Top Cow Tomb Raider Saga of the Medusa Mask

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Saga of the Medusa Mask

Cover: Andy Park
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Pencils: Andy Park
Inks: Jonathan Sibal, Danny Miki (#3)
Colouring: Jonathan D. Smith
Letterings: Dennis Heisler
Release: December 1999, January, February, March 2000
Original Price: US $2.50 | CAN $4.00

Issues 1 to 4 tell of the quest for the artefact, the Medusa Mask. Issue 1 is narrated by the Croft family bodyguard, Compton Hartford, and tells of how Lara is employed by a private collector to find the mask. Issue 2 introduced the infamous Chase Carver, an old flame and a fellow Tomb Raider. Together, they retrieve the artefact, but have to tackle a number of problems along the way.

Allies:

Chase Carver
(? - 2001)
In issues 1-4, when Lara Croft searched a sunken Spanish Galleon for the Medusa Mask, she instead found Chase's calling card- a knight chess piece. A few hours earlier he had booked a flight to Katmandu. When Lara and Hartford Compton arrived in Nepal, they were soon attacked. Chase made himself known to Lara, and they escaped the assassins. He showed her a 'key' which led to the resting place of the Medusa Mask, where she was able to recover it, with the loss of her family aide Compton.

Artefacts:

Lost Necklace of Sharaham
It was recovered by Lara Croft for the Israeli Embassy in Iran. The necklace is over 2,200 years old, and is made of gold, with a red gem at its centre

Medusa Mask
Legend has it that the Medusa Mask was created centuries ago, an amalgam of gold and sorcery, worn by Medusa herself. Supposedly, the wearer of the mask gains great powers, such as the gaze of death. Paris D'Arseine told Lara Croft in 1999 that the last time the mask was thought to have been in anyone's possession was 1505. Its wealthy owner carried it aboard a Spanish Galleon, coursing the Atlantic to the Americas. A violent storm sank the ship and its final resting place was unknown until recently. He didn't know who had located it; just that someone had and found the mask.

In issue #4, Chase Carver told Lara an alternative story. In 1505, a pirate ship had left Spain carrying the mask. However there was an evil force onboard that was causing the crew to mutiny and kill their captain and each other. One of the pirates onboard, Henri Triplette, decided to abandon the ship and took the mask with him. The pirate left a message in a bottle with the ship to mark the watery grave. Triplette was then picked up by a British ship, which then arrived in China months later. He was in search of a key, which Chase had found along a mountainside. It was hidden inside the mountain in a cavern, where the last wearer was on a throne, on a platform hung above an oil pit. Lara took the mask, and when Hartford Compton arrived, he snatched it from her and put it on. He was killed instantly by the evil within it. When Lara shot it off him and grabbed it again, she gave it to Paris D'Arseine in exchange for a music box. When he returned to his seaplane, he tried on the mask and killed himself, as well as everyone onboard. The Medusa Mask fell into the ocean.

Music Box
Paris D'Arseine had commissioned this item from the finest maker of music boxes in Europe. When opened, the dancer, made in the image of Lara's mother, would spin. Lara's mother Andrea had seen it and later told Lara about it. When she married Lara's father, he had the box put into storage. After Lara had found the Medusa Mask for him, he gave her the music box in return.

Baddies:

Hartford Compton
Hartford was a former bodyguard and chauffeur of the Croft family. He fought in the Falklands War with Lord Henshingly Croft, who, at some point, saved his life once. Whilst at Croft Manor, he also served as a pilot. When Lord and Lady Croft were killed in 1988, in an accident later found out to be caused by him, Hartford resumed his duties as a bodyguard to Lara Croft. However in December 1999 (or issue 4, dated March 2000), he betrayed Lara to get the Medusa Mask but he was killed in the process.

Enemies:

Iranian Army
When Lara Croft took back the Lost Necklace of Sharaham for the Israeli Embassy, the Iranian Army was on her tail. She was able to lose them when she jumped off the cliff edge and grabbed hold of a rope ladder dangling from a helicopter piloted by Hartford Compton.

Divers
These guys, hired by Hartford Compton, attempted to kill Lara by cutting her air pipe and placing explosives on the sunken Spanish galleon she was searching.

Sharks
Underwater creatures that Lara had to deal with after fighting against the divers.

Location:

Iran

Mediterranean Sea

Athens

Kathmandu, Nepal

Other Characters:

Paris D’Arseine
It is revealed that Paris admired Lara's mother Andrea from afar, although he said that he pursued her. To commemorate his fondness for her he employed the finest maker of music boxes in all Europe to create a music box with a dancer in the image of Andrea inside. When she married Henshingly Croft, he put the box into storage, vowing never to see it again. Paris knew of Hartford Compton and Lara's father when they were young. Compton didn't like Paris, noting that the few people who knew of his existence and affairs go out of their way to avoid him. He was a scrawny man who walked with a stick. He was often accompanied by guards. In December 1999, he met with Lara on her yacht to hire her to find the Medusa Mask. She named her price and he sent her the location an hour later. A few days later, Lara gave him the mask in exchange for the music box and told him not to put it on. Despite his answer that he wouldn't dream of it, when he returned to his seaplane, he couldn't resist, and the plane exploded, killing him.

Taj
Lara Croft called him a 'dealer of secrets'. When Lara and Hartford Compton arrived in Nepal searching for the Medusa Mask, they were ambushed in their rental car by assassins sent by Taj. He explained to Lara that this was because the last time they did business, she had left him with trouble, and he told her that he didn't want to see her again. When she asked him about the Medusa Mask, he told her to leave. Shortly after, he was killed by an arrow in the back.

Constable Akham
His first name is unknown. Constable Akham briefly appeared when Lara Croft was in Nepal with Chase Carver, searching for the Medusa Mask. He told Lara that he didn't find the bodies of Hartford Compton or Taj.

Henri Triplette
In 1505, a pirate ship had left Spain carrying the Medusa Mask. However there was an evil force onboard that was causing the crew to mutiny and kill their captain and each other. Henri Triplette decided to abandon the ship and took the mask with him. The pirate left a message in a bottle with the ship to mark the watery grave. Triplette was then picked up by an unarmed British ship, which then arrived in China months later. He was in search of a key, which was found in Katmandu, Nepal. He had left carvings on a doorway to where the Mask was hidden.