4 out of 5

War!  …But first…

After the last Lazarus arc, and numerous publishing delays, Rucka and Lark and crew devised a method for giving their harried illustrator a break, while also theoretically putting the series back on a semi-regular schedule: a mini-series of connected one-shots, scripted by Rucka but illustrated each by someone non-Larky, would take a step back, and focus on some side characters in a re-ramping up to the continuance of the main series.

There were still publishing delays, and I sort of felt a little 52’d by the experience – i.e. the mini didn’t really feel like it absolutely had a focus on either characters or filling us in on the year X+66, but rather meandered between the two – but all of that’s okay, because any Rucka-written Lazarus book is still one of the most complex, thoughtful, exciting things on the shelf.

So, one at a time:

Issue one pairs us with old Greg pal Steve Lieber, focusing on Casey’s training to be a Dagger.  This is prime Greg-in-the-trenches stuff, with the brutality of the experience feeling all too real and Casey, of course, coming across as an ultimate badass.  Lieber’s art can be a bit stiff at times, but the dude absolutely nails character, and he carries that through here.

In issue 2, Mack Chatter does a Lark impression fairly well as we flip sides to explore what it’s like for Joacquim Morray to have betrayed Forever.  Greg (and co-writer Aaron Duran) give Joacquim a fair shake up through the politics of his family and again drive home the duty uber alles mindset of the Lazari, but this is an issue where X+66 starts to feel too open-ended, or perhaps just like another issue of the main series.  Which isn’t bad by any means, it just doesn’t feel like the kind of special focus of the preceding issue.

Another Rucka alumi, Justin Greenwood, is sort of an odd match for Lazarus (his style is looser and a bit less realistic), but issue 3 is another good character exploration, co-written by Neal Bailey and questioning what it’s like for the parents of the Raised, seeing the Waste from whence they came and wondering if they deserve the special treatments they’ve been allotted.

Okay, so in writing these up, I guess I’m seeing that the even issues deal with the Lazari, so maybe this was more structured than I realized.  But, like, I’m sticking to my rating because stubborness is easier than re-evaluating my opinion, woop woop.  Issue 4 has some awesomely slick art by Alitha Martinez for some fantastic double-Lazarus actionry: the Nkosi and Meyers-Qasim Lazari track done some info on the freakin’ Dragon.

Issue 5 pairs us with Greg’s recent Wonder Woman art-partner, Bilquis Evely, who does a fair job with the espionage-lite tale of Sére Cooper investigating the whereabouts of Jonah Carlyle.

Issue 6 is the absolute bees freakin’ knees, though: an outright horror tale concerning non-other than the Dragon himself, structured, narratively, like a fairly tale, and haunting as Hell.  It’s a perfect capper to the series that reaffirms how goddamn frightening this figure is.  I’m not sure how I feel about Tristan Jones’ art, though.  The dude did some Turtles work way back when that I enjoyed, but his more modern work has a very digital edge to it that’s dehumanizing.  Greg’s writing is so tense – and much of this tale is draped in blood and shadow – so it works, but some of the more “human” stuff is a little off.

As it loosely bounces between story connections and one-shots, X+66 doesn’t necessarily come together as a seamless mini-series.  But: it’s Lazarus, it’s written by Greg, and it’s an excuse for a bevy of talented artists to take a dip into the world while we rev our engines for the next arc.