Publication history
The series, which ran from 1999 to 2005 (in which the fiftieth and final issue was released), consisted of monthly issues published by Top Cow Productions, who secured the rights to producing comics after a long struggle. Preceding this series, French publisher Glenat got the green light from Eidos France to produce a comic series called Dark Aeons based on the Tomb Raider games, which was taken off the market shortly after. Besides the monthly series, a parallel 12-part series called Journeys, which ran from 2001 to 2003, was also published.
The comics are primarily based on the same continuity as the games by Core Design, in which Lara's plane crashes when she is twenty-one years old (rather than the latter games by Crystal Dynamics, the plane crash happening when she was only nine years old), but the exact details are changed. In the comic, Lara is accompanied by both her parents and her fiancé, on the plane trip taken to celebrate her impending marriage (in the game series, Lara's plane is chartered to take on a skiing holiday). The fourth issue, released in April 2000, reveals that the family butler Hartford Compton is responsible for the death of Lara's parents, but they are alive and seen in Tomb Raider: Chronicles , released in November 2000.
Writers Dan Jurgens, John Nay Riber, and James Bonny worked on the series, which also featured the art of Andy Park, Michael Turner, Billy Tan, and Adam Hughes, amongst others.
There are one shots occasionally released and talk of the comic being reintroduced to tie into the Tomb Raider: Legend edited continuity. There have also been frequent crossovers with other Top Cow publications such as Fathom , The Darkness , Magdalena , and Witchblade . The debut issue of Tomb Raider was the number one-selling comic book of 1999. [1]
In 2006, Top Cow released the Tomb Raider Compendium. This was a large, single-volume, collected edition of the Tomb Raider comic series; a hardcover version followed in 2008. The book encompasses all 50 issues (well over 1000 pages), as well as a cover gallery featuring select covers, most of them done by Adam Hughes. It is a full-size, full-color reproduction of all fifty issues on high-quality paper. This collection, however, does not include the various specials, minis, and one-shots from the series. This would probably explain why the compendium has "Volume One" written on the side.
Bandai Entertainment also published a "tankōbon" set of volumes, which reprints older stories in black-and-white in a smaller book. [2]
Tomb Raider comics were announced to return in late 2007, [3] but this was delayed due to licensing issues. [4]
In 2014, Dark Horse Comics began publishing a new series of comics, set between the 2013 reboot and its sequel. Gail Simone wrote the first six issues, before collaborating with Rhianna Pratchett for the next arc. Pratchett took over for the rest of the series.
In 2016, another series started to bridge the gap between Rise of the Tomb Raider and the next game in the series, Shadow of the Tomb Raider .
