Lazarus Jack - Softcover

Grade 10 Up–Lazarus Jack was an acclaimed Houdini-like escape artist in the 1920s, but he's now a bedridden nursing-home resident plagued by the memories of a black-magic incident that cost him his family. When a mysterious stranger approaches him with an offer to give him back his youth so that he may search for the members of his missing family, he accepts. Jack embarks on an adventure that sends him time traveling and brings him into conflict with his relatives at different points in time. On this journey through fantastic worlds, he undergoes disturbing transformations, falls prey to an insane sorcerer, defies zero gravity, and ultimately confronts the demons from his past. Once he begins his quest, the action is nonstop and full of adventures that twist and turn. Domingues's panels resemble cartoon cels with a slickly animated look, and the fresh coloring gives the art life. Ricketts attempts too much in one story, without any one element having the resonance it should, and characters come and go without sufficient explanation or personality. There are a lot of unexplained elements, but they don't detract from the story. The suspension of disbelief happens easily enough as one would expect when reading a tale of black magic and time travel. An entertaining action tale despite the flaws.–Erin Dennington, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lazarus Jack was a Houdini-like escape artist in the 1920s, but he's now a bedridden nursing home inhabitant. The mysterious Mr. Nemo offers Jack his youth back so that he may search for the members of his missing family, lost to another dimension in a long-ago accident. Of course, Nemo's offer comes with a price: Jack embarks on a time-twisting adventure that brings him into conflict with his family at different points in time. Domingues's panels resemble cartoon cels, with a slickly animated look, and the fresh coloring gives the art life, but the story isn't well developed. Characters come and go without sufficient explanation or characterization. There are too many deus ex machina elements, including an alien lizard-dog that reverses Jack's age, the shadow creatures who bedevil him, and the magic spells Jack conveniently remembers whenever needed. Ricketts attempts too much in one story—reuniting his hero with long-lost family members, exploring an alternate dimension, fighting treachery—without any one element having the resonance it should. Still, readers looking for an entertaining action tale will find enough to satisfy them despite this work's flaws.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.