #2 hits shelves on July 30 (Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is July 7; Lunar Code 0525IM403), and issue #3 hits shelves on August 27 (Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is August 4; Lunar Code 0625IM356).
For readers looking to catch up on the Lazarus series, the first issue is available to read for free on the Image Comics website here. Volumes 1-7, and the first three hardcover collections, are currently available for purchase at comic book shops, bookstores, and across many digital platforms.
Lazarus: The Fourth Collection is now available at comic book shops (Lunar code 0325IM428), and on June 3, will be available at independent bookstores (ISBN: 9781534335912), Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo, and Waterstones. The series will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
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