Image Comics’ Lazarus #16 is, titled “Mercy,” currently available for purchase as it was released on April 22nd.
I can obviously see that Catholicism plays a strong role in the Lazarus comic series, but it doesn’t mean that the story is religious. Religion can be used to strengthen the plot of any story provided that it is used correctly.
Take The Heroic Legend of Arslan for example, which is inspired by the conflict between Christianity and Catholicism.
Post-apocalyptic stories usually have strong religious themes and Lazarus shouldn’t be an exception. I decided to check out Lazarus after I recently started reading The Walking Dead and Postal, which was a change of pace compared to reading Japanese manga or anything from Marvel Comics.
Lazarus uses a post-apocalyptic theme, but is grounded in reality compared to other works like The Walking Dead, Mortal Kombat X: Blood Ties, or Attack on Titan. I have watched enough movies, read enough comics, and played enough video games to realize that humans are ultimately the biggest threats.
We can fear external forces when everything goes south, but humans continue to be the biggest threat.
Reading this issue of Lazarus reminded me of the second-to-last episode of Parasyte, where Shinichi made a lucky strike on Goto with a contaminated weapon from an illegal dumping site. Migi noted that nobody will win against humans because of the way that they live.
If you like The Walking Dead, then read Image Comics’ Lazarus series.
I like the concept of Lazarus’s focus on Sister Bernard, the protagonist, who doubles as a “messenger of God” and secret agent. Even though Bernard’s a secret agent, there is nothing special about her. It’s part of an agreement between her Catholic order and its host, the Carlyle Family. The concept made me think of the Canadian science-fiction series Continuum because financial powers ended up ruling the world in Lazarus’ post-apocalyptic world.
It feels like Bethesda Softworks’ Fallout series, but without the nuclear fallout.
What did I think of Lazarus #16?
The issue plays out like an interactive journal as most of the issues compose of journal entries. I saw that there is little action in this issue, but there’s still action nevertheless. Bernard and her fellow nuns travel downward through Florida, which is under Hock Family territory. Her faith in God is put through the ultimate test because traveling is an ordeal because of shaky tensions between the Carlyle and Hock families.
Bernard can see that the world has turned into one big gray moral pass since the apocalypse. A stop in Central Florida forces Bernard to take the “lesser of the two evils” when a patient wants to get an abortion. Abortion is a sin in most forms of religion, which is prevalent in today’s politics.
She was about to turn the woman away, but Sister Angelica honors the request.
I understand that this is one of the hardest things for a nun to do, but had to because of extraordinary circumstances. The world has gone to Hell on a silver platter and most of the survivors, the Waste, are forced to suffer. That one scene should make you think about abortion from all sides of the spectrum.
The woman is malnourished and cannot care for the unborn child.
It is unlikely that anyone else can care for it. Religious conservatives will likely be quick to condemn her for getting pregnant in the first place. I think about arguments on while low economic class people end up having kids, which is an example of “logical versus emotional.” The world royally sucks and sex is one of the few things that can alleviate the depression.
The adventure gets interesting when Bernard parts ways with the others and boards a ship to Havana, Cuba.
Communism no longer exists all thanks to the viral apocalypse.
Cuba becomes part of the Hock Family’s domain, where God has little place and relevance in people’s lives. You can still worship God, but there’s nobody to spread the gospel. Bernard doesn’t count because she has a mission to recover patient zero, Victoria Aguilar, host of a new strain of the H7N11 flu.
I found this flu interesting because it decimated most of the world’s population, where humankind was brought to its knees. In layman speak, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) proved to be no help. It is obvious that this is one disaster that FEMA could never handle.
Bernard manages to get in contact with Victoria, but it’s all in vain as Hock’s soldiers intercept them and a fire fight ensures. Victoria is fatally wounded, but manages to inject a sample into Bernard’s body.
This is when Bernard’s faith in God wanes as she curses virtually everybody for her predicament.
Her faith is about to disappear for good, but the mysterious Joachim Morray.
I give Lazarus #16 a grade of A+.
Lazarus tells a powerful story of what could happen when order becomes chaos. I can see Social Darwinism at work here as the financially powerful families are the world’s rulers, which is incredibly scary. It is a return to oligarchy in a sense, but then again it’s just the practice emerging itself from hiding.
The world is technically a behind-the-scenes oligarchy when you think about it.
These families are set up as the world’s next “royal families” and “gods.” It proves that humans are the scariest enemies regardless of time and location. I liked the journal entries because it gives the sense of adventure, which Bernard is on.
Her faith in God will be tested further now since she is the new viral host.
If any comic deserves a TV show adaptation, it should be Lazarus.
