Tomb Raider (Top Cow 1999 series) # 6

 By Mark Rodriguez

Lara and Chase were called to help an archeologist named Vanessa investigate a hidden area at her gig that revealed a land where dinosaurs still exist. As they ventured through the area, a strong mist clouded their view and Chase is abducted. Before they can react, Lara and Vanessa find themselves face to face with a Tyrannosaurus Rex!!

The issue opens with Lara shooting at the T-Rex with her dual pistols. She remarks that through all the different ways she could die during her line or work, she never thought it would be by getting eaten by a dinosaur. Lara realizes that the dinosaur merely shrugs off the bullets and only gets angrier. She decides she might have to run from this fight. Unfortunately that is no longer an option when the dinosaur noticed Vanessa. Lara aims her gun, thinking she has one chance, two bullets and no time to reload.

Lara shoots the dinosaur in the eye, and then in its open mouth. The dinosaur finally falls. Lara checks to see if Vanessa is alright, who is in a panic and stammering after being almost eaten by a dinosaur. Vanessa asks where they are. Lara says they're in a place that can't possibly exist in the world they know. It could be another Earth, another plane of existence or even another time. They have to find Chase and go back home. Vanessa says they just have to return to the tunnel where they came from. Lara points out that it became more complicated than that.

Lara finds Chase's shirt and it looks like it's been burned. Lara says he must be somewhere nearby. She can start a fire to get his attention but she's wary of announcing their presence. Lara says they must have found something that triggered whatever brought them here. If they can find the trigger, they can maybe find Chase and return home. Just then both women dive out of the way, narrowly avoiding a blast of burning energy.

They see Chase leading a pack of savages, and not acting like his usual self. He holds a staff that is glowing with the same burning energy, and he tells the women that this is where they'll die since that is the will of 'the goddess'. 

 

The women leap out of the way of another energy blast. Lara recognizes the jewel at the end of the staff as the Merlin Stone. She says it's one of the many trinkets Merlin would use for his magic. She never thought it existed, but she bets it's the trigger they're looking for.

The savages try to grab onto Lara and she kicks them away. She tells Vanessa that they're outnumbered, but luckily she had time to reload. As she pulls out her gun, Vanessa says she can't shoot them since they're innocent creatures that see them as a threat. Just then one of them smacks Vanessa across the face with a club. Lara Croft says she's sure there's a time and place for an archeologist to tolerate these beasts, but now is not that time. She says Vanessa will agree once she's back home, as she shoots the savage and gets him off her.

Lara gets hit across the back by an energy blast. She tells Chase that something is controlling him and he has to fight it. He says he can't allow her to live since she dares to defy 'the goddess'. Just then the goddess arrives telling Chase not to kill just yet. Lara asks who this woman is, and Chase says she is everything and her every word is law. Vanessa recognizes her as one of her students from the dig, a woman named Morgan Farrel. Morgan says that is a name she used to pass as one of them. Her real name is Morgan Le Fay.

 

Lara doesn't believe it, seeing as Morgan Le Fay is King Arthur's half-sister. Chase, still under control, says he has searched for the Merlin Stone for centuries and thanks to Vanessa, he finally found it. Morgan explains that the Merlin Stone was the ultimate product of Merlin's magic. All he had to do was to envision an era of time and the stone would vanish, appearing in that same time era. It served as an extension of sight for Merlin, a way to see the past and future. He used a 'receiving liquid' composed with the same properties as the stone. He can look into an object containing said liquid and it would show him whatever the stone sees. With such powers, there were no secrets beyond Merlin's reach.

Morgan attempted to take the stone for herself but Merlin thwarted her. He destroyed the special liquid and now the stone had no way to return to them. It was now lost in whatever time era it was last sent to. Lara asks if she really is Morgan Le Fay which would make her immortal. Morgan says death is an easy foe to conquer. Lara aims a gun at her head and asks if she cares to prove it. Morgan tells her to go ahead.

Lara's gun starts to heat up, hot enough to make her drop it. Morgan smacks Lara across the face, saying she can't comprehend the forces she's contending with. She commands Chase to kill Lara. Chase aims the staff at her, saying he exists but to serve. 

Lara dodges the fire blast and says listening to Chase talking like such a suck-up towards Morgan really ticks her off. She socks him across the jaw, making him drop the staff with the Merlin Stone attached. Vanessa runs towards it. She is overwhelmed by its power and Lara tells her to get rid of it. 

Vanessa tosses the staff into the air. Lara takes out her gun. Morgan tells Lara she will feed her entrails to the demons of hell for this. Vanessa tells Lara not to do it since its worth is incalculable. Chase, now back to normal, says the stone is worthless if they can't get back home. Lara agrees and shoots the stone.

Lara thinks the stone drew energy from the nearby volcano, and without the stone the portal opened by Merlin will be lost. The staff, no without the stone, falls back down and Lara catches it. Morgan runs towards Lara saying she will die for this. Lara smacks her in the face with the staff. Lara, Vanessa and Chase jump through the portal. Morgan chases after them but the portal closes before she can get through. She turns to see the savages angry at her, now that has lost control over them.

Later on, Vanessa is still on Lara's case. Lara says she also hated destroying the stone, but they didn't have any other way. She said they returned with something just as important. The staff was made from a dinosaur bone and had man-made carvings. Vanessa is glad to see proof that dinosaurs co-existed with men. Chase says they can't give it away, since it's worth millions and Lara owed him. Lara says he's the one in her debt since she saved his life. She says as far as she's concerned, he 'exists but to serve'.

 My Thoughts-

This was a fun read, though I'm surprised this was a relatively quick two-part adventure. I also feel Morgan was defeated too quickly for someone that could have been a major villain. Like, how long was she running around in present day pretending to be a mortal? I checked back and sure enough Morgan was the random student that was checking Chase out. I figured at this point she decided he would be a good pawn worth brainwashing. 

 

One thing this story showed us is that Lara Croft isn't afraid to shoot first and ask questions later. Vanessa seems to be the moral voice of reason, even though the danger at hand outweighs her thoughts. Lara is about to shoot the savages that are attacking them, and Vanessa tells her they don't know what they're doing... moments before one of them socks her across the face. Lara is also not afraid to destroy precious artifacts if her life (or the life of others) is on the line, even when she herself appreciates the value and handiwork of said artifacts.

It was a fun adventure, and seeing Lara shoot at the T-Rex while avoiding its attacks surely gave a lot of memories to fans of the game and the Lost Valley level. Lots of action and lots of pin-up worthy art. 

 

The letters column was a mixed bag in regards to Compton's heel turn and death during the first story arc. One fan was glad to see Compton get killed off, since he saw him as a poor man's Alfred. Another fan though was disappointed because he wants the comics to be as close to the games as possible. In the early Tomb Raider games, Lara's butler was Winston Smith and he was a good guy and still alive. I get where they're coming from. It would be as if a new long-running Uncharted comic killed off Victor Sullivan in issue 4. It's also odd since the letter column ended with the columnist saying 'see you next time as wee how Lara returns to her time and gets away from Morgan' even though this is the very issue where all of that happens.

When it comes to ads, now that the series is 6 issues in, a lot of them advertise the comic itself and to get back-issues. They even had a special edition Wizard issue about Lara Croft and the Top Cow Universe which includes Aphrodite IX # 0 for free from artist David Finch.

One thing interesting about the comic was the board came with the logo Atomic Comics, buy Atomic or Die! I bought this one from a regular user at Hipcomic (not a store or anything) and I guess he must have bought this one from Atomic Comics back in the day. Sadly all four Atomic Comics locations shut down August 21, 2011 which surprised both the customers... and the employees. While I never went to the comic shop in Arizona, I'll say 'Buy Atomic or Die!' one more time for any customers out there that have fond memories of the shop.