For Multiversity’s Best of 2011 Ballott, I’m sad to say that one of the graphic novels I greatly enjoyed this year did not make the final cut. That’s not a huge surprise to me, to be honest; the graphic novel ballot offers up such a widespread selection of titles and publishers for anyone to choose from that it usually ends with high profile titles stealing the show.
So today, I’m going to tell you all about one of the books that I voted for that didn’t make the final cut: Daybreak by Brian Ralph.
More after the jump.
The zombie-based subgenre is perhaps the single most played out genre in all of fiction, especially recently (except maybe ones starring vampires). That’s probably not a popular sentiment, but it is never the less true; it’s too easy for writers to use the zomibes as a stockplace villain without doing anything with them. The most popular form of zombie, as pioneered by George Romero, stood as a tool to offer up commentary on society as well as “the human animal,” showing a possible nightmare scenario and how we might theoretically act when placed in it. Its the same for Robert Kirkman’s comic book/TV series, The Walking Dead. Zombies were an element of setting, less so the singular focus, because the true focus was on the people involved and what/who they represented. Now zombies remain a played out cliche of what they once were; a ravenous mob without a direction.
To that end, it becomes increasingly difficult to find any sort of fiction or basis for entertainment featuring zombies that is actually worthwhile. Romero’s last zombie effort, Survival of the Dead, was almost a parody of his entire career. The Left 4 Dead franchise quickly peaked, making way for zombie nazis in Call of Duty, a sub-par sequel to Dead Rising and a new game called Dead Island (which I haven’t played, to be fair). There are zombie comics galore now, from the independently published to those more in the mainstream, anywhere from A Marvel Zombie Christmas Carol to I don’t even know, you name it, and all of it can end up fairly generic. Even this past season of The Walking Dead left something to be desired, with too much emphasis on people whose issues failed to connect or resonate with the viewer. It’s all zombies all the time, but it’s never really that interesting.
But then there is Daybreak.
Originally a self-produced series with Bodega, the book was collected in its entirety earlier this year on Drawn and Quarterly. Written and illustrated by Brian Ralph and placed upon a six-panel grid, the book stars you as you are led through the wasteland after the zombie apocalypse. Before you backtrack to double check yourself, note that you read that line absolutely correctly: you, the reader, are the central character within the book. With Daybreak, Ralph brings the first-person narrative to a new level within the pages of his book by having the few characters to survive the apocalypse interact directly with the reader, helping you on your quest for survival in the nightmarish environment. It establishes a direct line between the reader and the story, and it makes for an entirely different reading experience within the context of the comic; all of a sudden, in a medium that generally shies away from internalizing most of the visual elements, this book becomes yours. It’s your survival on the line, and it’s your experience.
That factor helps endear the book so heavily in comparison with other graphic novels that came out this year. All comics are ostensibly a personal experience based on how you choose to approach the material, but Daybreak essentially ups the ante. They say that all good books and stories manage to transport you to a new time and place, but Daybreak grabs you immediately and brings you down to its level with no wait time. Ralph has created a way to crack open the floodgates of material relationship within the span of a few pages, which most books have to struggle to do within their first act (I use the term “struggle” relatively). It’s easy to become attached to your one-armed friend in the book, because he is now the only person you know. It’s easy to become skeptical of other people, because you don’t know if they’re going to harm you or help you anymore. It’s easy to be afraid of the dark, because you can no longer trust what it hides. All your inner paranoia begins to come out and you’ll soon ask yourself, “Can I trust anyone at all?”
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Daybreak‘s zombies are perhaps some of the most terrifying in comics today, and its purely because Ralph does zombies right. Where other titles simply seek to use zombies for their brain-munching, leg-dragging moaning or growling horror effects, Ralph places the zombies in the background as an element constantly lurking in the distance, or hiding in the shadows. Don’t get me wrong, the book is literally full of zombies — but you’ll almost never actually see them. That’s part of Daybreak‘s inherent charm: since the book placed you as the central character, you end up filling in the minor details. You’ll be able to both see the horror with your own two frightened eyes, but for all the moments you can’t see anything you’ll just have to suffer through knowing that any second now, a zombie could await you around the corner. There’s no safety in Daybreak; this book is out to get you.
I admittedly love post-apocalyptic genre fiction, and Daybreak is an obvious shoe-in for one of my favorite books of the year. With a completely unique take on both the medium itself and a rather stagnant genre, Daybreak is one of the most enjoyable evenings I’ve spent glued to a book of recent memory. Ralph’s story and art invite you in for what will assumedly be an entirely comfortable experience, but the book is far from that; it’s a very real experience, and like your favorite zombie film, it’s one you’ll be anxious to relive again and again.
