I generally prefer to keep my comic books and my video games in separate spheres, but Dark Horse’s upcoming Tomb Raider series has my full attention. In a recent interview with Comic Book Resources, writer Gail Simone gives some insights into the first twelve issues. The first twelve issues. That’s a lot of adventuring ahead. Let’s hope Lara’s travels include plenty of ammo crates.
Simone doesn’t reveal much about where our heroine’s globetrotting will take her (“Lara definitely has a pint of Guinness at one point”), but she does get into her affinity for the reboot, and her collaboration with the Tomb Raider dev team, including game writer Rhianna Pratchett. The most interesting bit, in my book, was a point I’d never considered about the challenges of adapting a bullet-sponge game character into the squishier world of comic books.
What was the process like of developing the story for this series? How much consideration is given to the notion of telling a Lara Croft story that takes specific advantage of the comic book medium?
Quite a lot, the differences in medium are subtle and very interesting. In the game, there is a hyper-realism to the graphics that is quite different from comics, yet she can get shot 50 times and wait a bit, and be fine. I can’t do that in the comic. I can’t kill her and hit reset. The needs are different and fascinating.
Also, 12 issues of her crawling around on an island, I don’t think that would translate. So we are telling a wider adventure with more settings, and some good hot familiar stuff for those paying attention!
Familiar stuff, you say? Wolves? Cultists? Extremely unpleasant self-administered first aid? Or are we talking old-school familiar? Will there be a butler stuck in a fridge?
All kidding aside, this interview made me feel good about the direction this series is headed, especially when Simone gets into the significance of the heroine she’s penning.
The first time I played TR as a kid, I was just stunned — it was an adventure game where the lead was female, and did all the asskicking, and the risk-taking. It meant a lot to me, and it changed the landscape to a degree, it shifted the ground.
I just feel fortunate. Got a little choked up there for a second, sorry.
No, no. We feel you.
For the full interview, head here.
- Check Out Six Pages From Gail Simone’s Tomb Raider #1
- This Lara Croft Fan Film Is So Incredibly Badass
- Tomb Raider Is Definitely Getting A Sequel
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