Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen #1 Review: A Decent Start

Lara reverts to her old self in a new comic book series by Corinna Bechko: “Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen #1.”

The Tomb Raider of the past, with her unbreakable confidence and twin pistols, tackles a mysterious new adventure that starts off a little slow but ultimately shows promise.

A priceless artifact has gone missing, and apparently the thief can swipe items without any detection — not even from a security camera. Lara follows an odd lead that quickly results in a chase sequence and ends with Lara in another one of her crappy situations.

The first issue takes its time getting to the bulk of the story, seemingly playing it safe in terms of structure, but really what that means is it avoids being fun until about halfway through.

But once the ball finally gets rolling, the story struggles with its pace.

While the plot benefits from its hasty storytelling in the second half, the transitions feel a bit too rushed. Certain actions weren’t given enough time to be clearly explained, and these underdeveloped plot points hold the story back. Not to mention Lara’s lottery-winning “hunches” are totally unbelievable — one minute she loses someone’s trail at an airport, and the next she picks it back up in another country.

Seriously, she lost this dude in London and found his footprints a few pages later in Belize City. That’s a 12-hour plane ride — yes, we looked it up.

It’s a difficult task, though, to tell a whole story in only five issues. Every page needs to be tight and concise, giving as much information as possible. Beckho doesn’t always hit the nail on the head, but it’s a good attempt nonetheless.

Supporting Beckho’s attempt are drawings by Randy Green. Green’s depiction of Lara — strong and sexy with a bit of attitude — is beautifully displayed on the pages.

Beckho teases readers with this first issue, laying out the story’s foundation without offering anything useful just yet. We know an artifact was taken, but we don’t know why. We aren’t even given much information about the missing artifact itself. But “#1” ends on a cliffhanger that should set the stage for a more informative and even action-packed second issue.

“Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen #1” is off to a OK start, and as long as “#2” continues the pace of the final pages in this first book, it should be a strong follow-up.