Lazaretto is published by BOOM! Studios. It is written by Clay McLeod Chapman with art by Jey Levang.
Final issues are so hard. All stories must eventually end, but you’re always left with that feeling. That feeling you get when you finish any book. I don’t quite know how else to explain it. But, alas, here we are with the fifth and final issue of an amazing story.
At this point, everyone sick has pretty much gone insane. Namely the RA who basically thinks he’s contagion Jesus. Tamara and Charles, both of whom are now showing signs of sickness, are now trapped by…well…literally everyone else that’s still alive. The RA, still obsessed with Tamara, is bent on punishing Charles for his “crimes against the Leper Colony” and intends to make Tamara have a front row seat of watching Charles die.
He is sentenced to a dogfight, suggested by Louis, but unexpectedly Louis is chosen as the one to fight him to the death. Charles has 2 clear advantages though: 1. He isn’t as sick as everyone else and 2. We know his dad is a military man. I have no doubts in his ability to defend himself.
Clay McLeod Chapman sends us on a rollercoaster in this one. Everything seems bleak, then there’s hope, then just as quickly as it came, the hope is snuffed out, and just when you think everything is going to turn out ok…well…you’ll have to read it to find out. The dialogue for the RA, Louis, and other sick ones has slowly progressed to being more and more insane. The RA went from having a superiority complex to genuinely believing he has a divine purpose. The lines of chanting throughout the pages accent how much of their minds are gone – they are more like demons than humans now.
Clay McLeod Chapman Talks About All the Gory Details of ‘Lazaretto’
This issue is probably the most colorful one out of all of them. This is mainly due to everyone’s deteriorating psychosis and their actual bodies deteriorating. Jey Levang has these colors that are so beautiful, but the scene he’s drawn for us is incredibly dark. The faces of these college students are now monstrous. And the ones that aren’t, are only so because they no longer even have a face. Levang details Charles’s expressions so clearly, even though his eyes are white circles with black dots, it’s so easy to tell what he’s feeling and watch as he’s losing his mind. He not longer details the features of those who are sick, rather, he highlights the muscle that is all that’s covering now skinless bodies.
My favorite part about this issue is that despite their desperate situation, Charles and Tamara never stop fighting back. They never leave each others’ side. Even though all of these people so quickly turned into monsters, so easily killed other students, Charles and Tamara never stopped fighting. Any ending, good or bad, seeing these two characters and their bond was truly inspiring. The ending was sound and solid. I can’t say what happens. But I loved it.
OVERALL SCORE: 9.5 / 10
I picked up the first issue of Lazaretto one day and I was immediately sold. I highly, highly recommend this series. So make sure you pick up Lazaretto from your local comic store. Happy reading!
