Tomb Raider Issues 4 Review

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The pull bag hello and welcome to the pull bag.

This is yet again another back issue classics

This is the first back issue classics of 2015.

Happy new year. Everyone. I am to if you're like

joining me is Jeremy fine. Hello girl power Yeah,

here we go Alright, so This is the second yeah,

I believe this is the second Dark Horse comics

series that we will be covering here in the pullback

because I believe at the time the Star Wars stuff

was with Dark Horse when Ryan and I, Ryan Dross

and I from Star Joe's covered Boba Fett is dead

which is now transferred over to Marvel so there

is that there will be more Star Wars coverage

coming up with Ryan and I probably later on this

year uh... because now with the whole marvel

taking star wars uh... a lot of stuff has popped

up on comics ology that wasn't there before so

all hell the mouse that's true all here the spider

-mouse oh boy so uh... we're going to be talking

about something this back issue classics that

uh... is I thought was interesting at first.

Talking about something that actually I have

never done before. I don't know if you have played

it, but I have never played the 2011 Tomb Raider.

I believe it was 2011, right? Yeah, it's somewhere

around the time Tomb Raider made a comeback.

I played a demo of the most recent one from my

Xbox One, but I played Tomb Raider when it first

came out because It was gonna be like the game

for next -gen consoles because of time PlayStation

1, you know and Dreamcast were technically next

-gen consoles so you had a list of these Tomb

Raider games and it was interesting because people

didn't know what to make of it guys liked it

because they just saw You know this attractive

woman with a British accent as an Indiana Joneses

character. And then you had a bunch of these

really crappy sequels. And then sometime in 2000,

because the sales weren't doing too well, they

figured, okay, we'll kill off Lara Croft, but

what we'll do is, is that you're gonna play the

adventures that she had before she dies, like

the lost adventures, which wasn't too bad, but

it wasn't the best gameplay. And then thankfully,

several years later, we got a whole new makeover

for war uh... and of course in between nightcrawlers

decided she was going to make a movie which the

less we talk about that well out well no okay

okay okay come on now yes we've had a lot of

actresses and a lot of different people other

models play laura croft but come on angelina

jolie as laura croft was pretty spot on casting

for those movies say what you want about the

plot of those movies but I mean she was pretty

spot -on. You know what she is but I've seen

other cosplayers at the time and The thing with

her is that it's more of an eagle like nowadays

showing star movies that she wants to Well, yeah,

but this was back in 2000 Oh my god that the

Tomb Raider movie. The original movie is 14 years

old. Holy crap Yeah, this is back in 2001 when

she was still doing you know Any old movie that

she wanted to do, you know, not just being so

picky and choosy and of course now she and You

know pit have like 20 kids. Oh my god. Can you

imagine? Being an angel owner Angelina Jolie

adoptee and having a TLC TV show Braden Brangelina.

I don't want to think about it think about what

the future is gonna hold for this character because

She is probably the most cosplayed character.

In video games, probably. Yeah, it's interesting

because as I said, when I first played the game,

I didn't just get it because it was an attractive

woman, you know, as Indiana Jones. I got it because

it was a different type of action RPG, if you

will. The only problem is, is that You have those

in -between sequels where the developers weren't

too sure what they were going to do with the

character. And when they finally did flesh her

out, which they're doing now with the Xbox One

and the PlayStation 4 version, thankfully she

still has... You know, she's still Lara Croft.

She has her trademark British accent, but she

doesn't have a trademark shorts anymore Which

is fine, but she's more lifelike and I feel that

nowadays She's kind of making this come because

she she was forgotten for a while because of

those sequels But I feel that there have been

novelizations on her adventures. I haven't read

them. I've heard of them And I believe there

was some sort of comic book in EGM, like Electronic

Gaming Monthly was trying to make like a three,

four page comic. But what I like about this one,

and what we'll talk about tonight, because it's

Dark Horse, is that we have Gale freaking Simone

as the writer. Yeah, and... Just to correct myself

before the listeners correct myself, correct

me, it wasn't 2011, it was 2013 that the Tomb

Raider video game, the newest incarnation of

the video game, had come out by Square Enix and

Crystal Dynamics. You know, I thought this was

gonna be really good because it was Gale Simone

writing, and maybe it's because even though I've

seen the gameplay and even though I've seen all

the cutscenes from other people online playing

it, like our buddy... booth ninja eighty one

from off the cuff and all that stuff i'd still

like after the first issue we're gonna talk about

the first four issues here but i can say honestly

i don't think i'm gonna be reading this anymore

after these first four issues it's just i don't

know what it is it's like i want to support gail

simone and i want to see what other things she

can write besides bad girl Obviously, she's not

on background anymore at this point in time,

but you know it's one of those things where I

thought that somehow The I don't know I just

thought that the writing for for Laura and the

situation after the events because this This

comic series from Dark Horse takes place exactly

after the events of the video game of the end

of the video game but For me, I love the art

um the story not so much it's a little strange

for me maybe I maybe I guess if I was a gamer

and I actually played the video like you know

a current -gen gamer and actually played the

video game I probably would feel differently

but I just I don't know the problem is and I

think it's because if you have the hardcore fans

that have been following this character for years,

it goes back to, and as the artwork goes, it's

not bad artwork, but I often remember, even back

with the Atari 2600 days, sometimes they would

take comic books, like these little mini, you

know, books that were like maybe five, 10 pages,

and put them into the cartridge, even with He

-Man. in the 80s you would get like these five

page comic you know based on the action figure

that you bought I don't know if this is supposed

to help sell the game a little more you know

continue the adventure it's not the worst I mean

it's the problem is that it's mainly just we're

just looking at panels and seeing where lore

is going there's not much dialogue but Mean the

gale tries to set up this mysterious story after

she's back from Yamatai Which is the island they

were on in the game and the first issue was great

I really do love the first issue of the series

issues two through four I I just don't know.

I really don't know folks because they just seem

Maybe it's me. I don't know They don't even seem

predictable I mean I can handle a predictable

story because I can make you know allusions to

other things and this it just seems too weird

for me it really really does because they have

all these people trying to hunt Laura and her

friends who survived from Yamatai but they don't

actually say exactly what or why they're being

hunted they Simone tries to wrap this up in some

mystery of maps and keys and boxes and books

and whatever else, and it... I don't know. It...

It just didn't work for me. You know, I think

it also... They're going back to Indiana Jones

territory because they're trying to find some

sort of artifact that may... destroy the world,

save the world. What is Laura protecting? What

is she trying to figure out the mystery of the

artifact? And it does. I mean, it goes into even

Alan Quartermaine territory, if you remember

that series. I mean, that's the problem. I mean,

treasure hunting series are nothing though. The

problem is that, like, what is this thing that

we're looking for and finding? And how is it

different from any other treasure hunting movie

we've seen in the past? And when you bring in

characters that are such a mystery and everybody's

trying to kill that character, that's okay, but

you know, besides a journey, there should be

a destination. There should be a point A and

B. And one of the problems, I'm not going to

shave off too many points, but one of the problems

I have is there's only so many ti - I mean, let's

go to something like Last Crusade. Let's go where

Indy has to go from America to Venice to find

his father because he's trying to find notes

for the Holy Grail. Okay, so we got that point.

We also know that there are people that are after

him. They're trying to kill him because they're

trying to make sure that he doesn't steal the

grail because they want to protect it. We get

that. Here it's like people coming out of nowhere

and they're working for a mysterious organization

and it's like everybody's after her and everybody's

incognito you're hoping for a payoff and there's

nothing yeah i mean you know we're four issues

into this series and i know since it's i wanted

to i said this in my year three blog post that

i put up for the pullback on what's going to

be happening here in year three and everything

else i wanted to get to this series in twenty

fourteen to be able to look at it then in the

context of while it was being released and it

still is being released i think they're up to

issue eleven twelve thirteen i don't know i haven't

kept up with uh... but uh... you know right now

i'm watching through uh... you deal from 1999

I'm on season 2 episode 14 out of oh my god 48

episodes so by episode 14 of this animated series

or this anime series if you really want to call

it what it's called I think by episode 8 or 9

we figure out or we find out what the name and

kind of for us the audience what the villain

looks like this it's like Okay, just getting

into the first issue we have you know We have

really really great art You know opening it up.

It's And this is what I do really enjoy about

dark horses you you open it up and on the back

of the on Front cover page flap on the back of

it here. It says Tomb Raider season of the witch

and it gives all the all of the credits and whatever

else on a white background page in black text

i love that because usually when i read comics

and most of them it's mixed into the story or

whatever else and sometimes it's hard to make

out at least for me personally sometimes it's

hard to make out who's doing one -on -one book

uh... so we open it up and lars got her hands

on her knees and she's just you know they're

coming in and she's got somebody shooting at

her and all this and all that and other stuff

and she's running and she's running and we find

out that this is actually a dream sequence from

when she was on Yamatai the island and she wakes

up and oh it was a bad dream and like I like

this I like this opening like I said I love this

first issue It's just where I run into a problem

with the series is where the first issue goes

from here and The story that two three and four

tell Well dream sequences to me have always been

a cop -out. I mean, there's only so many times

you can say it was just a dream I understand

that she's running from the point running from

the bad guys and she's on the plane and she I

Well, I love the panels where there's no dialogue.

You just see her running from the bullets leaping

through the jungle on the plane and of course

I love one of the panels where the plane is hanging

over a cliff and she's trying to hold on to dear

life the plane and then all of a sudden she finds

an axe and she tries to you know use the axe

to hold on to one of the plane uh wings before

she's about ready to fall off and thankfully

she's saved But the problem is, is that how many

times can we go, oh, it's just a dream and then

it's somebody that was already dead and she's

trying to kill them and I don't know, they're

gonna go into zombie territory or not. Well,

see, here's the thing, like, this is the one

thing that I'll give this first issue in this

series. You had to be able to bring in people

that never played the game before. People like

me even though I've seen the game I've seen like

I mentioned before booth ninja 81 I've seen him

play through the game and whatever else even

though I've seen the game you got to think that

you know people going into comic shops may or

may not be Hardcore gamers or Tomb Raider fans

or anything like that so they had to set it up

to where You kind of figured out or knew what

was going on like oh my gosh, okay, so she's

on this island She's running from these bullets

She's you know jumping off the edge of this plane

and somebody's gonna so I can kind of forgive

this for the first issue because it's not it's

a really cool introduction You know for someone

like us who has seen the end of the game we realize

oh hey it's a dream sequence it's not that bad

because it's introducing the rest of the world

to whatever simone's going to be creating so

i can somewhat give it a pass on that but it

just i don't know like i said the reason why

i like this first issue is because it sets up

lara and sam and it sets up their relationship

it also sets up jona uh... who was another character

from the game and their friend uh... so that

was cool and apparently Jonah hasn't been doing

well since since the island and he pulls a gun

on her and doesn't he he's talking in gibberish

and the guy that she had to go with her uh...

here's gold and then he gets stingy later and

whatever else I will say one thing though, I

love the art. You know, absolutely love the art.

Nicholas Daniel Selma does an amazing job here

with the art, the drawing and the colorists and

all that stuff. The art team on this book, it

looks great. The only thing with the Jonah back

and forth, because he had Jonah, he pulls a gun

on Laura, he's not too sure what's going on.

Again, it felt like Temple of Doom. I was very

afraid to take a torch and go, Indy, I love you.

But the problem is, um, Jonah, I'm glad is, you

know, still around because my biggest fear was,

is that because Jonah was so screwed up at the

head, he couldn't tell what was going on anymore

and he kept pulling a gun on Laura. I mean, there

was, there was a point however, where they're

fighting and they're in the ocean and it looks

like he's just about to drown. because they're

fighting on a boat and it's sinking and my biggest

fear was okay this is a guy who doesn't know

what's going on he's going to die and we're still

going to ask a million questions and thank god

that didn't happen because he somehow makes it

but the problem is is that For those who have

played the game or haven't it still kind of asks

a lot of questions What's going on with him?

Is he under a trance as he's been brainwashed

or somebody put a microchip in his head? I mean

these are things that You know playing the game

is one thing, but I also thought this could be

a Hypothetical what -if story I understand that

this is not a telltale game. Of course. I'm just

saying that it would have I mean, if you want

to set up for the next story, that's one thing.

I understand that. And it seems like everybody

wants to franchise everything nowadays. Which

is fine. So they want to make sure they're gonna

set up everything for the next door But you have

to keep it in the now and the problem is when

you have something like Jonah claiming He doesn't

know what's going on He disappears for a while

or we think he's you know gonna you know go down

with the ship because Laura can't save him because

he's You know brainwashed and he's even telling

her leave me to die that doesn't help me because

If you know who the character is, it's going

to bother you because he was a likeable character.

If you don't know who the character is, you don't

know what's going on. It was a waste of a panel

or panels and it was a waste of comic book and

it was a waste of time. Right, right. Now, I

haven't done this in a long time, but because

I try not to do it anymore and most of the comics

that I read are digital so I don't have to worry

about ads. but if you look at the page opposite

um... where he says uh... he will have his house

and wall floor you know uh... in in in the scene

where the boats crashing around she's about to

lose him before we turn the page there's an ad

for dark horses uh... serenity uh... firefly

class oh three k eighty four k sixty four series

Is it just me, or did they intentionally, in

this advertisement, make this look like a Harlequin

romance novel? As far as how Nathan Fillion looks

and whoever the hell the woman is with him. I'm

sure that they try to do anything, you know,

sex sells nowadays. Especially with Firefly,

so... Yeah, that's true. That's true. Uh, so

we get to... more of the boat scene here and

as you already said he's like oh no go without

me go without me and we see some really stunning

action shots of Laura taking her little pitch

axe or pitchfork or pickaxe whatever it is and

runs jumps and catches on the on the cliff there

on the rock and attempts to save herself and

we have this really really mysterious strange

storm And it kind of ends with the... Wait, is

that the boat or the Jeep? Wait a minute, that

explosion. I think it's the Jeep. Okay, because...

Yeah, I think the Jeep went in the water. Oh,

the Jeep, yeah, that's right, the Jeep went in

the water, okay. So as this first issue ends,

the Jeep explodes and she's basically like, oh

Jonah, oh Jonah, too late. The sun's too late.

Damn it all to hell. Next of four guardians.

For a first issue, I love this. I think it's

really good. I think the writing in it is really

good. I think Simone brings us into the story

of Lara Croft. But as it goes forward, when we

get to issue two, three, and four here, outside

of the artwork, the best thing for me are the

covers. Honestly, the covers look great. Well,

the covers I think are trying to promote the

game more because the worst if you get the game

you're gonna see a cover like this and even the

graphics because Laura is a little bit more real

because Laura with the old school Tomb Raider

games was more pixelated here New game. She's

more lifelike. That's the whole big thing. You

know, it's like even when she walks you're gonna

see her hair You know you strands of her hair

move around in the breeze. That's really what

they're trying to push more is the game but the

story again um, you're right the cover is You

want to hang on a wall, of course? the story

again No, everything goes back to It's either

a bad flashback or like I had some bad clamps

the night before and i'm having these nightmares

And everything seems to just be like some sort

of night terror mm -hmm now the first issue had

some really bright art had some really cool art

and I thought we were going to continue with

that in the second issue here but the second

issue starts off with two pages of really really

dark art I mean it's it's basically black pages

black -edged pages surround the ship the endurance

and we see Jonah and Laura but basically their

first meeting when they're on the boat both you

know what what when they're on the boat to go

to the island and Then we flash to Laura being

you know in the presence of being stuck on the

rock and it goes back to light Which I like I

love the shot of her When she goes diving down

for Jonah, that's an amazing shot of her underwater

They really did an excellent job with that they

do good shots When she's not talking and I'm

not saying it's a bad thing, but Laura as I recall

with the earlier You know versions of the game

she didn't talk but that's also because they

didn't really do too much of the cutscenes anyway

back then which are just traveling around and

Right, but you got to look at it in the context

of the suit this comic series and the game that

this is based on You can't really compare this

to the other Games in the franchise. Yeah, and

I think that's what's Bugging some of the fans

me not so much. I mean in fairness No, I'm not

gonna be that stingy and say okay because what

happened in the past they should do in the future

I'm just saying that what were who is she supposed

to be and what is she really about and I get

that she's strong and I get you she's independent

I'm glad that she cares about Jonah and Jonah's

not a throwaway character But I do like the lighting

and textures in this one I mean, I like the shadowing

in the beginning of issue two. Even the underwater

sequences, the artwork is amazing because you

see the murkiness of the water. Absolutely. Now,

I'm kind of wondering if the lettering people

did a goof up here because we get to the next

page opposite the freak comic book day 2014 ad.

She goes a new current what's happening now the

water it's Hit a canyon now it says the water

period it's hit a canyon it I don't know it just

It makes sense to me, but it in my head. It doesn't

sound right The sentence structure on that does

not sound right at all But I guess it's alright

and that's just a nitpick on my part folks. It's

just as I was looking at it here So as this issue

progresses she's trying to get Jonah to wake

up they Look like they're about to go over the

falls when the guide Ray shows back up With a

gun because he heard the word gold and he wants

gold Yeah, so it's gonna be like one of these

turncoats again because yeah, it's There's no

originality with this crap and that's one of

the things that irks me because all of a sudden

now he hears go I mean again, I can go back to

any other You know treasure hunting movie that

I've seen Characters are throw away. I'm not

saying that's a bad thing. I'm not saying it's

a good thing I'm just I'm in between again. I

don't want to be that nitpicky and say well What

I've grown up and watched over the years, but

this was also this was just more throwaway I

feel just to fill in a few panels Because there's

certain amount of pages you have to put in the

comic book and I guess you can't put that many

heads But it's kind of pointless or just to see

what a badass Laura could be When she fights

back It's one half -dozen to the other The the

page opposite the ghost ad when they're finally

on shore after they get rid of Ray where she

says Jonah Jonah little bird it's you're right

it's like she's Indiana or Indiana Joni I should

say of course not a lot of people are gonna get

that reference Indiana Joni watch Disney Channel

people you'll get it You got Indiana Joni here

in short round. I swear to God that's who Jonah

reminds me of his friggin short round An adult

version of short round at least in that that

image where she's kneeling beside him. Yeah,

it is short round. Yeah All right, so as this

as this issue progresses she goes to Trinity

College in Dublin to a professor friend of hers.

She has a couple of artifacts for them to look

at. They discuss them and apparently all of the

members that survived from Yamatai actually got

each one of them got one of these artifacts.

Laura's trying to figure out what it all means

and the story is just going so damn slow. It's

talking it's just talking about the Again, I'm

it's not that we have short attention spans and

I don't want you to think that but this is a

comic book You know, this is kind of like Da

Vinci code where they had to make it visual Yeah,

I mean seriously I mean the Vinci Code was something

where I was reading and reading and I wasn't

bored because they were just talking so much

about puzzles and the research and the artifacts

and the history That it was like I had to go

and rent documentaries to find out what was discussed

in the book And then they had to come out with

the visual guide because this way it was a huge

book You'd read and you would see the pictures

with the puzzles Here it's the same thing, and

I get the fact, okay, she's found a statue, she's

researching the statue, she's texting people,

she's talking to other colleagues, I'll get out

of here, you're in big danger, your life isn't

gonna be worth a spit if you find out what this

thing really means. And it's like, they just

go on and on and on, I'm like, just get to the

point already. Again, it's more filler. Yeah,

absolutely. Yeah, you said your life isn't gonna

be worth spit Every comic book episode needs

to have a Jack Palance Carl Grissom reference

in it So we have contact through these first

two issues between Sam who is her roommate friend

best friend whatever Jonah and now this lady

Reyes who apparently was another member on Yamatai

with them another team member so we then get

into all of this and we find out that all of

them have these artifacts and and whatever else

and it just becomes a huge huge treasure hunt

don't get me wrong I like okay everybody should

know if you haven't folks If you've been listening

to the pull bag for the last three years and

I haven't said this on there last year in 2014

I finished up our mask review podcast That's

all those episodes are after one after another

of really really boring treasure hunts This is

not as bad as that but Like I wish they would

get to the fucking point already like Because

they have to fill in because as I said, there's

only so many pages you could put of As we said

of the research and the talking and and and and

the organizations and treasure hunts are supposed

to be if my memory serves me correctly and I

keep going back to Indiana Jones because Indiana

Jones got it or it was the first story anyway

is that if Indy's gonna go after an artifact

they're gonna have to be stakes why Is he going

after this artifact? Why are the Nazis going

after this artifact? If he goes from, as I said,

from the good old USA all the way out to Jerusalem,

why is he going underneath the catacombs of,

you know, wherever and pulling out the staff

to show where, you know, point A goes to point

B? And they explained it point by point to point

and why the Nazis are going after him. Everything

was explained. You cared about the character

and you got the dialogue and even if you had

a battle Every now and then between good versus

evil The battles made sense. You knew what the

stakes were here. I don't know what the stakes

are III still don't know we're an issue, too

I still don't know what these stakes are supposed

to be. Is it end of the world? Is it supposed

to be? about your enlightenment It doesn't give

us anything other is it a priceless Artifact

worth millions. What is is that is so important

and we don't get it. Mm -hmm We don't get it

at all and as this issue ends we see that We

see that these two guys that have come up to

Laura and Reyes apparently they've kidnapped

raise his daughter and now we see that someone

is coming into basically steal away or hurt Laura's

professor friend and the the second issue ends

with I will reclaim what is hers I know you will

daughter blood calls to blood blood calls to

blood next a payment of flesh the second issue

okay you got four issues here all right so you

got four months worth of a comic at this point

okay the tomb raider movies which are probably

what two hours each that feels longer than that

but yeah well we'll go with that one wait until

october when i review them i'll get into it more

Good lord Alright, so let me just see here Because

I want to be accurate and all that good stuff

here Which say again Angelina Jolie best one

Okay, the yeah hundred minutes roughly about

two hours an hour and something minutes, but

in a hundred minutes Tomb Raider from 2001 did

a better job of storytelling than the first two

issues of this comic. I don't even, we haven't

even gotten to issue three yet. I know that's

what I'm saying like okay don't get me wrong

the first issue excellent perfect jumping on

point Simone introduced us to the characters

you know got us all going whatever else by the

second issue she basically raises all these damn

questions gives us no answers whatsoever and

by the time we get to issue three it's a fucking

flashback it flashes back to whatever his name

is um rio or oh god no that's jimin holograms

um roth that's what it is roth so it flashes

back to her The the team leader or whatever it

flashes back to Roth and Reyes Before they were

on the boat or something or other. Is that right?

Yeah something if this one it didn't bore me.

It just lost me because yeah, it just Acid flashbacks

have made more sense in this flashback. I'm not

sure where it's going other than the fact it's

supposed to be Because when we last left this

year to of course we have like, you know, the

mummy woman, you know, no scientists here. We're

talking again You know about nightmares are haunted

by the past Because you know, we've never had

a title like that before ever and we've never

had a character haunted by the past ever We we

get in hold on a second here the thing just okay.

Here we go haunted by mm -hmm. Yeah, we get the

character um does even have a name roth yeah

roth that's what it is okay yeah now it's coming

back to me yeah we get roth but it's just laura

once again in a bar trying to ask questions and

people just getting their heads blown off one

by one and her just fighting I don't even know

where to begin with this one. This one to me

just gave me a gigantic headache. I tried to

read it three times. I read it twice. That was

one time too many. All I know is that Laura's

just trying to ask questions and fights break

out. People's heads get blown off. And back on

the boat again, there's a storm. The weather

started getting rough. My god the storm is the

best part about this entire issue the two page

the two panels on the one page before the munchkin

zombies spare parts for ad Where she says? And

then the world split open those air currents

turned out to be something after all the lightning

and the blue and the black and all of that just

amazing amazing art And we now go back to a New

Year's Eve party. Oh no, they're running from

the people that were chasing them. That's right.

So this issue turns into a chase. Okay. It also

mixes in more of the flashback. This is... no.

Just no. I'm sorry, Gale Simone. Love your writing

in general, but this is just not Just isn't what

what I was expecting out of it and I had no expectations

going into this series I really didn't know what

to expect because as I said before I'd never

played the game. I was hoping for You know what

I got in the first issue, which is an introduction

to the end of the event the end the ending events

of the game and then we would tell a story from

there and the story she's telling it's like no

this is a poor man's arrow is what this is become

really has because by the end of issue three

she says Reyes they have Sam she's only my only

real friend she's she's all I have listen we

have to go back to the island we have to go back

to Yamatai It's like Arrow Season 4 or Season

2 already. It's like, holy crap. What the hell?

You know, I was really hoping that we'd have

some sort of treasure hunt in the cave. You know,

there's only so many times six months ago. There

was a show on NBC a couple years ago. I think

it was called The Event. Right. They kept going

back to what the event was and it was like six

months ago two weeks ago three minutes ago 30

seconds ago. No joke. I mean, that's what they

were doing They kept going back to everything

that happened either days weeks months, and then

it came down to minutes and seconds and it just

got so annoying and you found that the event

was just Interdimensional people that want to

exist in our world and that was it And it took

so fucking long to get there. Yeah, this is like

why do we have to keep going backwards? I mean,

it's only issue three and it's like we're already

here's the thing though for some reason More

and more writers feel that we need the prequel

And I don't know why the prequel has become so

important because with the prequel You're bringing

in characters that were never discussed in the

beginning And you're bringing in characters that

you know, then why are they in the prequel? Why

were we forgot to put them in one thing? I was

taught when I was taking Directing one at the

College of Staten Island two years ago. I'll

never forget my professor told me you're gonna

direct a Movie you're gonna direct the play you're

gonna write you got to know three things what

your character is like before the story during

the story and after the story Laura has a past,

but as I said, what was great about Chronicles

is that we saw her adventures, but we saw them

where she was treasure hunting. We didn't see

her. I mean, it's not like you couldn't do research

if you really wanted to, but to do every nook

and cranny to find and look, I play Carmen Sandiego.

I have no problem with that. I have no problem

being edutained. It's not a big deal, but you

have to stop going back to characters that she

knew that either betrayed her or have gotten

killed and she has all this guilt about whatever

she's found, whatever contact she's made that

are no longer part of the plot because of something

that she can't shake off. 20 issues ago or you

know three years ago, whatever the case may be

and that's why issue three if I tried to explain

issue three to you I would come off as somebody

that looks like I'm having the first stage of

a stroke and That's not a good thing because

I mean, this is Gail Simone. Is there life after

bad girl? Absolutely. Can she write? Absolutely.

Does she know how to tell a story? Absolutely,

you know name should mean something and I don't

think she's just writing this to pay off her

car or you know whatever the case may be but

I just want to see Laura treasure hunt now if

you don't want to see Laura in a trademark shorts

that's fine but you have to if you're gonna give

her her trademark gun you know and and and you

know a trademark fighting skills great but it's

like i don't care about characters that have

nothing to do with anything that you know just

because we played a video game and they were

mentioned in passing like if she talks about

what about trevor i don't want to know a 15 page

issue about trevor yeah it's just crazy it really

really is um so issue four Hunted by the Shadows

is the title on the front cover, but the actual

title is under penalty of death. I'll say this

for these first four issues. Nicholas Daniel

Selma, Juan Gideon, and Michael Atay, I assume

that's how you say his last name, on the art,

you know, pencils, inks, and colors. Amazing.

The art in this series is just... Gorgeous and

wonderful and great I'm sorry Gail storytelling

is just It's consistently losing me. It really

is it's losing my interest So we open issue four

with Jonah in the hospital Doing something trying

to escape or something or other and apparently

he has no pants on nice that's one less thing

we need um so we get to where sam has been kidnapped

by the kidnappers and um you know she basically

is taunting them she's not going to talk to them

um we go back to laura and reyes and they are

trying to figure this all out They're trying

to find I believe they're no the daughter is

with them. Okay. I thought they were trying to

find the daughter So Reyes is Reyes and her daughter

with Laura And it just this series is just Going

on it at a snail's pace. We then go back to another

flashback I assume it's a flashback, because...

It's a flashback within a dream sequence of imagination.

I'm almost waiting to see that top stop spitting

on whether or not it's gonna fall down or not.

That's what I'm wa - You know, I'm tired of these

fl - And not only is it a flashback, or it's

a flashback within a dream sequence, I - I -

I - I mean, you - you have these mysterious creatures

saying, like, go back, and of course - You know,

of course, you know, she's gonna go forward because

she wants to know what's telling it wouldn't

be great Of something even if it was monty python

ask if this giant lightning creature told somebody

to go back You're like, okay fine, and then things

just starts to follow you and say but aren't

you interested? No, you know It would just have

some sort of humor. But the fact that everything

keeps telling her to go back or she's having

nightmares there's nothing to me this is also

this is something that scooby -doo or this is

something out of any serial or any Saturday morning

cartoon that's just like well she has to know

what's the cause of her nightmares what's the

worst case they're happy if she didn't what there'd

be a different story she could just go and treasure

hunt and maybe everything would intersect I don't

know But I'm just so tired of these flashbacks

and these dream sequences. She did me in purgatory

for all I know. Gail Simone writes Lara Croft

Tomb Raider as she was on the Island of Lost.

Oh, good Lord. Well, she's on an island. We know

that. Yeah. All is we need now is for Tom Hanks

and Wilson to show up. Folks I can't do this

anymore. Yeah, um Allow me as the guest to just

use my final thoughts on this one Yeah, here's

the thing and and and not to be repetitive. So

I'm gonna give a whole new rant I'm gonna do

this in threes number one What I said before

you have to have a beginning middle and end on

your character of what your character is supposed

to be. To keep putting in flashbacks and warnings

and to build and I go back to what we said with

Amazing Spider -Man 2. You know, the reason why

we said it was a two and a half hour preview

because you're so concerned about building everything

up from next story. This is why people have attention

deficit disorder because you're building everything

up for the next story. We don't know what's happening

in the now. Second of all, I don't care about

these. To quote Samuel L. Jackson with Snakes

on a Plane, I've had it with these motherfucking

prequels and these motherfucking franchises.

Prequels to me are getting on my last nerve.

But this isn't a prequel, though. This is...

It's not a prequel, but it kind of... It almost...

For some people that are not familiar with the

game, I'm just saying, hypothetically. Yes, it's

not a prequel, but for some reason it's acting

like that or a mid -equal or something. Again...

That's not what this is supposed to be, but it's

trying to come off like that. It should be its

own entity. And the problem is it's either going

to piss off people who are fans of the game,

or as I said, it's going to confuse people that

have not played it or have not played this any

Tomb Raider game in a very long time. That's

going to be problem number two. And the third

problem is, is that people who are not too familiar

with Gale Simone Are not going to go back to

her Other works and that's a shame. I think gail

simone you listen There are a lot of writers

that are going to hit snacks. I don't know if

the series gets better It probably will But there

are pros and cons and the pros are it's some

interesting artwork. There's some interesting

panels but the cons are the dialogue and what

laura is trying to go after and why so a professional

opinion I'm split I'll go two and a half but

on a personal I'm going one and a half on this

one because You know war for girls It was supposed

to be a female Indiana Jones for guys. It was

just you know a sex yeah, well a sex symbol olive

skin British accent, but once you start to read

the novelizations and they're out there I forget

what they're named I mean this should be visual

I'm not saying that it shouldn't be and I'm not

saying that if you play the game can she I mean

why didn't she have her own Saturday morning

cartoon or why hasn't she had you know some sort

of Adam or direct the DVD movie besides so and

I'm sure even after you know Jolie there were

talks about rebooting the franchise again where's

Laura gonna go i don't know but the one thing

i do know is that i cannot go back to this series

gail simone or not it just it's it's unreadable

i'm right there with you the only thing is i'm

going to give the first issue of four because

i thought it set everything up really well the

other three issues i'm going to give a two and

a half um because they just Weren't good, and

I cannot believe I have read something from Gail

Simone that I did not like Everything else that

she's done to this point like specifically the

bad girl series is where I really have read her

Stuff I know she's writing or she was writing

read Sonia. I don't know if that's any good I

have not checked that out yet. I'd like to eventually

but You know I can I cannot recommend this to

anybody I just can't it's just not It's not that

great at all No, this would be something in the

80s if you picked up a Laura Croft action figure

and like I said if you picked up a he -man action

figure in the 80s and Once you opened it up and

behind the action figure was this tiny like five

to ten page Panel comic book that was based on

the figure that you bought That's pretty much

what the series feels like to me that if you

picked up a Laura Croft action figure towards

our us You would get this mini comic book Or

even an Atari 2600 game. They used to have these

mini comic books. That's pretty much all this

is and that's a shame because I'm sure red Sonya

you might like because she's kind of like a female

Conan the barbarian Which is not a bad thing

I've heard rumors that maybe she'll do which

blade which is also not a bad thing. I think

This is like just take the horse behind the barn.

Just shoot it See and for me I was really hoping

to because for me nowadays in comics I have to

really get engrossed and people have heard me

serve me say this all last year in the pull bag

I love Comixology .com because of their guided

view technology going panel by panel. I can see

a lot of these panels in these four issues being

so great on that platform, yet guess what? Dark

Horse Comics isn't even on Comixology. their

advertisements in their books they're like buy

from darkhorse .com or your local comic shop

or bookstore and call this number for the comic

shop locator that's all well and good I do want

everyone to support their local comic shops don't

get me wrong but Jesus Christ at 350 a cover

350 an issue and don't get me wrong 350 an issue

is not bad compared to DC and Marvel who do 399

and 499 So don't get me wrong, but for what this

book is For what these four issues are for a

12. This is $16 right here Not counting whatever

discount I got on these from my comic shop, but

this is $16 where the comics in my hand that

only one out of the four was I absolutely really

enjoyed. That's kind of sad and that's a waste

of money. There's not one issue that other than

the covers, in all honesty, I had to go onto

the Dark Horse application for this one and I

had to download them. The only difference between

the comicology and the Dark Horse Don't know

what it is. It's more interesting to download

the issues, but is is that? yeah, again, they

were 399 a piece and It's not worth the money.

I almost wish there's an app called overdrive

We can rent library books. I wish you can do

the same thing with these comics because this

was not money Well spent this is one time. I

have buyers remorse, which is What I want to

say on the show, but I have to tell people again

if you're really true Tomb Raider fan just stay

away from this one. Yeah Yeah, like I said, I

cannot recommend it at all and I'm just on Comixology

now even looking to see if they're listed in

the Comixology database and I don't even think

that they are They wouldn't they I think I know

why now I really do Why is that I think it's

because a Dark horse is his own entity and I

think common technology is you know they finally

got well They got image now, which is and they

got Marvel and they got xena scope hell they

even have Disney they have DC You know they have

IDW they have boom they have top shelf They have

all the major valiant. They have all the major

companies And they have devil's dew of all things,

you know, don't get me wrong. I'm sure devil's

dew is great, but You know, I mean they have

all of these Not just the big like let's face

it DC and Marvel are the big two IDW and image

comics are like second to Or maybe even on the

same level for some people as DC and Marvel like

for me right now IDW and image comics can do

no wrong um well idw and their transformer stuff

a little questionable but um you know they have

all of these other like not necessarily no name

publishers but they have a ton of publishers

they have almost every publisher i can think

of except for dark horse the only good thing

from dark horse right now besides the star wars

would be hellboy and even then Although I haven't

read a Star Wars from Dark Horse in a while.

But... Yeah, I mean... And Dark Horse doesn't

even have that anymore, because Marvel took it

back. Well, that's good. But yeah, I mean...

I don't think I'll be reading a Dark Horse comic

anytime soon. No, I'm actually going to Image,

and I have to say, besides Marvel and DC, yeah,

it's IDW and Image for me. After yeah, but that

that to be pretty much there is only there's

only one other publisher right now that has something

that I really really want that isn't one of those

four and That's a publisher called Xenoscope

because they have a reimagined new version will

take on Robin Hood and it's R. O. B. Y. Robin

Hood so Very much looking forward to that. You

can expect coverage for that here in the pull

bag. I don't know exactly when I don't have it

pulled up right now, but I think coming up in

January we're gonna do more turtles coverage

and other stuff with Joe Reed, so other than

that I'm not really sure. Where can the people

find you online, sir? Well, of course, partner

with geekcastradio .com and then of course on

Facebook, Hunnic Outcasts, iTunes, Hunnic Outcasts,

and Twitter, Spreaker, all one word. You can

find us on all social media, one word, Hunnic

Outcast. Awesome. Oh, that's what's coming up.

Yeah. Masters of the Universe. Adass Baron and

I are going to be doing issues 13 to 19 of the

ongoing. And then we've got Joe Reed and I have

TMNT issues 41 and 42, which are the first two

issues of Attack on Technodrome from IDW. And

then in February, we've got episode 98, 99, and

100 for the pull bag. So that's going to be interesting.

uh... until then folks you know i'm sorry you

know people please comment on this episode and

let us know if we're wrong let us know if our

opinions on the dark horse tomb raider gail simone

written series are wrong or or or if you disagree

with us and tell us why you think it's good because

I'm walking away from this. I'm not touching

this with a 10 -foot pole ever again. I just

deleted my Dark Horse app. So, you know what,

guys? Oh, wow. I don't want to turn them into

my alter ego, Jeremy Wine. In this case, this

is the only time you're probably going to hear

me as that alter ego when no effort is really

put in. But yeah, I've deleted right now, as

we spoke, said app. But trust us, you know. what

it was at the end told me uh... next week uh...

courage you know better episode here exactly

this although i don't need to find that clip

uh... all right so that's gonna do it for us

make your greatest in the comics will catch you

next week when we travel back to attorney with

masters universe uh... twenty thirty ongoing

we're gonna wrap it up with the blood of greyskull

storyline and then we go along a flashback with

issue 19 of that series, where it's basically,

what if the Masters of the Universe and the Lion

King collided? Because that's all issue 19 is,

is a Lion King story with Masters of the Universe

characters. So, like I said, make your great

escape into comics. We will catch you next time.

Happy New Year, everybody. We've got great things

coming up this year in the pullback, and we will

catch you later. Hakuna Matata! A famous explorer

once said... That the extraordinary is in what

we do, not who we are. I'd finally set out to

make my mark. To find adventure. But instead,

adventure found me. moments when life flashes

before us we find something something that keeps

us going something that pushes us just heard

the latest episode of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's

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