Lazarus Planet

Lazarus Planet

by Mark Waid, Riccardo Federici (illustrator)

The Lazarus Volcano has erupted—spewing dangerous and transformative chemicals into Earth's atmosphere, resulting in chaos across the DC universe! As these Lazarus clouds rain down upon the planet, people across the globe begin to develop strange new abilities!

Collecting the explosive Lazarus Planet Event—Lazarus Planet: Alpha, Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton, Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods, Lazarus Planet: Legends Reborn, Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution, Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate, and Lazarus Planet: Omega!

In Lazarus Planet: Alpha, it's up to Damian Wayne to put out the distress call for whoever can still hear it: come to the ruins of the Hall of Justice and help save the world! Poison Ivy, Power Girl, Cyborg, Batman, and more answer the call…but why could the fate of all life as we know it rest in the hands of…Monkey Prince?

Read more about their already-extraordinary abilities change, and witness a whole host of chaos unlike anything the DCU has experienced before!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Batman, Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 2023

About the author

Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh… apart from the Alpha and Omega bookend issues, which had stunningly beautiful artwork and are the only reason this book is getting rounded up to 3 stars instead of rounded down, this book was like watching four hours of movie trailers in a row… It was just a parade of short stories, which were actually just previews of upcoming DC books.

I feel like I need to wash my brain in ice cold water now…

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lazarus Planet collects DC Comics issues Lazarus Planet: Alpha 1, Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton 1, Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods 1, Lazarus Planet: Legends Reborn 1, Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution 1, Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate 1, and Lazarus Planet: Omega 1. The bookends are written by Mark Waid, art by Riccardo Federici, and colors by Brad Anderson. The others issues are made up of a ton of writers, artists, colorists, inkers, and more.

Set between issues 4 and 5 of the Batman Vs Robin miniseries, a volcano has erruped on Lazarus Island raining Lazarus Resin across the globe. This leads to new heroes and villains beings born and some heroes' powers being altered.

Yo dawg. I heard you like events so we put an event inside an event! Seriously, why did this take place between the penultimate and final issue of the Batman vs Robin series and not be a fallout from that series? It is a very bizarre creative decision.

Lazarus Planet (and Dark Crisis) serves as a launching point of Dawn of DC so these issues are predominantly 6-10 page short stories introducing a ton of new characters that are then immediately forgotten. I only remember a handful of the character and I literally just finished reading the series.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of DC’s worst universe wide crossovers. Pointless besides trying to entice readers to buy other books.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. It is more a preview of new DC characters or the new direction of a series of other characters. With a short story format, it is difficult to review the whole book as apart from the main story, each story/preview is on its own and has a different creative team. I go by the fact that I enjoyed most of the stories here. Also, the book did what it was supposed to do to get me interested in more of the upcoming series.

The Lazarus Planet Alpha and Omega are the main story and take place between Batman vs. Robin 4 and 5. Really, these two should have been included in that book. The rest of this book is divided into short stories of upcoming series.

An overall good book. To be honest, it was only the Circuit Breaker story that I did not like as even for a short story. It was left unfinished, and I, for one, really hate it. All the other, I think we're good. The Spirit World was my favourite of the bunch. Some of these were released in the Free Comic Book Day event, including the Monkey King/Prince backup stories. The book finishes with a varent cover gallery.

[TJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t care about most of these stories. I enjoyed the Dreamer and Jon Kent ones, but that’s about it. The introduction of a trans masc character was cool too! But besides that? Real meh. Which is a shame because the Batman vs Robin book was actually really good until this event started and derailed it. 2/5 stars.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot more than most people, it seems. Lazarus Planet bookends with the main Lazarus Planet comics, LP: Alpha and LP: Omega, and the rest of the book is filled with various shorter stories from the tie-in issues. What I liked about these issues is that the focused a lot on some of the minor characters in the DCU. Huntress, Power Girl, the Question, Monkey Prince, etc. Additionally, there were three stories that set up the three new mini-series focused on AAPI characters: City Boy, the Vigil, and Spirit World. Overall, I thought these shorter stories did a great job of filling in how the eruption of Lazarus Island affected the entire planet.

A huge plus was seeing so many different art styles, as well as newer writers. It's always great to see newer and/or more alternative comics artists on a big Two book. Hopefully, we will see more of these artists and writers on future DC books.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look I know this company wide events usually have next to zero lasting power since the days of Crisis and Zero Hour (the lone exception being how long Marvel's current Krakoa story line has lasted). And, arguably this one cheats and leaves multiple cliffhangers out there.

There is a good thing though. Dating back to Crisis DC's line wide changes may not last long, but they do use the series to launch new books and sometimes even new characters. They continue that trend here. Again some series may not last, and I doubt the changes to magic will be around for more than a month.

Waid does make it a fun ride (I mean I couldn't even make it through the last Spider-Man "event").

Revised

Finished what I consider the coda to this book Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods. I have to agree with their assessment that nothing, or very little, changed during Lazarus Planet.

The good thing in Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods? A minor re-vamp of Mary Marvel that makes sense, and differentiates her from Shazam. Along with giving the new Wonder Girl a minor boost in visibility (again) there is some hope that these female characters will get larger roles in the DCU.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Calling that an event is a pretty broad use of the term. Plays like pilot season but for comics. I mostly found myself just not caring.

[Amber Loptien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fun stories mixed in with some stinkers. Sometimes you just have to accept that if you want comic publishers to try new and interesting storylines.

[Roman Zarichnyi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Циклоп був правий, адже подія «Планета Лазаря» сценариста Марка Вейда — це кілька випусків, які вирізані із лімітованої серії коміксів «Бетмен проти Робіна» того ж Вейда.

Вулкан Лазарус вивергся, викинувши в атмосферу Землі небезпечні та трансформаційні хімікати, що спричинило хаос у всесвіті DC. Коли ці хмари Лазаря падають на планету, люди по всьому світу починають розвивати нові дивні здібності.

У мене не було ніяких сподівань на цю подію, але навіть так, я розчарувався у прочитаному. Це вже якась давня невтішна тенденція, робити такі неякісні події, тільки задля того, що б пропхати кілька інших синґлів читачам якоїсь серії. Мене черговий раз ввів в оману малюнок Ріккардо Федерічі. Як і очікувалося, його художній стиль видатний, але коміксам Альфа й Омеґа бракувало зв’язності, центральної теми та емоційної глибини. Вони мали б задати якусь планку, якої інші комікси в події мали б тримати або намагатися дотягнутися до неї. Та натомість все вийшло навпаки.

Прикро, тому що «Бетмен проти Робіна» був, справді, непоганим коміксом, поки ця подія не почалася і не збила все нанівець.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was bad. I hope this is not the new level DC events will be reaching from now on. The Alpha and Omega story was messy, there was not a thread to follow, and it just had no heart. The rest, it was just a not-so-free sampler. Not everything was bad in between, but most of it felt rushed, with little to no effort to make these upcoming stories significant at all.

[Josh Herrema · Rating 1 out of 5]

They fooled me with Riccardo Federici being involved. As always, his art and linework are simply superb, for the very small amount its actually in the collection. The rest is just a bunch of cliffhangers to setup new characters that DC will cancel a month after publishing. Easily one of the worst events I've read. Also way to ruin Sideways even more, give him another solo run 🙏

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was disappointing. I read Blackest Night earlier this year, and what struck me about it was how every tie in issue played a part in the story. This was the exact opposite. Almost every tie in was totally unnecessary, and most came across as the definition of a "cash grab." Each one shot featured several short stories, and they all seemed like intros to series about to be released. This was just not good. I will say the Alpha and Omega one shots were good, as they told the story started in Batman Vs. Robin, but all the other crossover issues were just bleh.

As I said, very disappointed in this "DC Event." I will, however read the Lazarus Planet follow up series to see if there's any redemption there.

Batman Vs. Robin was really good. This, not so much.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm.... this one was way too long and basically did almost nothing, or at least it appears that way. Changed magic in the DCU and set up the "Dawn of DC" event, which is yet another relaunch of their titles.
When I read "Batman vs Robin" they made it seem like this event was so vital to understanding BvR #5... but it wasn't. I'm just kind of overall disappointed with the story here. Some of it was good, but most felt forced.
I'd skip this one. But read Batman vs Robin, that's amazing!

[Shazne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mann wtf is this?? Imma try to be kind as possible but its one of the most lamest events ever. It's so dull and soulless. Plus, it's INCOMPLETE. For a book that markets as "The Complete Event", this is a robbery 🤦🏻. Despite early mixed reactions, I stayed away and waited for the hardcover edition. I trusted Mark Waid's name being attached to this. It was a such a waste of money. The main story's art by Ricardo Federici is very much appreciated but they wasted his art on this terrible event. The other stories in here are basically useless. Stick to Batman vs Robin and skip this one. Sigh.

[Green Megs &Ham · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is like when you scroll through social media too fast. It's neat that Lazarus affected so many storylines... but it was too many storylines. There are maybe 5-6 issues relevant to the plot. The rest feel like fever dreams.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This went from mediocre to awful reaaaal quick. Can't think of a single redeeming factor in the whole book.

[Paulo Vinicius Figueiredo dos Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nosso querido Mark Waid decidiu inovar ao pensar o evento que sairia do final de Batman vs Robin. Ao invés de termos uma megassaga ou uma minissérie, o autor apresenta um acontecimento que ecoa por várias revistas. É como se o acontecimento em si ficasse no fundo e gerasse o enredo por trás daquela história. Logicamente que a história principal é contada, mas todos os outros capítulos são derivados disso. No papel, a ideia é boa. Na prática, é um caldeirão insano de coisas bem medianas para baixo, envolvendo personagens pouco relevantes para o universo DC. São mais de 150 páginas frustrantes da qual apenas 48 são realmente legais. Justamente aquelas cujo roteiro é feito por aquele que pensou a ideia. Fazer a resenha desse one-shot vai ser um intenso lenga-lenga de reclamações. Mas, prometo recompensar com a resenha da quinta edição de Batman vs Robin que é um epílogo para a minissérie e acontece depois desse especial.

Vou começar falando sobre a única coisa que presta neste especial, que é Planeta de Lázaro Alpha e Omega que possui roteiros de Mark Waid e uma arte inspirada de Riccardo Federici. Esqueci de mencionar que cada uma das histórias deste especial é feito por um roteirista e artista diferentes. E isso não ajuda nem um pouco. Alpha vai lidar com o momento da fuga de Damian, Bruce, Talia e da Alice Sombria da Ilha de Lázaro. Como todos os equipamentos científicos estão tendo problemas diante da chuva da resina, Damian precisa pousar o transporte para poder reagrupar. É aí que ele assume o comando de várias forças-tarefa que precisam lidar com os problemas imediatos enquanto buscam deter Nezha e devolver os poderes mágicos aos seus respectivos donos. Só que o filho de Nezha, o rei Touro de Fogo quer matar seu pai e tomar os poderes mágicos para si. O que vai provocar uma corrida contra o tempo em um cenário de caos absoluto.

Waid consegue nos entregar duas histórias provocativas e repletas de ação. O ritmo é frenético e o desastre está acontecendo por toda a parte. Para que o roteiro pensado por ele funcionasse era preciso o leitor sentir que o mundo está despedaçando. E ele consegue fazer isso com sucesso. Vou descontar o fato de ele ter colocado o Damian como uma espécie de comandante no ato ali porque a ideia básica da minissérie e desse especial era colocar o filho do Batman como o centro das coisas. Em alguns momentos achei forçado, mas coloquei o meu chapéu da suspensão de descrença. Até que ele funciona direitinho e ele tem muito da presença do Bruce dentro de si. Os outros personagens são integrados à cena de maneira bastante orgânica e o ponto central é o universo mágico. Waid quis transformar esse elemento que é menos explorado no universo DC em algo mais selvagem, indomável. Acho que ele consegue dar esse sentido a tudo.

Outro personagem que recebe bastante destaque neste especial é o Príncipe Macaco. Um personagem criado por Gene Luen Yang como uma forma de introduzir representatividade asiática na DC e que foi claramente inspirado no Su Wukong da Jornada para o Oeste. Só um parênteses: ótimo para quem curtir o personagem já que a Panini não publicou as revistas do personagem aqui no Brasil. Ou seja, vai ter que esperar a boa vontade de trazer um título menos badalado para cá. Boa sorte com isso! Enfim, o Príncipe Macaco nos fornece um lado humano e sensível ao que está acontecendo por toda a parte. Enquanto os outros heróis estão fazendo coisas heróicas, Wukong está ali sendo mais sutil, cuidando da Alice Sombria que ninguém reparou que ela estava ali. Waid quis nos mostrar o sofrimento de uma personagem que foi usada e abusada por Nezha e a Mãe Alma, mas isso poderia ter sido feito melhor na série Batman vs Robin. Quando ela está aqui encolhida e sofrendo, não consigo me empatizar com o sofrimento dela porque isso não foi trabalhado antes. Aliás... foi trabalhado e bem mal. Gostei do diálogo entre Wukong e Alice porque Waid quebra as nossas expectativas ao nos apresentar uma mulher bastante forte e que não deseja ser protegida. Seu sofrimento vem dos abusos sofridos e Wukong oferece as palavras certas que ela precisava ouvir. Alice queria alguém que a escutasse e entendesse seus problemas. Feito isso ela conseguiu recuperar a motivação que precisava para fazer o que fosse necessário.

A arte de Federici é bem bonita. É uma arte que me fez lembrar o Joe Madureira na época dos Vingadores, mas a arte dele é mais polida. Gosto do fato de seus personagens não serem exatamente retilíneos, puxando mais para algo assimétrico. As curvas e imperfeições fazem o estilo ser bem peculiar, algo que me agradou quando li a saga do Mundo Bélico na Action Comics e que aqui pude apreciar em outro conjunto de cenários. Seus personagens passam bastante sentimento e algumas das cenas que mais gostei envolveram o Damian em um momento em que ele precisava fazer uma decisão difícil e outro com a Alice Sombria. No primeiro, Federici escolhe focar nos olhos dele em três quadros. É como se fosse uma transição dos olhos de um menino para os de um comandante que precisa chegar a uma conclusão séria a respeito de um dilema. No outro vemos o quanto Federici soube representar bem a jovem feiticeira ao dar a ela um olhar maligno ao mesmo tempo em que ela dizia coisas que a deixavam vulnerável. Essa mescla de vulnerabilidade e o maligno é bem representado na pose, nos gestos e no olhar dela. Outro elemento da arte dele que gosto é de como os quadros parecem sujos e granulados, quando na verdade é apenas o pincel do artista colocando peso nas cenas.

As demais histórias são vignettes chamando a atenção para histórias com outros personagens como a Ravena/Mutano, o Pistoleiro, o Nuclear, a Morticia, o Questão e a Canário Vermelho. Sendo bem sincero, todas elas são bem fracas e não me deixaram com muita vontade de buscar histórias desses personagens com exceção da do Questão. O roteiro do Alex Segura nos reapresenta à comissária Montoya que precisa colocar novamente o manto do Questão para descobrir pistas a respeito de um assassinato estranho que vem acontecendo em Gotham. A narrativa puxa mais para o aspecto heroico do que detetivesco, o que me frustrou um pouco. O Questão é o tipo de personagem que funciona melhor em narrativas ao estilo noir. Mas, Segura consegue reapresentar bem a personagem, contando suas motivações e seu atual status quo. Só achei o Segura verborrágico demais nessa história, o que atrapalhou a arte do Clayton Henry de respirar. E aí é preciso frisar que a arte dele até é boa, mas faltou isso de investir nesse clima mais da baixa Gotham, de investigação. Apesar de ele ter feito algumas cenas bem brutais no final da história, mostrando que ele tem um bom domínio do aspecto monstruoso. De inserir o estranho em sua narrativa.

A narrativa da Canário Vermelho tenta ser moderninha e descolada, mas soa mais como forçada e não inspirada. Delilah S. Dawson não conseguiu nos mostrar nessa pequena história o que faz de sua personagem única. Ela parece só uma garota estranha que conhece um amigo com poderes e faz quase tudo para ela. A personagem não teve um momento para brilhar aqui. A arte de Brandon E. Stein é mais puxada para o digital e as cenas são bastante confusas. Não consegui entrar na história completamente com ela. Tem a história do Pistoleiro que agora é parente da Amanda Waller. A gente não tem lá muita explicação do motivo (não me lembro de ter parentesco entre eles) e o personagem se transforma em uma caveira estranha com uns poderes de raios. O roteiro de Chuck Brown é simplesmente pitoresco demais para o meu gosto. A arte da Alitha Martinez até me agradou um pouco com uns toques de surreal e monstruoso. Ela consegue entregar uns designs de personagem bem legais. Só que o roteiro não ajuda nem um pouco. Fraco demais.

Brandon T. Snider traz de volta a Morticia, uma personagem que ficamos conhecendo no Torneio de Lázaro nas mensais do Damian. Como não acompanhei, não sabia muito sobre a personagem e precisei pesquisar. Aliás, o mal de todas essas histórias é não ser capaz de apresentar o personagem E instigar o leitor a continuar acompanhando as histórias. Nenhuma delas me fez querer me interessar pelo personagem e continuar acompanhando. Curiosamente o único que fez isso é o Mark Waid com o Príncipe Macaco que achei um personagem bem interessante, sem falar nessa conexão com as histórias do original asiático. E isso porque o roteirista do Wukong é o Gene Luen Yang. Enfim, a narrativa da Morticia reintroduz um personagem ao universo DC de uma maneira tão fútil que me incomodou terrivelmente. Sei que ninguém fica morto por muito tempo em gibi de hominho, mas é preciso apresentar boas justificativas para isso. Uma reintrodução instigante pode gerar uma modificação no status do personagem ou até um arco de histórias relevantes. Não é o caso aqui. É só uma história curta com um roteiro mediano, uma personagem chata e um clima pouco inspirado.

Tem mais três histórias que nem quero comentar se não vou parecer um velho rabugento. Vamos ao Batman vs Robin 5 que consegue fechar razoavelmente bem a série. Nessa edição acompanhamos as consequências diretas para o Damian e o Bruce dos acontecimentos. Tem um confronto final com Nezha e o Touro de Fogo que acabam trazendo os heróis mágicos para a frente de batalha. É aquele típico momento climático de minisséries que Waid consegue trazer bem. Não é nada memorável, mas é bem executado o suficiente para ser divertido. E no fundo é isso. Batman vs Robin nunca foi nada inesquecível, mas nem sempre um quadrinho precisa ser um clássico instantâneo para entregar ao leitor aquilo que ele deseja. Waid aprofunda a relação entre pai e filho a partir do momento em que passamos a ver esse final de história do ponto de vista do Damian. Ou seja, invertem-se os papeis. Damian entende que foi a fraqueza dele que causou toda essa confusão e ele procura se redimir buscando resolver o problema, assumindo o fardo da responsabilidade. A relação entre ele e o Bruce nunca será perfeita, mas isso não impede os dois de se amarem à sua maneira. Tem um momento na narrativa que alguns acharam piegas, e eu achei bastante singelo. É representativo daquilo que faltava aos dois personagens: se entenderem.

A minissérie Batman vs Robin termina deixando algumas coisas a serem exploradas pelos autores nos próximos meses. Waid retoma algumas coisas em Os Melhores do Mundo, então veremos como isso vai fatorar. Quanto ao especial Planeta de Lázaro, é complicado avaliar porque só o Waid consegue entregar algo que seja realmente relevante. São mais de 150 páginas onde a gente aproveita quase um terço de histórias. O resto é bem sofrível, talvez pela pequena quantidade de páginas, talvez pela falta de inspiração dos envolvidos. É complicado termos vignettes onde o objetivo é levar o leitor a ir buscar o personagem e esse objetivo falha bastante em ser alcançado. Em um mundo ideal, deixaria só Alpha e Omega e tiraria todo o resto fora. Aparentemente ainda teremos mais um especial focado no vulcão de Lázaro e em suas consequências. Espero que seja melhor do que isso.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Estas grandes sagas da DC Comics estão tristes de acompanhar. Esta em questão, Planeta de Lázaro, é extremamente ruim e isso que foi executada por Mark Waid. Contudo, ela poderia ter sido resolvida dentro da minissérie Batman vs. Robin. Provavelmente o editorial da DC Comics cresceu os olhos e percebeu que poderia lucrar mais com a minissérie e estabeleceu essa saga e uma porrada de especiais que, pelo menos os que estão compilados neste especial, não servem para nada e não modificam em nada. Nem mesmo a minissérie de Batman versus Robin fica difícil de entender sem esse especial. Então, o ideal é se concentrar mesmo na minissérie original e dispensar bem dispensado esse especial, que é, sinceramente, uma confusão.

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5. Come in with the expectation that is an event being made for an upcoming relaunch of DC and is meant to serve as a narrative thread / excuse to showcase what will soon be coming in DC comic storylines. While the oneshots are neat to read a bunch of them tie heavily into existing or upcoming runs. For a voracious DC fan that's cool. For a casual fan picking up an event to see some neat characters and stuff. It can be a bit hard as it assumes a lot of knowledge or exists to set up an upcoming storyline in a separate comic but it still gives you fun tastes of characters and their new powers. I do wish there was more in the omega and alpha. They felt a bit rushed. They are very beautifully drawn with excellent inked work by Federici with some help with Perkins in the Omega issue. The colorists' work is jaw dropping. The damp colors work well with the painterly art and often done in strong often monochromatic pallets.
The alpha and omega issues also come with backup story about the Monkey Prince. I think they were alright. The dynamic of Pigs and The Monkey Prince as philosophical teacher and student was cool. But mostly it just provides the backstory for the villains.
The rest of this review is just a collection of the fragmented Lazarus event section-by-section. These were written as they were read so they're a bit less refined and more random thoughts put onto paper. So if you care to see which issues or ideas I found more interesting than the others feel free to read on. If not, see ya!
Assault on Krypton: I'm a bit of a Jon Kent fan so hearing he has a bit of a focus has me hyped. And it features Dreamer! The Dreamer issue was neat since I like her powers and the artist got to have some with tje dream stuff. The Jon Kent one was alright. It was setting up his electric powers and a new maybe villian in Ash. I know Twitter says he has good chemistry with Jon but I kinda don't see it past tropey relationship dynamic at least for what we've seen so far. The Graves issue was awesome! While I've read little of her I adore all I've read with Graves in it. Her new powers which are Blue Beetle-esque or Guy Gardner when he was all shapeshifter-y where her body is sorta like Terminator while not crazy are fitting for the adaptable, cunning, and slightly cold character she is. The Power Girl and Omen issue had cool art. Story wise its a bit short. Hopefully after this the Power Girl and Omen thing was covered more in the comics. It seems like a cool idea and they're cute together.
We Were Once Gods: The Aquaman one was odd but I don't know the character. Maybe for fans of Aquaman it makes me sense? I like how it'll be brought up in the Dawn of DC relaunch. Always down for DC keeping to relaunches. Martian Manhunter issue was nice since its a total standalone. The Wonder Woman one absolutely fucked. Shit was mad killer. Shazam was fun and good. Apparently ties into Revenge of the Gods? Apparently it's some sequel mini-series. The plot-lines it builds in here is neat.
Legends Reborn: My first introduction to The Question. I found her to be an interesting character. Like a less powerful Batman equipment and know-how wise and who has to balance their regular life more than Bruce does. Teem Titans was more set up. Neat set up. But set up for a comic storyline. City Boy himself is cool. The intro to him with the weird tiara… a bit lame. Firestorm one was saved by its hook. I've always wanted to read Firestorm and while the shadow demons feel lame and the weird create things from non existence or whatever that was felt like a cop out maybe the issue with the partners safety would be an interesting thing. Idk. Not sold on Firestorm from this.
Next Evolution: Red Hood / The Vigil didn't hook me at all. The writer put in way too much redundant and awkward internal dialogue and the art was meh. Flatline's was alright. Fun character but some awkward dialogue again. Another one heavily based on the Robins and Al Ghul which are two parts of Batman lore I know little and have little (for Al Ghul stuff) interest in. Deadeye's one was neat and had a great art and colorist though the paneling and balloon flow not so much. Black Canary issue was fun. I can see it not being everyone's flavor but the balancing of college life and super life was neat.
Dark Fate: Huntress was ok. Doom Patrol was a fun intro to a team focused on the quirkier almost X-Men-like supers in DC. Circuit Breaker has neat powers and great art and an ok story. I wish it wasn't continued in a Pride issue but rather some Flash mini-series. Its a neat character and I'd like to see them more. Spirit World was eh until the banger ending.

[NarraTea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean… it’s an event from different point of views just to prep readers for the future Dawn of DC series that are coming. When you analyze it, the event is just two issues and the epilogue in Batman vs Robin. Still fun in some aspects but not an incredible event or anything.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐ "event" going through the motions
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Gene Luen Yang backup w/ wonderful lore for the Monkey Prince series

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mark Waid and company drop a mystical rain upon the DC Universe in the collected edition of the Lazarus Planet crossover. The tome full of short segments that hint at changes in the status quo of heroes and villains alike, bookended by the Alpha and Omega one-shots that conclude the main storyline. A battle over the stolen magical energies of Earth's champions has caused the regenerative powers of the Lazarus pits to explode into the skies, covering the planet in a storm of chaos. In order to combat the rising threats, Robin organizes the heroes into strike teams. One group is sent after the Helm of Fate to keep it away from King Fire Bull; the other seeks out the escaped Devil Nezha to prevent him from regaining his throne. The middle anthologies feature various responses to people empowered by the supercharged rains falling from the heavens. Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton reintroduces Dreamer, sets Jon Kent against the fire-wielding thief Ash, details how Mercy Graves gains her own cybernetic upgrades, and gifts Power Girl telepathic abilities. Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods finds Aquaman meeting mutated Trench survivors, Martian Manhunter battling a Doomsday virus, Wonder Woman facing an undead army from the past, and the Shazam family shattering the Rock of Eternity. New faces and cases appear in Lazarus Planet: Legends Reborn; the Question finds an enhanced serial killer, Raven tries to cure demonic siblings, City Boy meets Nightwing, and Firestorm discovers problems with his matrix. Red Hood encounters the Vigil, Flatline resurrects Ra's al Ghul, Deadeye is pitted against Everyman, and Red Canary teams up with Sideways during Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution. The Huntress scales Arkham Tower, the Doom Patrol is relaunched with a new mission, Circuit Breaker discovers their abilities, and the Spirit World is opened in the tales from Lazarus Planet: Dark Fate. The Alpha and Omega segments are little more than a reminder that DC need to have a crossover every year, and offer little by way of engaging plot of proper resolution. The individual story pieces contained in the one-shots are used to promote upcoming launches, highlight changes to older characters, and inject some fresh blood into the decades-old multiversal franchise. A host of artists present each portion, running the gamut from action pop to dark realism. DC fans will enjoy the compendium for its totality; comic fans will again wonder when the company will get its act together and right the ship. Lazarus Planet tries to spew grand changes into its continuity, but is little more than a case of minor indigestion.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mentioned in my review of Batman Vs. Robin, which is what Lazarus Planet spins out of, that BvR really shouldn't work given all the weird things it does, including set-up this 'event'. The same, unfortunately, can't be said for Lazarus Planet itself.

There are a lot of threads being pulled here. The Alpha and Omega are the continuation of the story that Waid set up over in Batman/Superman: World's Finest and Batman Vs. Robin, as well as some aspects from Monkey Prince and Joshua Williamson's Robin series, pitting the DCU against the Devil Nezha. Meanwhile, the rest of this event is made up of anthology one-shots.

Some of them introduce new characters, or give powers to those we know and love, but for the most part, this is very much one of those 'look what we're doing next' type deals. I know comics as a whole never end, but it's hard to get invested in something that literally isn't even interested in itself, and is more concerned about what's on the horizon instead. None of the stories are actively bad or anything, but that doesn't mean they really needed to be told like this, either.

The strange culmination of a multitude of stories, that doesn't really stick the landing. Honestly, if you're curious, just track down the opening and closing one-shots. All the stuff in the middle is no doubt going to be collected elsewhere anyway.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh wow.. this took forever to read.

I guess its an alright thing but then again it starts off with a bang, the perfect set up, you're thrown right into the action of whats happening and sets up the big threat of King fire bull so well and his history and all that and the big story of lazarus rains and how its changing people's power and its like a set of anthologies telling different stories about different characters across the dcu, while some good, some were not but it does to establish whats to come in 2023 for them.

Its an interesting book as there were some great one and done stories or establishing new series like the vigil and spirit world which look exciting and adds so much to the dcu annd promises to be something exciting which I would love to read.

The others focusing on minor characters or like members of dc's established families were alright and then the stuff with new powers like power girl or maybe even new nemesis rising, new villains to come, that will be interesting too explore and magic is changed across the dcu.

So like I said the event overall may not be great, but what it promises will come is exciting and does set up a lot of great things again and a good climax that will end in "Batman vs robin" so yeah there's that!

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lazarus Planet looks like a big event series with the packaging and the fact that it gets Alpha and Omega issues. It's not really, though - it's a spin-off from the Robin, Monkey Prince, World's Finest, and Batman vs. Robin series. That's a lot of required reading. And then, the long, long middle portion of Lazarus Planet features dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of short stories that introduce plotlines for DCU characters that'll be explored over the next year.

The inciting idea is that the Devil Nezha and evil bull guy have blasted lazarus resin into the atmosphere and suddenly everyone has powers - or, if they already had powers, they have augmented powers. It's a goofy, classically comic booky way to kick off a narrative. The Alpha and Omega issues see our many heroes defeating the Devil Nezha (and these are exciting and handsomely illustrated), while all the other issues see heroes grappling with their new powers or with the changed world.

Altogether fine, if needlessly long. And it would have been nice to know going in that a lot of pre-reading was necessary.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 1 out of 5]

A terrible waste of time and space. DO NOT READ.

The lure of the name Waid suggests this will be a good crossover, but it very much is not. In fact, it might be the worst crossover. Ever.

To start with, it starts en media res. Want the beginning of this crossover? TOUGH.

Then it uses as its big baddies a bunch of people you won't know, I think from the Monkey King, and doesn't really bother to introduce them.

There's a big volcanic Lazarus storm but it's the worst of bad MacGuffins. Every individual author decides what to do with it.

Did I mention individual authors? That's because the vast majority of this volume is short stories about characters who will be getting attention in Dawn of DC. None of them are satisfying, because they're just meant to set up new series. None. Not one. They're facile and dull and inconclusive. And, they add nothing to the larger narrative.

And then we get a big, long, long fight in the final issue to close out the crossover.

Basically: DC SOLD YOU A BOOK-LENGTH ADVERTISEMENT FOR THEIR NEXT RELAUNCH. It's every bit as good as you'd expect from that crass premise.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The back cover claims this is the entire Lazarus Planet event, but that's a flat out lie. This entire thing happens between the pages of Batman vs. Robin, so everything you need to know to understand what is actually going on here is in another book. There's also yet another Lazarus Planet book, collecting a related miniseries. So this is maybe half of the actual event? Which is not something I would normally hold against the book, except for that flat out lie on the back cover.

As far as the actual contents of this book... meh. This entire event was engineered so that all of the many writers involved could write their own, essentially unrelated stories, with whatever they wanted happening in them. It's a bunch of short stories that don't really have a through line. Many of them are really backdoor pilots for new titles, and I'm not sure how effective this is as an advertising gimmick. A few of the stories are good, but they're mostly barely passable.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dear DC,
Some ideas don't need to be dusted off and brought back to try and get a better result.
Sincerely,
Everybody who thought 'Lazarus Planet' sucked
----
Lazarus Planet is essentially the early 90's Bloodlines crossover with the delivery mechanism switched from 'alien spinal bite' to 'gross green rain'. For most there isn't a side effect, but for others there's SUPERPOWERS. We can only hope that the results end up better than 'Bloodlines'. Most of those that were introduced got killed off by the time Infinite Crisis came around.

This should have been a 60 page giant (or two) and you could cram all these short stories and intros into less books. Basically, it's just setting things up for comics....about 6 months in the future.

Ugh.
-===
Bonus: This is also missing the Shazam and Wonder Woman resets set during Lazarus Planet.
Bonus Bonus: The end of Lazarus Planet isn't even THE END. That's in Batman vs. Robin #5.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a muddle, disjointed mess. It's a crossover that can't even decide on what's going on. Poorly explained events in another comic series result in green rain that does... well, whatever any particular writer wants to it. Bring back the dead? Scramble powers? Change the rules of magic? Give people powers? Animate funny little statues? It's never really clear what's going on or what's at stake, and the conceit that every notable magic user in the DC Universe was sidelined is laughable. That said, there are some high points here; I liked the Huntress and Dreamer stories, in particular. But the individual stories don't link back into a main plot in any satisfying way. Very disappointing.