Lazarus is an American dystopian science fiction comic book series created by writer Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark.

He had dinner with Lark, who lived nearby, and shared an idea for a scene involving a woman who had been shot rising from the dead and pursuing her attackers.

[1][3] Although Rucka had previously published his creator-owned material through Oni Press, his friend Ed Brubaker had been pushing him to work with Image Comics.

[1] When they contacted Image's Eric Stephenson and pitched the project as "The Godfather meets Children of Men", he immediately expressed interest.

[4][5] The announcement was accompanied by promotional artwork colored by American Elizabeth Breitweiser and featured a prototype logo design and typeface.

[3][9] Rucka and Lark developed the setting for Lazarus by looking at the Occupy movement and the underlying economics, then asking themselves "What happens if it goes horribly wrong?

[1][12] Lark began drawing the first issue in January 2013, basing the opening scene on the reconstruction sequence in 1997 film The Fifth Element.

[6][13] When writing a new script, Rucka tries to follow the world-building model used by William Gibson in his 1984 novel Neuromancer and provide information about the environment through context instead of exposition.

Designing these technical details involves research into prototype technology and takes almost as long as drawing the actual pages for the comics.

[7][18] Beginning with issue ten, Jodi Wynne took over the lettering duties and Owen Freeman started creating the cover art.

Rucka, who had used the letter columns in the series to discuss his concerns about then-candidate Donald Trump, told Oregon Public Broadcasting that after the election results Lazarus had changed from a dystopian science fiction story to a documentary.

[22] During a discussion panel at the 2017 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, Rucka described Lazarus as being "about the blood red rage that leads to a Trump administration" before joking that he had "tried to warn you three years ago!

To reduce the financial risk for retailers who were uncertain about its sales potential, unsold copies from qualifying orders of the first three issues of Lazarus could be returned to the publisher.

[33] They said they would not solicit any more issues until the next story arc was completed, and the hiatus actually lasted six months, in part because of miscommunication between Image Comics and Diamond Distribution.

[36] In the letter column of issue 26, Rucka announced a six-issue limited series titled Lazarus: X+66 would be released monthly beginning July 2017.

[30][48] Lazarus has been translated into several European languages by Italian publisher Panini Comics and released in hardcover formats containing the same material as the English paperbacks.

[14] It is set in a bleak future a number of decades from now after the current world order has broken down, possibly due to climate change.

[46] Writing for ComicsAlliance, KM Bezner said every character, including the diabolical ones, displayed humanity and "[blurred] the lines between shades of morality".

The timeliness of Rucka's premise made the series stand out among dystopian fiction for IGN reviewer Melissa Grey.

[59] Garrett Martin wrote in Paste Magazine that the series was unlike other contemporary class warfare genre fiction like the novels Hunger Games or Blackacre because it is told from the oppressors' point of view.

Lark thinks the comparison to Game of Thrones works to some extent, but points out that Lazarus concentrates more on a single character.

[56] In The Jersey Journal, critic William Kulesa believed the "deeply considered speculation on society, technology, and the future" is what made the series high-quality science fiction.

[62] Chin-Tanner found it to be a character driven story even though it dealt with political and scientific issues,[57] and Newsarama reviewer Vanessa Gabriel felt Lazarus "engages the reader with plausibility".

He specifically noted the ruling families and their soldiers "simply look cooler" than the waste with whom the audience is meant to identify, and concluded that this dissonance may skew the real message Rucka and Lark want to send.

[53][79] A pilot script written by Rucka entered its final draft in late 2015 and Legendary began looking for a network willing to purchase it.

[12] Rucka said the development process for Lazarus has been better than any of his previous Hollywood experiences, and that he hopes the show will be able to explore characters more deeply using scenes cut from the book.

[12][42] In September 2017, Deadline Hollywood reported the adaptation was being developed as a potential series for Amazon Studios, who made a "significant production investment" in it.

[80] In the letter column of Lazarus X+66 #4 (November 2017), Rucka said this announcement included some inaccuracies, and emphasized the show is still a long way from being released.

[81] In the Spring of 2017, Green Ronin Publishing announced The World of Lazarus, a campaign setting in their Modern AGE role-playing game.

[83] Rucka said role playing games had an important part in his development as a writer, and that having one of his ideas turned into one "might just possibly be the greatest compliment I could ever receive.