If you’ve played the video game or have been following this current Tomb Raider comic, you won’t be surprised that issue #3 starts off with another flashback.  This time, Lara recalls the story of how Roth and Reyes (another member of the Endurance crew) first met a decade ago.  Roth was getting too drunk for his own good in a New York bar-when he goes too far and grabs the bartender by the collar of his shirt and raises a fist, Reyes delivers a left hook to his face that is compared to a sledge.  Instead of getting infuriated over this uncalled for sucker punch, Roth offers Reyes the position of head security for his crew.  Lara also recalls how close Roth and Reyes were.  Just to recap, Roth is dead and he essentially saved Lara’s life in doing so back on the island of Yamatai.  However, Reyes is obviously still alive and with Lara at the present time. Next, we’re put right back into the intensity of the events that occurred at the end of last month’s issue.  Reyes’s daughter has been captured by men who belong to a cult who worship the Solarii.  On Yamatai, the Solarii were the Endurance crew’s enemy and tried to recruit women who were strong but not wise to follow their orders whilst trying to find the Sun Queen’s successor.  These men are threatening to kill Reyes’s daughter if Lara doesn’t give him the artifact she found on the island.  The problem is, she can’t remember what it is since a lot of her memories from Yamatai have been scattered and distortedly remembered through nightmares.

Another man who seems familiar to Lara comes in and starts shooting at the men in the cult, allowing Lara, Reyes, and Reyes’s daughter to escape into the streets.  While they’re running, Lara decides to call her best friend and Endurance crew member Sam.  Lara also recalls that she’s lost everyone she cares about including her parents, Roth, and now possibly Sam is missing because her phone goes to voice mail.  Lara warns her to hide-if you remember in the game, Mathias tries to transfer the Sun Queen’s soul into Sam because he believes her to be the successor of Himiko.  Is Lara’s warning too late?

I’m really liking where the story is going and am looking forward to having my impatience for the next game being waned off by this very well-done comic.  The intensity, action, and constant mystery of the game is very well represented in this book while progressing the story on its own.  Also, even with reading as many comics as I do to review and just for fun, I felt like I just read the second issue thanks to the slick recap that Lara gets thrown in to narrate.  You could probably even start with this issue and still understand most of what’s going on.

I really enjoyed the art as usual, but what stood out to me the most were the few panels taken directly from the game where Lara is jumping from one broken half of the ship to the next while Roth has his arm stretched out in attempt to catch her.  I believe this moment is captured in the trailer for the game as well so even if you haven’t played it you may know what I’m talking about.  The attention to detail is definitely enjoyable, but the original story is also very well-done which brings out the best of both worlds to a video game tie-in comic.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Gail Simone Artist: Nicolas Daniel Selma Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 4/23/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital