What do you think?
Rate this book
Tomb Raider (collected editions) #4-7
Tomb Raider Omnibus: Volume 2
Follow Lara's search across the world in this dynamic story that bridges the gap between Crystal Dynamics' Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider!
After surviving the events of the city of Kitezh and the Deathless Prophet, Lara Croft finds herself attending an archaeology conference in America. When a man in need of help turns up dead at Lara's hotel, she becomes entwined in the search for a fabled mushroom that grants the gift of immortality. Desperate for answers, Lara hunts down Trinity at all costs, making sacrifices, and risking her life along the way.
The second and final omnibus volume in this series, this collection is jam-packed with 472 pages of material.
This omnibus collects issues #1-#12 of Dark Horse's 2016 Tomb Raider Volume 2 series, as well as the most recent Tomb Raider: Survivor's Crusade and Tomb Raider: Inferno complete story arcs.
After surviving the events of the city of Kitezh and the Deathless Prophet, Lara Croft finds herself attending an archaeology conference in America. When a man in need of help turns up dead at Lara's hotel, she becomes entwined in the search for a fabled mushroom that grants the gift of immortality. Desperate for answers, Lara hunts down Trinity at all costs, making sacrifices, and risking her life along the way.
The second and final omnibus volume in this series, this collection is jam-packed with 472 pages of material.
This omnibus collects issues #1-#12 of Dark Horse's 2016 Tomb Raider Volume 2 series, as well as the most recent Tomb Raider: Survivor's Crusade and Tomb Raider: Inferno complete story arcs.
472 pages, Paperback
First published January 21, 2020
6 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Mariko Tamaki
377 books2,226 followersMariko Tamaki is a Toronto writer, playwright, activist and performer. She works and performs with fat activists Pretty Porky and Pissed Off and the theatre troupe TOA, whose recent play, A vs. B, was staged at the 2004 Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Her well-received novel, Cover Me (McGilligan Books) was followed by a short fiction collection, True Lies: The Book of Bad Advice (Women's Press). Mariko's third book, FAKE ID, is due out in spring 2005.
Mariko Tamaki has performed her work across Canada and through the States, recently appearing at the Calgary Folkfest 2004, Vancouver Writer's Festival 2003, Spatial III, and the Perpetual Motion/Girls Bite Back Tour, which circled though Ottawa, Montreal, Brooklyn and Chicago. She has appeared widely on radio and television including First Person Singular on CBC radio and Imprint on TVO. Mariko Tamaki is currently attending York University working a master's degree in women's studies.
[MacMIllan Books]
Mariko Tamaki has performed her work across Canada and through the States, recently appearing at the Calgary Folkfest 2004, Vancouver Writer's Festival 2003, Spatial III, and the Perpetual Motion/Girls Bite Back Tour, which circled though Ottawa, Montreal, Brooklyn and Chicago. She has appeared widely on radio and television including First Person Singular on CBC radio and Imprint on TVO. Mariko Tamaki is currently attending York University working a master's degree in women's studies.
[MacMIllan Books]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 1, 2020
This comic book omnibus continues Lara Croft and company's story following the events of the 2013 Tomb Raider video game. As one would expect, the story is full of adventure, mystery and mythology. It was a lot of fun to read.
September 21, 2020
This omnibus is definitely more even than the last one. The longer arcs helped (as well as the fact that the story isn't stupid like the beginning arc of the first one), but if you don't read them, you're not missing much. Despite coming after the second game, it barely touches on the events there (it doesn't mention anyone from the previous comic either) and I doubt that anything here will affect the last game. Also, shame on the comic for creating an awesome badass black female character only to kill her off within an issue or two of meeting her.
February 14, 2021
Going to break down my review into all their separate arcs. My biggest pet peeve with this book actually had nothing to do with the content, but with the set up of the book. It would have been nice to have page numbers so I can figure out what volume I was on and when one arc ended and another one started (as I had to base that off of whether or not that storyline seemed like it was over, and the change in art style). But apart from that, I actually really enjoyed this. Even more than the first omnibus volume, I think.
1-6: Actually rather enjoyed this arc. Lara is off on a mission to find a mushroom of immortality for a sketchy archeology professor from America. As always, Jonah is her trusty sidekick. While these stories are meant to help bridge some of the gaps between Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the events of Rise (and anything pertaining to Trinity) are mentioned rather briefly. The story stands well on its own and feels like a standard TR adventure that still packs a punch and keeps you entertained throughout. Lots of action balanced with archeological discovery. It also neatly segues into the next arc. ☆☆☆☆☆
7-12: I really enjoyed this arc. You're not going to understand it though unless you played the 2013 game, so I'd bear that in mind while reading. Sam is back, and Himiko is still haunting her, in more ways than one. The events of the 2013 game still hang over their heads. This part is unrelated to the previous 6 volumes, but still mentions and involves Trinity as a smaller part of the plot. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't figure out how this plot line ACTUALLY connected to Trinity. But nevertheless, I really liked this. It took place in Germany, and we finally see a mostly satisfying end to Sam's woes. The writing and the art were lovely. And as always, I enjoy Jonah's inclusion as Lara's number one sidekick. Also, despite it going back to the roots of the reboot trilogy with Himiko and Yamatai, I felt this was a very unique plot line that didn't feel redundant or unnecessary to the preexisting story, because it's actually building on the events of the game, showing us the aftermath with Sam's struggles. Definitely darker than I anticipated, and I loved every moment of it. ☆☆☆☆☆
Survivor's Crusade: Right off the bat, we get a new art style. Not my favorite style, but I quickly grew used to it. We start off with Lara in Italy, which quickly leads to Thailand. This one starts directly tying itself back into the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider. It was a short arc, so i don't have many thoughts on it. But it leads us into the next arc, Inferno. I don't recommend having read this unless you've played the games, since it can be a little bit confusing. But I actually rather enjoyed this arc. But it hurt seeing Lara and Jonah having a falling out. We also see how this connects with Lara and her relationship with her father. ☆☆☆☆
Inferno: Another new art style, which I enjoyed. We head over to Antarctica in this one. I liked that we got more backstory on Lara and her father, and their relationship. I also loved that despite the events of the previous arc, Jonah joins us at the very end. It was a very interesting and well done plot, I felt. With the magical tree and the hallucinations and the tombs going back to Akhenaten. It did feel a little jumbled and hard to follow at times, which might be expected with a plot like this one. But it was very enjoyable. I love the growth we see in Lara, and her loyalty to her friends as well. This arc most directly ties in with the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, and we even got a little mention of Jacob, which made me rather happy. ☆☆☆☆.5
All in all, it was a little hard to connect these stories into the games even though they have some obvious tie ins. Some felt like they stood on their own, while others felt like they were loosely based on the events of the games. I mostly had a hard time connecting how these things tie in with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. But that in no way makes them less enjoyable. They were fun and action-packed, and good for any avid TR fan. Heartily recommended. There really wasn't an arc that felt dull, boring, or poorly done. For so much content, I'm taking that as a win. ☆☆☆☆☆
1-6: Actually rather enjoyed this arc. Lara is off on a mission to find a mushroom of immortality for a sketchy archeology professor from America. As always, Jonah is her trusty sidekick. While these stories are meant to help bridge some of the gaps between Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the events of Rise (and anything pertaining to Trinity) are mentioned rather briefly. The story stands well on its own and feels like a standard TR adventure that still packs a punch and keeps you entertained throughout. Lots of action balanced with archeological discovery. It also neatly segues into the next arc. ☆☆☆☆☆
7-12: I really enjoyed this arc. You're not going to understand it though unless you played the 2013 game, so I'd bear that in mind while reading. Sam is back, and Himiko is still haunting her, in more ways than one. The events of the 2013 game still hang over their heads. This part is unrelated to the previous 6 volumes, but still mentions and involves Trinity as a smaller part of the plot. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't figure out how this plot line ACTUALLY connected to Trinity. But nevertheless, I really liked this. It took place in Germany, and we finally see a mostly satisfying end to Sam's woes. The writing and the art were lovely. And as always, I enjoy Jonah's inclusion as Lara's number one sidekick. Also, despite it going back to the roots of the reboot trilogy with Himiko and Yamatai, I felt this was a very unique plot line that didn't feel redundant or unnecessary to the preexisting story, because it's actually building on the events of the game, showing us the aftermath with Sam's struggles. Definitely darker than I anticipated, and I loved every moment of it. ☆☆☆☆☆
Survivor's Crusade: Right off the bat, we get a new art style. Not my favorite style, but I quickly grew used to it. We start off with Lara in Italy, which quickly leads to Thailand. This one starts directly tying itself back into the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider. It was a short arc, so i don't have many thoughts on it. But it leads us into the next arc, Inferno. I don't recommend having read this unless you've played the games, since it can be a little bit confusing. But I actually rather enjoyed this arc. But it hurt seeing Lara and Jonah having a falling out. We also see how this connects with Lara and her relationship with her father. ☆☆☆☆
Inferno: Another new art style, which I enjoyed. We head over to Antarctica in this one. I liked that we got more backstory on Lara and her father, and their relationship. I also loved that despite the events of the previous arc, Jonah joins us at the very end. It was a very interesting and well done plot, I felt. With the magical tree and the hallucinations and the tombs going back to Akhenaten. It did feel a little jumbled and hard to follow at times, which might be expected with a plot like this one. But it was very enjoyable. I love the growth we see in Lara, and her loyalty to her friends as well. This arc most directly ties in with the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, and we even got a little mention of Jacob, which made me rather happy. ☆☆☆☆.5
All in all, it was a little hard to connect these stories into the games even though they have some obvious tie ins. Some felt like they stood on their own, while others felt like they were loosely based on the events of the games. I mostly had a hard time connecting how these things tie in with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. But that in no way makes them less enjoyable. They were fun and action-packed, and good for any avid TR fan. Heartily recommended. There really wasn't an arc that felt dull, boring, or poorly done. For so much content, I'm taking that as a win. ☆☆☆☆☆
January 21, 2025
The second Tomb Raider omnibus from Dark Horse Comics is similar to the first -- an uneven but mostly entertaining look at what Lara Croft was up to between two entries in Crystal Dynamics/Eidos Montreal's rebooted video game series. In this case, the 20 issues take place between Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
The first third of the omnibus is "Volume 2" of the Dark Horse series. The first six issues create an arc called Spore, and the second six create an arc called Choice and Sacrifice. Spore feels mostly like a traditional Tomb Raider adventure: Lara is roped into a quest to find a magical item, in this case a mushroom that grants immortality, and the series tracks her trials and tribulations as she tries to find it and prevent the bad guys from finding it first. It features Jonah from the games, but mostly works as a self-contained adventure -- and an entertaining one, at that.
Choice and Sacrifice is on the total other end of the spectrum: it's stuffed with lore for the rebooted game series, as Lara and Sam finally appear to reckon with what happened to Sam on the island in the first game. It does have a feeling of finality for Sam's story, which was a long time coming, and I enjoyed seeing how this plot finally got wrapped up. But I did find myself missing the spirit of adventure from the first arc. The art in these two arcs is passable and there are some particularly appealing panels that show Lara using echolocation to get the drop on enemies. While Spore felt like it could mostly exist outside of any particular Tomb Raider canon, Choice and Sacrifice did feel authentically part of the "Survivor Timeline" rebooted universe.
The rest of this omnibus is two four-issue miniseries from a different creative team -- Survivor's Crusade and Inferno. The art is uniformly distracting and weak, and doesn't capture Lara's likeness from the games at all. She's frequently making weird faces and characters are moving in strange ways. It's a firm downgrade from the previous series. Fortunately, the plot partially makes up for things here -- these two miniseries combine to form one story arc about Lara deciding to move on with her life after becoming obsessed with evil organization Trinity from Rise of the Tomb Raider. It doesn't feel especially authentic that she would move on or that her friends would ask her to, but at least we get a montage of Lara trying to live a normal life while time passes. Of course, something happens and she ends up going after Trinity anyway -- leading her to a showdown and another magical item that she has to get to before they do. It's nowhere near as good as Spore, but it gets the job done and gives another good look at Trinity (although it would've been nice for what we learn about Trinity here to be better reflected in Shadow of the Tomb Raider).
Finally, a note about the omnibus itself: Dark Horse Comics, to my great frustration, likes to present these collections as one unbroken tome with no issue breaks or covers to mark the transition from one issue to the next. It makes for a sub-par reading experience (compared to collections from DC or Marvel, for example) as someone who likes to read issue-by-issue. I didn't enjoy having to guess where each issue ended, even though sometimes it was pretty obvious. And while the covers are collected at the back of the book, there's not even any indication which issue each cover goes with. Again, it's not hard to figure out, but it is frustrating that the reading experience of the Dark Horse Omnibus continues to be hostile to anyone who cares about individual issues.
Overall, Volume 2 of Dark Horse's Tomb Raider comics is a very mixed bag. The first 12 issues are good, but the final eight are dragged down by extremely poor art. If you're a fan of the rebooted Tomb Raider series, you'll probably be fine with this collection -- although you certainly might be left wishing it was slightly better and more cohesive.
The first third of the omnibus is "Volume 2" of the Dark Horse series. The first six issues create an arc called Spore, and the second six create an arc called Choice and Sacrifice. Spore feels mostly like a traditional Tomb Raider adventure: Lara is roped into a quest to find a magical item, in this case a mushroom that grants immortality, and the series tracks her trials and tribulations as she tries to find it and prevent the bad guys from finding it first. It features Jonah from the games, but mostly works as a self-contained adventure -- and an entertaining one, at that.
Choice and Sacrifice is on the total other end of the spectrum: it's stuffed with lore for the rebooted game series, as Lara and Sam finally appear to reckon with what happened to Sam on the island in the first game. It does have a feeling of finality for Sam's story, which was a long time coming, and I enjoyed seeing how this plot finally got wrapped up. But I did find myself missing the spirit of adventure from the first arc. The art in these two arcs is passable and there are some particularly appealing panels that show Lara using echolocation to get the drop on enemies. While Spore felt like it could mostly exist outside of any particular Tomb Raider canon, Choice and Sacrifice did feel authentically part of the "Survivor Timeline" rebooted universe.
The rest of this omnibus is two four-issue miniseries from a different creative team -- Survivor's Crusade and Inferno. The art is uniformly distracting and weak, and doesn't capture Lara's likeness from the games at all. She's frequently making weird faces and characters are moving in strange ways. It's a firm downgrade from the previous series. Fortunately, the plot partially makes up for things here -- these two miniseries combine to form one story arc about Lara deciding to move on with her life after becoming obsessed with evil organization Trinity from Rise of the Tomb Raider. It doesn't feel especially authentic that she would move on or that her friends would ask her to, but at least we get a montage of Lara trying to live a normal life while time passes. Of course, something happens and she ends up going after Trinity anyway -- leading her to a showdown and another magical item that she has to get to before they do. It's nowhere near as good as Spore, but it gets the job done and gives another good look at Trinity (although it would've been nice for what we learn about Trinity here to be better reflected in Shadow of the Tomb Raider).
Finally, a note about the omnibus itself: Dark Horse Comics, to my great frustration, likes to present these collections as one unbroken tome with no issue breaks or covers to mark the transition from one issue to the next. It makes for a sub-par reading experience (compared to collections from DC or Marvel, for example) as someone who likes to read issue-by-issue. I didn't enjoy having to guess where each issue ended, even though sometimes it was pretty obvious. And while the covers are collected at the back of the book, there's not even any indication which issue each cover goes with. Again, it's not hard to figure out, but it is frustrating that the reading experience of the Dark Horse Omnibus continues to be hostile to anyone who cares about individual issues.
Overall, Volume 2 of Dark Horse's Tomb Raider comics is a very mixed bag. The first 12 issues are good, but the final eight are dragged down by extremely poor art. If you're a fan of the rebooted Tomb Raider series, you'll probably be fine with this collection -- although you certainly might be left wishing it was slightly better and more cohesive.
May 22, 2021
I’m really sad that this book also gets a 2 star rating from me. I thought, in the beginning, that I would like this more than the first omnibus book. This one has fewer plot points so I thought it would be more focused and feel less “rambly” (if you will) than the first. But all in all, I think the first omnibus was better… maybe because it focused on the members of the Endurance, and I enjoyed reading about them and seeing them again after they disappeared off the face of the earth after 2013’s Tomb Raider game. This book features Reyes (very briefly) and Sam, along with more of the Himiko storyline, which after a while started to feel like beating a dead horse. It was nice to see them again, even if for a little bit, but in the end I still felt like nothing was really resolved. It was flat, boring, kind of confusing, and not that connected to Rise of the Tomb Raider that much, save for a few things here and there.
It’s sad since I love the Tomb Raider reboot series and these comics did nothing for me. I would think twice before recommending it to someone.
It’s sad since I love the Tomb Raider reboot series and these comics did nothing for me. I would think twice before recommending it to someone.
November 11, 2020
Volume 2 of the modern TR comics does what volume 1 didn’t - brings the action. I’m a big fan of the modern ‘Survivor era’ Lara Croft. I like that she’s tough and not afraid to kill. Volume 1 spent a lot of time trying to flesh out Lara’s character and whilst it was good at points it often lacked any punch. Mariko Tamaki and Philip Sevy bring a more cohesive and structured tale that feels like the games do. Being a canonical tie in must come with it’s own limits but this volume doesn’t feel limited but rather a good contribution to Lara Croft.
November 21, 2023
Vast improvement over the first one, if still a little bit mediocre. Inferno was a pleasant surprise, although I do wonder how they were gonna make Sam Lara's love interest considering her lack of relevance in the collection: if she was replaced by any other character the comics would be the exact same way.
March 11, 2020
enjoyed this, some parts were lacking or rather missing but i guess its more immersive in game.
Only part didn't like was the jumping timeline...but tahts why u get the omnibus/collections.
Hope they continue to write more.
Only part didn't like was the jumping timeline...but tahts why u get the omnibus/collections.
Hope they continue to write more.
June 11, 2023
Something about uncovering ancient mysteries while armed with a bow just doesn't get old, even if the art and writing are inconsistent.
November 8, 2021
Let's be clear: 3-star rating is me being generous as a huge TR fan.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews