In early 2019, after an extended hiatus, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s dystopian political drama Lazarus came back to life. Lazarus: Risen saw Forever Carlyle return to the fray in a new quarterly 64 page format. This announcement didn’t just get me excited about returning to one of the most intricately planned worlds in contemporary comics, it got me excited for what this might mean for other Image published series.
Five issues in, the shift to an extended format really plays into Lazarus’ strengths. It’s at its best when you’re given time to wallow among its rich cast of characters and soak up the world they live in. Dialogue is given space to breathe, story arcs take their time to develop, and action is given its due attention. After all, it was Lazarus’ fantastic debut issue that boldly opened with 9 pages dedicated to a single fight scene. When at the top of their game, Rucka and Lark take the time they need to tell the story they want to tell.
In the age of streaming, we’ve seen TV series adapt to more flexible structures. We’ve seen wild variations in episode lengths, the loss of the ad break, and different tactics when it comes to release schedules, (Amazon Prime’s The Boys came under fire when the creators opted for a weekly release schedule). I’ve been of the opinion for a while now that many comic book series would benefit from taking a similarly flexible approach. Not every serialised story fits neatly into 20-30 page chunks. Not every creative team thrives within a monthly release schedule.
Panel Syndicate, as well as other digital comic platforms, have already experimented with new formats and payment models. Most of Panel Syndicate’s publications have a landscape orientation and readers can choose the price they want to pay per issue. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but with Lazarus Risen setting a precedent and still going strong, perhaps we’ll be seeing more out-of-the-ordinary publishing schedules for printed series too. As a writer, the possibilities for the sorts of stories we could see sets my mind racing.
Lazarus: Risen #5 will be released 28th October.
