Her bewbs may not be the focus (for some) anymore but Mariko Tamaki still fails to give Lara Croft much of an identity in Tomb Raider, Volume 1: Spore.
This book is basically a crappier version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Lara and her ragtag bunch have to find some magic mushrooms (not the fun kind) that grant immortal life - but not if the ‘shrooms’ protectors stop her first!
What follows is a dull and generic actioner. I mean, is there anything less exciting than ineffective bad guys against an invulnerable lead? The Mushroom Knights show up throughout but are easily beaten back by untouchable female Indy, a situation that’s repeated over and over so that it never once comes remotely close to being a tense or compelling narrative. Tamaki’s feeble attempts at character-work didn’t make me care about anyone either whether Lara’s training with female Daredevil copy or the mushroom professor telling his weak “tragic” backstory.
Phillip Sevy’s art is ok and overall Spore is a serviceable action comic but it’s nothing memorable or special because of its derivative nature. It always looked more interesting to play as a game than read as a book. Tomb Raider remains just another popular video game that doesn’t translate well into other mediums.
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