Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Phillip Sevy
Editor: Patrick Thorpe
Release Date: 23 March 2016
Price: $3.99

I confess, not even Angelina Jolie in a tight vest was enough to make me a fan of the Tomb Raider movies which, to me, never really escaped their video game roots enough to make a genuine statement of their own and Tomb Raider II #2 seems unable or narratively unwilling to escape from those roots either.

Tomb Raider II #2 story arc is based on the pompous premise of wanting to discover the true nature of the soul by consuming a rare mushroom! Did we suddenly go back in time to 1967? Next thing you know someone will be telling us to “tune in, turn on and drop out”. And whoever thought it would be a good idea to have the bad guys call themselves the “Knights of the Spore”?

Not that much of this is evident in Tomb Raider II #2, the issue is mostly taken up with car chases and explosions with a bit of dastardly henchmen dialogue and comic relief cowardly professor thrown in for good (or possibly bad) measure. Mariko Tamaki may be an Eisner Award-winning writer but everyone’s entitled to an off day and this feels like she’s just going through the motions.

Reviewer: Gard Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker