Lazarus Planet: Alpha #1 is published by DC Comics and written by Mark Waid. Artwork is by Riccardo Federici, colours by Brad Anderson and letters by Steve Wands. The main cover art (left) is by Alejandro Sanchez.
Lazarus Planet: Alpha #1 is available from today in stores and on digital platforms where all good comics books are sold.
Synopsis
CHANGE THE WORLD. Following the explosive (literally) events of Batman vs. Robin #4, the Lazarus Volcano has erupted, spewing dangerous and transformative chemicals into Earth’s atmosphere! As these Lazarus clouds rain down upon the planet, people across the globe begin to develop strange new abilities, watch their already-extraordinary abilities change, and witness a whole host of chaos unlike anything the DCU has experienced before! It’s up to Damian Wayne to put out the distress call for whoever can still hear it: come to the ruins of the Hall of Justice and help save the world! Poison Ivy, Power Girl, Cyborg, Batman, and more answer the call…but why could the fate of all life as we know it rest in the hands of…Monkey Prince?
Review
What’s better than a Crisis-level event? A MAGICAL Crisis-level event. That’s exactly what is starting right here in the pages of DC’s Lazarus Planet: Alpha. Spinning out of the events of Batman vs. Robin #4, the Lazarus Planet event is a cool new direction for DC. Threatening the future of humanity with a storm of magical rain which is throwing super powers out of whack all over the globe.
Cleverly, all of the setup for Lazarus Planet exists in the pages of Batman vs. Robin and so this oversized one-shot and forthcoming issues are free to get straight down to business. There’s no lapse in time from the end of Batman vs. Robin #4 in to this issue and so we pick up with events already looking dire.
With Batman off the board, it’s up to Robin to get the team to safety and Supergirl to bring what’s left of Earth’s powered people together. It’s a brief reprieve which gives Waid time to succinctly reset the playing field for what’s to come. Rather than a mini-series, Lazarus Planet will unfold across a host of one-shots which release over the next four months.
Waid uses this one-shot to cleverly set up the structure of the story. With Robin splitting the heroes up in to teams and sending them off on their individual missions. It’s an organic way to move the pieces around the board, setting up each of the one-shots perfectly.
Gene Luen Yang’s backup story featuring Monkey Prince sets up his ongoing storyline with some much needed context and adventure. It seems like Lazarus Planet is going to be an emotionally heavy event so having this backup be a little lighter in tone helps the overall impact of the book even out.
Riccardo Federici’s artwork in the main story is nothing short of striking. The level of depth and realism is strikingly different to most of DC’s currently slate of books. Teamed with Brad Anderson, Lazarus Planet: Alpha looks amazing. The event is underpinned by various shades of green, clearly now the colour of magic, and again this makes the book really stand out when looking at other offerings on DC’s slate this week.
Verdict
An epic start to DC’s latest event. Bolstered by Federici and Anderson’s outstanding visuals, Mark Waid’s scene setting one-shot is one hell of a tease for what is to come.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
