Daybreak - Summerween Graphic Novel Review

This book review was written for my annual Summerween Book Club that takes place every June. It's written for those that have read the book so spoilers abound. You've been warned!

Brian Ralph's Daybreak is easily one of the top tier comics/graphic novel zombie stories ever. That's right, I said "ever". Because it really is that good. It's arrives there based on its own merit because I don't think there's another zombie comic out there that tells the story in quite this manner and with such care and humor. From page one you can tell that this is not your usually comic story because you are the main character. The story unfolds from the reader's point of view and while you never hear yourself say anything or see yourself do anything, it's undoubtedly you witnessing everything.

I'd hesitate to say that this is similar to a first person shooter type game though, because in a game you can see your hands, legs and feet as you explore the game's various scenes and landscapes. In Daybreak those details are left to your imagination, maybe purposely so in order to allow the reader to literally put themselves in the story better. It'd read differently if Ralph drew the hands of the POV character and it was wearing a watch that wasn't yours, or had tattoos when you have none. Ralph leaves those things out of your view so you don't ever think that it isn't you in the story. What also differentiates this POV form of storytelling from a first person shooter type game is that you don't have control over what your character does. Basically you're at the whim of your one-armed companion who you meet on page one.

He's your guide throughout the story as you two navigate this post apocalyptic zombie world. Exactly what happened, and how you got there stay unanswered. This is part of the beauty of what makes this story so good. Ralph leaves a lot of the detail out, leaving things unsaid, unseen, unknown. What remains is a living-in-the-moment play-by-play story told from panel to panel. It's a great example of a less is more way of storytelling with sequential art and I love it.

Since you are in the story, you spend a lot of time looking around and examining your surroundings. I think this is genius that Ralph makes sure you slow down and actually take notice of the artwork in the panels. Reading comics is a back and forth between dialogue and the artwork, with the artwork often taking a backseat while the dialogue drives the story forward. You jump from word balloon to word balloon occasionally glancing at the artwork making sure you have an idea of where the characters are in the scene. I usually read a comic page once, paying attention to the dialogue and then go back over it again making note of the artwork, then turn the page to continue the story. In Daybreak, paying attention to your surroundings is part of the story, so it's important to slow down in order to get your bearings. This is even more important in a zombie setting where the undead could be lurking just out of the frame. I think Ralph has a very intuitive way of making you, the character and the reader, slow down and take note. This is perfectly illustrated in the page below: you're above ground-it's raining- and you're scanning the scenery for possible zombies. Each panel you're searching and the only way to know what direction you're looking in is the changing of the rubble around you.

Another way Ralph sets this zombie apocalypse comic apart from others is that you don't see much of the zombies at all. They're there, but are never the focus. As a result the interaction you have with your guide and other strangers you meet along the way stay at the center of the book's plot. There is one moment when you come upon a zombie horde, but you never look up to look them in the face, staying low, you notice legs and arms and ripped up clothes etc. This Comic Journal Review article from 2011 put it perfectly:

Ralph never lets us see them [the zombies] up close, never lets us look them in the eye. The eyes are the window to the soul, after all, and the undead don't have one.

I also want to note how funny the book is. Some other reviews of this book leave out just how funny it can be-there's some legit laugh out loud moments. I love a comic that can make me laugh.

One review I read said that the only qualm of the book is that it goes by too quickly and can be read in a single sitting. I have to agree, but that doesn't mean it's a detractor in the least. It boosts the book up even more knowing that I wish I could spend more time in this world and with my companion (and our doggie). It's a tough thing to make a zombie apocalypse seem both dangerous and cozy. But Brian Ralph pulls it off effortlessly.

10/10

Next Week: Zombo by Al Ewing, et. al.

ps. I also want to mention that the Netflix adaptation is absolutely nothing like the graphic novel, so if you were hoping to now go and watch the film you can skip it. The movie is set during a zombie apocalypse, but that's where the similarities end. I just hope Ralph got a fat check from the studio for lending his title to what turned out to be nothing like his graphic novel.