4 out of 5

This is an honestly paced issue – Rucka didn’t need more than a book to wrap up (for now) the story-tail of Jonah’s ‘escape’ to the Hocks – but the cover seemed to portend more than what we get, and if we weren’t such slaves to 4-5 part story arcs, I think this could’ve been more effectively done in two issues.

We pick up right after Joanna’s betrayal; Jonah crashes his plane in Hock territory and fulfills his rich-boy character type by demanding to speak to the man-in-charge… repeating the request while he’s stripped bare, and isolated, and tortured.  When he finally does get that meeting with Hock, Rucka underlines that, in the future of Lazarus, people are more likely to be seen as commodities than, well, people.  It’s not exactly a surprising revelation, but believably executed here, and Greg doesn’t wallow in Jonah’s duress.  But as with the way characters were displayed in the initial arc, both Jonah and Hock come across as fairly one-dimensional evil / selfish roles; giving this intermission some more panels might’ve helped us to identify with either character more.  Fair enough, though, that’s probably not the point for now, and the way ‘Extraction’ is presented still acts as world-building, just moreso the ruling mentalities and not the characters.

Lark, Revel and Arcas don’t budge a bit on quality.  Jonah’s transformation through the issue is especially impressive, as he essentially ‘degrades’ as the pages turn.