Lara Croft of the popular Tomb Raider series has been a hugely important cultural figure over the last few decades. Despite finding her origins PlayStation games from the 90s, Croft has gone on to star in several movies and, recently, received a new comic book series known as Tomb Raider: Inferno. Written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, with art by Phillip Sevy, Inferno very nearly confirmed some subtext from the recent Tomb Raider games, that Croft and Sam Nishimura had romantic feelings for another.
The co-writer of the Tomb Raider: Inferno miniseries recently confirmed on Twitter that he and Collin Kelly had tried very hard to have Croft and Nishimura express their affections for one another, confirming that Lara would be, at least, bisexual in canon. Not only would this have given more representation to same-sex relationships in comics, but it would also give bisexual representation, which isn’t often given recognition.
Lanzing explained in his tweet that one issue would’ve been based around Croft experiencing a horrifying and ‘toxic drug trip’ before eventually coming to ‘fully understand her feelings for Sam’. However, his tweet eventually goes on to claim that this idea had eventually been diluted down from a kiss to a platonic hug between Lara and Sam. Lazing didn’t specify a reason for this creative change, so whether it was publisher interference from Dark Horse or whether it was just a natural change in the vision of Lanzing and Kelly, the writer didn’t clarify.
While the idea was changed before publication, it was clearly an idea that the creators wanted to explore, as the illustrator responded to Lanzing’s tweet and claimed that he still has the original art for the kiss between Lara and Sam. Lanzing’s tweet did spark some discussion on social media. While some fans were fully behind the decision to explore Croft’s sexuality, showing that the character has some same-sex attractions and exploring new depths to the iconic character, other fans felt as though this exploration wouldn’t have actually added anything to Croft’s character and would simply be an act of tokenism from the creators.
The interaction between Lanzing and Tomb Raider fans on Twitter certainly shows that the character remains as popular as ever. While fans wait for the next movie or video game, Inferno is certainly doing a fantastic job of keeping fans happy with new Lara Croft adventures.
Tomb Raider: Inferno is currently on sale with Dark Horse Comics.