by Randy Lander

TOMB RAIDER #21 "The Trap Part 1 of 3" Neutral (4/10) Image Comics/Top Cow Productions Writer: John Ney Rieber Pencils: Randy Green Inks: Jonathan Sibal Colors: Jonathan D. Smith Letters: Dreamer Design Editor: Renae Geerlings Price: $2.50 US/$4.00 CAN It's hard to believe that the same person wrote both this issue and the first issue of Captain America released this week, as the impact each had on me is considerably different. Of course, different artists and a very different level of interest in each character probably doesn't help matters. This is the first issue of a new creative team for Tomb Raider, but it reads very much like every other Tomb Raider comic I've read up to this point. There's some very nice action sequences and an attempt at a quasi-mystical quest, but Ney Rieber's decision to cut between past and present time does the story no favors, and Green's use of architecture makes for some often confusing action sequences. Tomb Raider has never been a favorite, and this issue doesn't look like it'll change that for me. Mind you, the book got off to something of a rocky start for me with some glaring dialogue errors, notably Lara indicating that the statue was "more real than I am. Perhaps even more real." Which is pretty much saying the same thing twice, and after a similar line on the first page about "entering another world" made me wonder if maybe Lara Croft had a habit of repeating herself. Ney Rieber also has some dialogue in here that seems deliberately puzzling, as Lara waxes rhapsodic about techno-organic wings, Dakinis and "divine wisdom vanquishing illusion and desire," which has no obvious relevance to what's going on. Part of the confusion also stems from the storytelling. Green provides some pretty impressive action sequences, with Lara's acrobatic flip across a ravine filled with fire, but his establishing shots of the temple are such that I have no idea where she ended up as a result of these acrobatics. If Green was trying to capture the feeling of disorientation and confusion that came from being in an underground temple, he succeeded, but as far as giving us a sense that Lara was accomplishing anything, the artwork failed. However, I did find a lot of the artwork to be very impressive. Green's character designs are distinctive and fun, clearly influenced by manga conventions. And though I sometimes have trouble pathfinding within the architecture he designs, I can't deny that he does some beautiful design work. The opening splash of the temple and the goddess guarding it are particularly impressive. Tomb Raider seems to be a difficult book to write, as many of the writers have a hard time balancing the action and mystery aspects of the story. There's a tendency to make the story a little flat, little more than a vehicle for action, or to go the other way and overcomplicate what should be a pretty straightforward "pretty girl with guns" idea. With his shifting in time and space and barely explained supporting characters, Ney Rieber seems to be heading in the latter direction, and it looks like another version of Tomb Raider that won't hold my interest. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.