Your treasures are hers.
The Tomb Raider comic series are a spin off of the Tomb Raider franchise. They follow the adventures of Adventurer Archaeologist Lara Croft as she travels the globes, visit exotic locations, and shoots people.
The first series was published by Top Cow Productions and follows the adventures of Lara Croft during her original continuity. Having lost her father, mother, and fiance in a plane crash—she has since become an Thrill Seeker who struggles to fill her life with adventure. Teamed up with Lovable Rogue love interest Chase Carver, she finds numerous supernatural artifacts located across the Top Cow Shared Universe.
The second series was published by Dark Horse Comics starting in 2014, and takes place in the Tomb Raider reboot continuity after Tomb Raider (2013) and its sequel after Rise of the Tomb Raider. It was written by Gail Simone and Rhianna Pratchett.note The series follows Lara dealing with the aftermath of her adventures in Yamatai and her struggles with the Trinity organization. There was also a prelude, Tomb Raider: The Beginning, written by Pratchett.
Another Dark Horse series continuing after Rise of the Tomb Raider ran from 2016–2018. The first twelve issues were written by Mariko Tamaki. The following arcs, Survivor's Crusade and Inferno, were written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly.
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Top Cow (1999-2006)
- Action Girl: Guess who?
- Action Survivor: Lara's origin in the comics. In this universe, she crash landed in the Himalayas and learned to become an archer as well as survivalist before returning to civilization.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: It wouldn't be a Tomb Raider comic if not for Lara going on her daring globe trotting adventures.
- Artifact of Doom: The Medusa Mask is the first of these Lara has to deal with but far from the last.
- Attentive Shade Lowering: In Issue 1 [1]
Lara Croft lowers her glasses when talking to her Butler, Compton regarding a meeting on her yacht from some potentially dangerous visitors. - Battle Butler: Compton was originally the Croft family bodyguard but eventually became Lara's butler and Parental Substitute.
- Battle Couple: Chase and Lara used to be this but now they're Amicable Exes.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Chase Carver and Lara have this relationship, though Lara usually gets the best of their verbal sparring.
- Big Bad: Compton, Morgana Le Fey
- Crossover: Lara Croft and Sarah Pezzini had numerous crossovers. Lara was also fully integrated into the Top Cow universe as an adventurer, which meant you could see the Darkness or other characters crossover with her.
- Expy:
- Oddly enough, Lara's origin parallels Green Arrow.
- Compton is a pretty clear one for Alfred Pennyworth. It makes his betrayal all the more horrifying.
- Disposable Fiancé: Lara has one of these and we never even get to learn his name.
- Evil All Along: Compton turns out to have arranged for the death of the Croft family by sabotaging their plane.
- Frazetta Man: Lara fights some of these while helping her ex-college roommate investigate an underground Lost World.
- Handsome Lech: Chase Carver actually hits on Lara while she's in mourning for her Not Quite Dead butler.
- Lost World: Lara investigates one of these with Chase where dinosaurs exist alongside Frazetta Man characters.
- Lovable Rogue: Chase Carver is a former lover of Lara Croft's but Only in It for the Money. Lara keeps letting him back into her life anyway.
- Most Common Superpower: This was already a feature of Lara Croft but was always emphasized by Adam Hughes' excellent artwork. Notably, she wasn't that much more buxom than other comic book women but that's more a statement about the industry itself.
- Ms. Fanservice: Lara Croft + Adam Hughes = this in a nutshell. However, even by comic standards, Lara was featured in an amazing number of pin-ups throughout her run.
- Parental Substitute: Compton serves as this to Lara but she was an adult when her parents died so it's a Downplayed Trope example. Which is a good thing because he's actually evil.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Lara (Red) and Sara Pezzini (Blue) in their crossovers.
- Undressing the Unconscious: In issue #10, Lara falls into a whirlpool and almost drowns, losing consciousness. When she wakes up, she's nude on a luxurious bedroom beneath a Modesty Bedsheet with all her clothes, equipment and weapons nearby. As she dresses, she concludes that whoever rescued her is confident enough that they don't see her as a threat.
- Watching the Reflection Undress: Lara is taking a relaxing bubble bath which is interrupted by Chase who has information on the plot for her. She's covered by Censor Suds, so she's unconcerned with him in the bathroom until she has to leave tub and she asks him to turn around, which he complies. But as she's drying herself, she notices he's been staring at her through the mirror and angrily throws the towel at his face.
Dark Horse Comics (2014)
- Adaptational Villainy: The Trinity organization was never good by any stretch of the imagination and verged on A Nazi by Any Other Name but a lot of their actions in the comic book serve no purpose other than to Kick the Dog.
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Trinity organization has been around for millennium and are behind most of the events of the series, apparently.
- Archenemy: Trinity becomes for Lara Croft due to the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Lara is passionately devoted to their destruction and they routinely send assassins after her and her friends.
- Gay Best Friend: Kaz Weiss becomes Lara's after Lara's friendship with Sam falls apart. She's notably the sister of her Not Love Interest Alex from the reboot.
- Grand Theft Me: Himiko tries this a second time on Sam. It succeeds until Lara manages to draw her spirit out and imprison it in a mirror.
- Happy Ending Override: The 2013 game made it seem like Himiko's attempted Grand Theft Me on Sam was averted. It turns out that a part of her spirit is still inside Sam's body.
- Nebulous Evil Organization: The Solarii apparently have branches across the world despite the fact this makes no sense and they were just a bunch of weirdo Cargo Cult shipwreck survivors.
- Trinity is depicted as this with agents everywhere on Earth.
- Put on a Bus: Sam suffers this as her friendship with Lara deteriorates because of the events of Yamatai.
- Put on a Bus to Hell: Eventually ends up committed to an asylum after Trinity reawakens the spirit of Himiko.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Kaz Weiss serves as this for both Sam as well as Alex.
- Cuddly, who is Grim's identical twin.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Jaffa Cakes and Earl Grey Tea for Lara; an old travel photo shows that she packed a ton of both on a trip.
Dark Horse Comics (2016)
- Improvised Weapon: In issue #11, Lara is attacked by a sword-wielding woman and defends herself with some tools laying around, including a hard hat, broom, and hammer.
