Comic Book Review: Uptown Girl: The Lazarus Heart by Bob Lipski
Thirty years before “now”, three men were exploring a South American jungle, Alvarez Tuesday, Billy, and Mack. They found the hiding place of the legendary Lazarus Heart, but the cave collapsed and only Alvarez escaped. Ten years later, Billy caught up with Alvarez in New York City. Mr. Tuesday had managed to make himself rich by sound investments in technology stocks, but was still holding on to the Heart. This came in handy when Billy fell out of a building, but Alvarez moved on to avoid turning over the artifact.
“Now”, in Minneapolis, Alvarez has passed away and left his mansion, goods and a certain locket to his niece, artist Ruby Tuesday. She is unaware of the legends and provenance of this bit of jewelry. So it’s a surprise to her when dangerous people show up trying to get it.
Ruby’s best friend, intrepid reporter Uptown Girl, would be more help, but she’s distracted by her new partner, handsome photographer Jeremy. He’s superficially a lot of what Uptown Girl wants in a man, and just as attracted to her. Plus there are a number of other strange stories in the city, such as the sudden crime wave that’s beginning to wear down Minneapolis’ one superhero, the Walrus.
Meanwhile, slacker Rocketman is going through his own changes. Everyone at his annoying desk job gets laid off, including his angry manager. Rocketman has just a short while to enjoy having nothing to do but play videogames, only to fall upwards into a video game testing job. But is this the dream job it seems like?
This is the final volume of the Uptown Girl series, so covers a lot of ground. The main trio’s friendship is strained, as Uptown Girl isn’t able to give time and emotional energy when Ruby Tuesday’s struggling and has no time to just hang with Rocketman. She has to deal with her romantic loneliness leading her to bad decisions, and what exactly are journalistic ethics.
You could certainly pick up this volume and enjoy it without reading the earlier ones, but it might help to know, for example, why Uptown Girl and rival reporter Susie Lightning despise each other.
The art remains cartoony, with many characters using simple shapes for their distinctive looks. While much of the plot is serious, there are quite a few silly moments, mostly featuring Rocketman.
Political: Through most of the story, the police are useless or actively hostile. Much of this is down to the mayor directly ordering them to be useless. (This would not work in real-world Minneapolis, as the mayor’s direct control over the police department was removed after “Dirty Doc” Ames’ mayoral term. See my earlier review about that.)
Content note: Superhero style violence. Some blood, mitigated by the art being in black and white. Off-panel murder. Ruby Tuesday drinks a lot of wine.
This was very small press, and the old Uptown Girl website appears to be gone–good luck finding a copy!
