Starring Emanuelle Vaugier, Eric Dane, Richard Roundtree,
Callum Keith Rennie and Tate Donovan. Directed by Sanford Bookstaver.
(How awesome is the poster above? Nothing like that happens in the film)
I’ve been on a bit of an Event Comics/Painkiller Jane kick
of late and I discovered there were 2 attempts to make a Painkiller Jane show.This 2005 TV movie/pilot and a 2007 one
season TV series.
I’ve said before that in a sense adaptations almost need to
be reviewed at least twice, once in comparison to the source materials and once
as itself.
In a lot of ways this puts me in mind of the 1944 Captain
America serial – we have a guy called Captain America in a reasonable version
of the suit and that’s about all that came across from the comics. This
adaptation has a woman named Jane who heals quickly and that seems to be all
that came over.
In the comics Jane Vasco was an undercover cop who had her
cover blown and pumped full of untested synthetic drugs. She goes into a two
year coma and wakes up with rapid healing powers.Her former partner now gives her cases that
sit outside the law.In earlier
Adventures she is covered in bandages, which is a cool look.
Here our heroine is Jane Browning, an Army Captain in the
Painkiller Unit. The unit is in Chechnya shutting down what they think is a
drug lab.The team start to bleed from
their eyes (never a good thing) and men in biohazard suits shoot them.Jane is the only survivor and she has a
heightened metabolism and heals quickly.She also has enhanced intelligence but doesn’t seem to come into play as
much.
Colonel Watts (Roundtree) tells Jane that they stumbled onto
the lab of evil scientist and bioweapons manufacturer, Peter Erfan, a man so
mysterious that they only have one photo of him at age 6 in an orphanage.
Intel suggested that our scientist is trying to enhance
human beings but until now it only burns subjects out eventually killing them.
Until Jane that is.The Secretary of
Defence, Donnie Mitchell, wants her to be studied.
Jane is about be put into protective custody in Alaska, but
determined to find Erfan and with a little encouragement from Dr Knight, she
escapes custody.Where she basically
kidnaps Nick Pierce, a thief forcing him to outrun the military on his
motorcycle.
Jane is shot so Nick takes her back to his house, where she
recovers from her wound, her body forcibly ejecting the bullet.Jane meets the rest of Nick’s crew - Blue, a medic
and Squeak, young man who know every tunnel in the city.
There’s some skullduggery, Jane discovers that the man she
thinks is Dr Knight is not Dr Knight and he tells her he is Captain Lucas
Insley, military intelligence investigating Colonel Watts, believing that Watts
has created Irfan as a cover for Watt’s own experiments.
Not knowing who to trust Jane brings in her sister (who does
not appear in the comics) and calls on Nick and his crew.
We discover who the real Peter Erfan is, and he is able to
recreate the virus that created Jane.I
won’t say who it is in case you want to watch the movie yourself on Youtube.
The story ends with Jane reported dead and given a new
identity by Watts looking closer to her comic book counterpart.We aren’t told the new identity but I like to
think it is Jane Vasco.
Erfan believed to be dead, but a final coda shows him alive.
I presume had this gone to series, Watts would have given
her missions to chase Erfans and battle his enhanced soldiers, likely working
with Nick and his crew.
As an adaptation, this isn’t particularly faithful but does
a reasonable job with the action on a TV movie budget.It’s an ok set up, I suspect the series may
have been closer to the comics or at least tried.I liked Eric Dane’s Nick Pierce, I would have
been on board for more of him, a roguish thief who helps Jane because it is the
right thing.
Now this has me curious to see what was changed for the
short lived series 2 years later.
I presume that this led to the 2006 Painkiller Jane comic miniseries
from Dynamite comics.
The intention of this timeline is to work much of the Tomb Raider Franchise into one cohesive timeline. I am limiting this to event in Lara Croft’s life so no expansions on the history of the artefacts she finds. I am working on the assumption that the new “Survivor” game continuity is a prequel to the earlier games and that the “Legend” games are also part of this continuity. Any speculation on my part to explain any discrepancies will be clearly indicated.
There have been three games called Tomb Raider the 1996 original, the 2000 Gameboy game and the 2013 reboot. I will be referring to the games as Tomb Raider followed by their year. The 2018 movie will be referred to as Tomb Raider 2018.
Other adventures will be referred to by their subtitles as we know they are Tomb Raider products. I will also be referring to the source for each entry and the media type (So the novel Tomb Raider: The Lost Cult will be referred to as The Lost Cult (novel))
I won’t be including fan productions as much as I have enjoyed many of them. I also won’t incorporating references to Lara Croft (in Rob Hayes Adventures Rob tells a female friend she is not Lara Croft) or characters dressing as Lara Croft (Ally McBeal, Looney Tunes, Dexter, How I met Your Mother.) The holographic projection of Lara in an episode of Totally Spies is also excluded.
I’m excluding advertisements that treat Tomb Raider as just a game for example one of the later Lucozade commercials has Lara drinking a Lucozade while the game is paused.
What’s new?
Since I did the original back in 2017, Dark Horse released the two four issue miniseries Survivor’s Quest and Inferno, there was a new game Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and a tie-in novel Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Path of the Apocalypse. There was a new movie starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft.
This time I've decided just to list the games and not the expansion levels - the timeline is very long and Shadow of the Tomb Raider had seven DLC levels and they are effectively part of the games.
I did a deep dive into the Top Cow Tomb Raider comics including the appearances in other Top Cow titles. I was never happy with the original placement of the comics and I did a bit more moving things around. The biggest move was for Tomb Raider Journeys, the 12 issue series instead of taking place near the time of publication in 2001 was moved to 1994, a year that had very few adventures – which actually worked much better as issue 5 had Lara’s ten year high school reunion which would have been in 1994.
I didn’t realise that there were 3 different Tomb Raider/Witchblade titles only having one in the original timeline, I also had Dark Crossings and Monster War as one shots when there were two and four issues respectively in those miniseries.
To my eternal shame, I realised that I had forgotten U2’s Elevation video clip from the movie soundtrack in the original timeline, that has been fixed. As far as I can tell none of the songs from that soundtrack had a Lara Croft video clip.
Timeline
14 Feb 1968
Lara Croft born to Lord Richard Croft and Amelia Croft (Core Design Bio) (Legend - Game)
1977
Lady Amelia Croft and Lara are in a plane crash. Amelia disappears and Lara walks out (Legend –game)
1979 - 1984
Wimbledon High School for Girls ages 11-16 (Core Bio)
1980
“Pre-Teen Raider” (Re/Visioned animation) (Gail Simone advises that Lara is about 12) Lara is a student at Croft Academy.
Speculationon: It may be that Lara was expelled after this exploit and moved to Wimbledon High School for Girls.
1984
Lara graduates Chesterfield Private Academy (Journeys 5)
Speculation: The book says class of 1992, this must be an error as Lara was 24 at that time. Chesterfield is a co-ed school so it cannot be Wimbledon School for Girls. It seems likely that Lara went to multiple schools and the Core Bio simplified her academic history.
Training with Von Croy in Ankor Wat (The Last Revelation –Game)
“Black Isle” (Chronicles Game)
1985
Lord Richard Croft dies (differing accounts are given in Rise of the Tomb Raider– Game, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Movie and Legend –Game)
(The 2018 Tomb Raider movie has Lord Richard presumed dead and does not die until the events of that movie)
Speculation Lara is adopted by her uncle Lord Henshingly Croft and his wife. Neither are fans of Lara adventuring and try to mould her into a proper lady. The adoption explains why in 1996 her father is listed as Henshingly Croft in the first game.
1984-1987
Gordonstoun Boarding School ages 16-18
1987-1989
Swiss Finishing School ages 18-21
1989
Plane crash 21 year old Lara is only survivor (Core Bio)
1990
Excavation Massacre (Legend – Game)
The Beginning (Dark Horse Comic)
Tomb Raider 2013 (game)
Speculation: The Tomb Raider 2018 (movie) – could be viewed as a simplified version of this game but I’ve gone with a different interpretation and placed it after Shadow of the Tomb Raider. YMMV. (Basically the movie is too different from the game to be an adaptation of the game but has enough elements from the game to make it hard for it to be its own story and to make it work either way requires a fair amount of damage to the movie))
The Ten Thousand Immortals (novel)
Season of the Witch (Dark Horse Comic 1-6)
1991
Secrets and Lies (Dark Horse Comic 7-12)
Queen of Snakes (Dark Horse Comic 13-18)
1992
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Game)
Spore (Dark Horse Comic 1-6)
Speculation: Spore features a 1996 flashback this must be a 1976 flashback.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Path of Apocalyse (Novel)
This is a novelisation of the early part of the Shadow of the Tomb Raider Game.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Game)
Tomb Raider (2018) (Movie)
Speculation: After the apocalyptic events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara temporarily retires from tomb raiding and becomes a cycle courier before being drawn into a mystery about her father’s death which ends with her buying her trademark weapons. The movie uses some elements of the 2013 game but is a different adventure. (Basically the movie is too different from the game to be an adaptation of the game but has enough elements from the game to make it hard for it to be its own story and to make it work either way requires a fair amount of damage to the movie)
1994
Tomb Raider Journeys 1-7 (comic)
Finds Bigfoot (Tomb Raider 1996 – Game)
Tomb Raider Journeys 8-12
Finds Ark of the Covenant (Tomb Raider 1996 - Game)
1995
Mean Machines (comic)
Philosopher’s Stone (Chronicles – Game)
1996
Tomb Raider 1996 & Anniversary (Games)
1997
Vendetta (Tomb Raider/Witchblade 1 - comic)
Witchblade/Tomb Raider ½ (Comic)
This comic is a sequel to Vendetta.
Tomb Raider II (Game)
Tomb Raider/Witchblade (Top Cow Comic)
Lucozade (commercials) (the last commercial is not counted)
PlayStation Commercial
ZDnet Commercial
“Tibet Air” (Short Story)
1998
Witchblade/Tomb Raider 1 (Comic)
PlayStation Commercial
Tomb Raider III (Game)
Seat Cars (Commercials)
Spear of Destiny (Chronicles –Game)
Die Artze “Manner Sind Schweine” (Music video)
Tomb Raider 2000 (Game)
1999
Dark Aeons (Comic)
The Medusa Mask 1-4 (Comic)
Brigitte Magazine (Commercial)
“Hemos terminado con él” The Companeros (Spanish TV Episode)
The Time’s Exclusive Bonus Level (Game)
The Last Revelation (Game)
Tomb Raider Chronicles (Framing Sequence – Game)
The Amulet of Power (Novel)
Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Rising (Comic)
Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Overhead (Comic)
The Merlin Stone 5-6 (Comic)
The Resurrection of Taras (Fathom 12-14, Fathom Crossover Tour Book – Comic)
(The Crossover Tour book seems to be set during the events of issue 13 – and is five page story where Aspen recaps the first issue. The artwork does not appear in the three issues. There is also a three page bit where we see a drawing of each of ladies in the story Aspen Matthews, Lara Croft and Sara Pezzinni and a paragraph from the other two characters about that character.)
Dead Centre 7-10 (comic)
2000
The Tomb Raider Technical Manual (Book)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Movie + Novelisation)
U2 “Elevation” (Music Video)
Tomb Raider/The Darkness 1 (Comic)
Chasing Shangri-La 11-12 (comic)
Grim Reaper 13-15 (Comic)
Tomb Raider 0 (Comic)
2001
Pieces of Zero 16-17, 19-20 (Comic)
Year of the Cat 18 (Comic)
Curse of the Sword (Game)
The Trap: Path of the Tiger 21-23 (Comic)
Scarface’s Treasure (Comic)
Medusa’s Garden 24 (Comic)
2002
The Prophecy (Game)
The Osiris Codex (Game)
The Quest for Cinnabar (Game)
The Elixir of Life (Game)
Endgame (Tomb Raider 25, Witchblade 60, EVO 1 – Comic)
Abyss 26-28 (comic)
Strange Flesh 29- 30 (Comic)
Tomb Raider: Apocalypse (Game)
2003
Conquista 31 (comic)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life (Movie + Novelisation)
Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness (Game)
(The Action Adventure/The Board Game/Flash Game versions and comic adaptation issues 32-34)
Epiphany (Top Cow comic One Shot)
Black Legion 35-37 (Comic)
G4 – (Commercial)
Visa - Monster Chase (Commercial)
The Lost Cult (novel)
The Man of Bronze (novel)
2004
Sphere of Influence (comic)
Takeover (comic)
Bloodstone 38-39 (Comic)
Risen 40 (Comic)
Spirit Walker 41-42 (Comic)
Arabian Nights (Comic)
Tower of Souls 43-44 (Comic)
Signs and Portents - Witchblade 78 (Comic)
Inner Demons 45 (Comic)
Gathering Storm 46-48 (Comic)
2005
Vendetta 49 (Comic)
Alpha/Omega 50 (Comic)
In this comic Lara finds the Fountain of Youth and is seen adventuring into the far future.
Monster War (comic 1-4)
The Greatest Treasure of All (comic)
2006
Legend (game)
The Reckoning (game)
Puzzle Paradox (Game)
2007
The Keys to the Kingdom (3 Parts) (Re/visioned Animation)
Revenge of the Aztec Mummy (Re/Visioned Animation)
Angel Spit (2 Parts)( Re/Visioned Animation)
Lara Croft Legacy (Re/Visioned Animation)
Raising Thermopolis (Re/Visioned Animation)
A Complicated Woman (Re/Visioned Animation)
2008
Tomb Raider Underworld (Game - also has a board game)
2010
Lara Croft and Guardian of Light (game)
2013
Lara Croft Reflections Card Game (Game)
2014
Lara Croft and Temple of Osiris (Game)
2015
Lara Croft Relic Run (game)
Lara Croft Go (Game)
Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen (comic)
2016
Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever (novel)
TOMB RAIDER MEDIA ITEMS
Games
The Core Series –Original Timeline
Tomb Raider 1996
Tomb Raider II 1997
Tomb Raider III 1998
Tomb Raider: The Times Exclusive 1999
Tomb Raider the Last Revelation 1999
The Tomb Raider Chronicles 2000
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2003
(The Action Adventure/The Board Game/Flash Game versions and comic adaptation)
Mobile Phone Games
Tomb Raider: The Osiris Codex 2003
Tomb Raider: The Quest for Cinnabar 2003
Tomb Raider: The Elixir of Life 2003
Tomb Raider: Puzzle Paradox 2006
Lara Croft Reflections 2014
Lara Croft Relic Run 2015
Lara Croft Go 2015
Board Games
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2003
Tomb Raider: Underworld 2009
DVD Game
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure 2006
(adaptation of Angel of Darkness)
Flash Game
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2004
Books
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Tech manual by Michael Jan Friedman 2001
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Movie Novelisation by Dave Stern 2001
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life Novelisation by Dave Stern 2003
Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power by Mike Resnick 2003
Tomb Raider The Lost Cult by E.E. Knight 2004
Tomb Raider The Man of Bronze by James Alan Gardner 2005
The Ten Thousand Immortals by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent 2014
The Blade of Gwynnver by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent 2016
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Path of the Apocalypse by S.D Perry 2018
(Fun fact S.D. Perry is the daughter of Steve Perry who wrote Indiana Jones and The Army of the Dead)
Short Stories
“Tibet Air” in Lara’s Book: Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon by Douglas Coupland 1998 (reprinted in Tomb Raider Archives Vol 3.
Movies
Lara Croft Tomb Raider 2001
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Cradle of Life 2003
Tomb Raider 2018
TV
The Companeros “Hemos terminado con él” 1999 (tie in for Last Revelation)
Commercials
PlayStation 1997 & 1998
Lucozade 1998 & 2001
Seat Cars 1999
Brigitte Magazine 1999
ZDnet 2000
Visa Monster Chase 2003
G4 2003
Video Clips
Die Artze “Manner Sind Schweine” 1998
U2 “Elevation” 2001
Re/Visioned 2007
The Keys to the Kingdom (3 Parts)
Revenge of the Aztec Mummy (1 part)
Angel Spit (2 Parts)
Lara Croft Legacy (1 part)
Pre Teen Raider (1 part)
Raising Thermopolis (1 part)
A Complicated Woman (1 part)
Comics
Mean Machine Sega #46 (reprinted in Tomb Raider Archives Vol 1)
Untitled story that I called “Mean Machine” predate the release of the first game
Glenat
Dark Aeons 1999
Top Cow Comics
Top Cow
Crossovers
Tomb Raider/ Witchblade 1997
Witchblade Tomb Raider ½ 2000
Witchblade/Tomb Raider 1 1998
(Tales of the Witchblade 9 is a follow up to this story -while Lara appears on the cover she does not appear in the story)
Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Rising 2000
Dark Crossings: Dark Clouds Overhead 2000
Fathom the Resurrection of Taras 12-14 2000-2002, Fathom The Crossover Tourbook 2000
Tomb Raider The Darkness 2001
Top Cow Book of Revelations 2003
Monster War 2005
1 Magdalena vs Dracula
2 Tomb Raider vs The Wolf-Men
3 Witchblade vs Frankenstein
4 The Darkness vs Mr Hyde
Tomb Raider 25 (Endgame part 1)
Witchblade 60 (Endgame part 2)
EVO 1 (Endgame part 3)
Witchblade 78 (Lara cameo)
Witchblade 84 (Witchblade lists Lara as a friend and an image of Lara appears)
1999-2005 Tomb Raider Series
The Medusa Mask 1-4
Merlin Stone 5-6
Dead Centre 7-10
Chasing Shangri-La 11-12
Grim Reaper 13-15
Pieces of Zero 16-17, 19-20
Year of the Cat 18
The Trap: The Path of The Tiger 21-23
Medusa’s Garden 24
Endgame 25 (Crossover with Witchblade #60/EVO #1)
Abyss 26-28
Strange Flesh 29-30
Conquista 31
The Angel of Darkness 32-34 (Comic Adaptation of Game)
The Black Legion 35-37
Bloodstone 38-39
Risen 40
Spirit Walker 41-42
Tower of Souls 43-44
Inner Demons 45
Gathering Storm 46-48
Vendetta 49
Alpha/Omega 50
Tomb Raider Journeys 1-12 2001-2003
Top Cow One Shots
Tomb Raider Origins 2000
Scarface’s Treasure 2003
Epiphany 2003 (AOD tie-in)
Takeover 2004
Sphere of Influence 2004
Arabian Knights 2004
The Greatest Treasure of All 2005
Dark Horse Comics
The Beginning 2013 (Digital only)
Tomb Raider
Season of the Witch 1-6
Secrets and Lies 7-12
Queen of Serpents 13-18
Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen 1-5
Tomb Raider II
Spore 1-6
Trials and Sacrifice 7-12
I've been on a bit of a 1990s Mummy kick lately. Brendan Fraser's The Mummy (1999) was a remaginging of the 1930s Universal movie of the same name bringing back the mummified Im Ho Tep.
The later Universal films all featured a mummy named Kharis, except for Abbot and Costello meet the Mummy which featured Klaris. Hammer films also made several mummy movies but none of theirs featured Im Ho Tep and none connected to each other.
The 1999 movie shfted away from horror and became a slightly more supernatural version of Indiana Jones. There's a joke that the three best Indy fims are Radiers of the Lost Ark, The Mummy, and the Mummy Returns.
It might appear that the 2017 Dark Universe The Mummy starring Tome Cruise put an end to the franchise but 2018 brought a new entry that sparked me off on this search. The Scorpion King 5: The Book of Souls.
So what do we have in this franchise?
Movies
The Mummy 1999
The Mummy Returns 2001
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer 2008
with the spin-off
The Scorpion King (2002)
Which is all the theatrical movies. However Universal made
The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008)
The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012)
The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015)
The Scorpion King: Book of Souls (2018)
None of which starred the Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. 2 was a prequel starring
Michael Copon, the Blue Ranger in Power Rangers: Time Force.
3 and 4 starred Victor Webster (Mutant X, Continuium) 5 starred Zach McGowan (Black Sails).
I've loved all the movies - the Scorpion King series have been fun sword and sandal romps.
There was also a two season animated series set after The Mummy Returns
Then I discovered the books;
All four theatrical movies were novelised by Max Allan Collins.
Dave Wolverton wrote a four book YA series The Mummy Chronicles which featured Alex learning to be a Magi.
There was also a tie-in Annual for the Mummy TV series.
1) Revenge in the Scorpion King
2) Heart of the Pharoh
3) The Curse of the Nile
4) Flight of the Phoenix
Then there were three different comic series
Only one of the three proposed issues of Chaos! Comics The Mummy: Valley of the Gods was released and was set during the O'Connell's honeymoon with prophetic dreams of the Scorpion King. Chaos went out of business before the rest of the series could be released.
Next was Dark Horse's 2 issue The Scorpion King: The Akkadian Prophecy" set just before the Rock's movie (and before Rise of a Warrior)
Just before the third movie IDW released the four issue miniseries The Mummy: The Rise of Xango's Ax set just before that movie.
The whole Scorpion King/Mummy franchise is a lot of fun to read/watch and I do hope that we will see more from this world. The third movie set up a sequel with Jonathon moving to Peru just before the discovery of Mummies there.
I'm still waiting on several of the books to arrive but I'll review them when they arrive. Actually I might do a Mummy March.
.png/revision/latest?cb=20110324182142)
