By necessity, Lazarus spends a lot of time talking about family.  It’s usually “the Family” or something, or loyalty thereto, whether born of blood ties or social status.  What Forever Carlyle endured for her Family in order to become its glorified bodyguard makes it all the more tense to watch her serve.  She’s a character who, as an adult, barely seems human, but her story makes it feel like that’s a tragedy, not a creative mistake.

While Forever deals with a threat to the Family’s holdings, the Barrets continue their journey to Denver.  The Barrets are Waste, the lowest of the low socially, with no real standing as far as any of the Families are concerned, but all that could change in Denver, where the Carlyles will soon Lift some Waste to Serf status.  Theirs is a story about family, too, much like Forever’s: family that is not just about blood relation, but sacrifice.

Lazarus #6 laid critical foundations. This issue starts to build on those foundations, with tension and with tugs at the heartstrings.  Forever Carlyle’s world is not an easy one to live in, whether you are Family or Waste.

Five Denver-Bound Waste out of Five