Volume 2, Issue 18 AUGUST 3 -AUGUST 16

In many of these comic books, strong men and nubile women fought evil counterparts or aged Machiavellian plotters. Good was stubborn and disdained accolades. Evil gathered sycophants and armies. The fate of the world hung in the balance. And kids, living vicariously in the gleaming cities of the modern superhero and the castles of the Conan fantasy, happily filled their minds with these worlds, their characters, and their impending apocalyptic crises.

Zak Hennessey was once such a child. But, as he points out, that world is closed to the new comic-book reader today. Comic books now cost too much, and their quality is too shabby, to let readers avidly try out many titles. His solution? He writes and illustrates his own comic book, Lazarus Lives. It may bear the ubiquitous $2.95 price tag, but it has ten more pages of material than the average book, and Zak feels that the quality of the story and the artwork is better than most of what is available today.

Lazarus Lives takes place in a fantasy world where five powerful necromancers have risen. Gathering armies of undead, these incarnations of death seem to be out to conquer the world. Standing in their way is a resistance force, the Survivors, lead by a ragtag group of heroes. A fanatic eastern cult has recently resurrected the most powerful of those ragtag heroes: a restless soul named Lazarus.

"The focus of the story is about how Lazarus keeps returning to life, why it's happening, figuring out his different circumstances sometimes he comes back good, and sometimes evil," said Zak in his Aurora home.

Zak's artistic training took place under several prominent comic book artists and at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. The former influence is more marked; the greatest strength and greatest weakness of his art stem from its loyalty to the genre. His talent for depicting the human form is strong, and obviously the most developed of his skills. At his best, though, playful little touches will show through, as in the deliberately vapid eyes of a couple of teenagers, or in the comically duplicitous faces of the fanatic priests. Their open mouths and slightly bugged eyes while lying point out what the reader already suspects: that Lazarus is either stupid or very dazed.

The writing in Lazarus Lives is more problematic; those humorous touches sometimes fall flat here, and over-exposition abounds. The dialogue suffers when modern wisecracks intertwine with otherwise high-fantasy speech. Despite its problems, though, the writing provides enough hooks to keep a fan coming back for a fun time. It's all about beating up the undead.

Through his work, Zak hopes to combat a long decline in the comic book industry. Ironically, he said, a period of unprecedented comic books sales created this decline.

"In 1992 (comic books) boomed more than ever before," said Zak. "Superman died, the Batman movies came out, there was a new X-Men book." These successful marketing events spiked the print runs of comic books, according to Zak, which in turn drove down the value of an individual issue to comic book spectators, who drive much of the market. By 1995, they had stopped buying much; there was no future in it.

Prices for the books rose simultaneously with their greater availability. Paper prices rose, yet the books began to be printed on expensive glossy paper and colored by computer. Kids, the other driving market, stopped buying comics when they had to start saving for them, said Zak.

"Business people were hired into editorial positions to chase the smaller market; the creative folk aren't in control," said Zak. "The stories are stale now."

Zak hopes that he and others like him, creative independent artists with good stories and art, will revitalize the industry. "CrossGen Comics is trying to get good people," said Zak. "The owner, Mark Alessi, is a fanboy with a lot of money. He's done lots of good promotions, and is investing for the long run. He's hired good people and lets them do what should be done."

Lazarus Lives can be seen and ordered at www.lazaruslives.com