Daybreak –
Brian Ralph (w/a)
Drawn &
Quarterly, $21.95, ISBN: 978-1-77046-055-3
Just when you think zombies have run their course, and the horror
genre has flogged that reanimated horse back to death, then some artsy comics
guy comes along and offers something new.
It’s true that Brian Ralph is all-too aware of how cliché zombies have
become, and that the familiar tropes of the survival narrative have no
surprises left. So, rather than attempt
to create an entirely original take on the shambling menace, he subverts the
formula to his own ends.
Ralph was one of the founding members of the now-legendary Fort
Thunder art collective — who not only spawned fellow cartoonists like Mat
Brinkman and Jim Drain, but also bands like Lightning Bolt; started a punk
renaissance in knitting and even pro-wrestling.
Through that lens, the new disciplines in art like comics, film, video
games and graphic design blended into a cohesive whole. It’s by that approach that we can really
begin to appreciate the form and innovation of Daybreak.
One of the problems with transferring the video game idiom to other
media is the lack of interactivity and that often characters are mute, with
nothing to further the plot but mission-based objectives. So, it was a bold move to frame Daybreak as a first-person adventure —
all the action is seen through the eyes of the nameless protagonist and all his/her
dialogue is implied. Rather than giving
us an empty vessel of a character, though, it provides a more immersive experience
in the comic — the character’s survival becomes our own and our own emotions
are transferred to the world of the story.
Like many zombie tales, Daybreak
begins in medias res with us, the reader/protagonist, meeting a fellow survivor
of the undead apocalypse. This one-armed
companion serves as our guide throughout the story which, while it trots out
all the expected events and characters — the grizzled old man holding out
against the monsters, close-shave encounters with the zombies, a cute puppy who
somehow manages to survive, you can probably fill in the rest of the list
yourself. Even still, it feels fresh
thanks to Ralph’s chiseled ink lines and the swift, clockwork pacing of his
six-panel grids. It has the feel of a
minicomic — immediate, experimental, with a distinct authorial voice. It takes
zombies out of the mainstream and back to their cult, underground beginnings.
While Fort Thunder may be long gone, Ralph’s work here proves that the
DIY aesthetic and hyper-mélange of art can still break new ground.
— Gavin Lees
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