Daybreak
Staff Reviews
Nothing quite like Daybreak has been attempted, previously or since: a zombie flick told in first person, with the characters addressing you, the reader, and your perspective shifting rapidly as you flee from flesh-eaters. Brief moments of humor and humanity break up scenes of terror. The last page will leave you breathless; it's probably my favorite ending to a graphic novel.
Description
"A storytelling tour de force by turns creepy and poignant . . . One of the best books of the year." —Jeff Jensen, Entertainment Weekly
You wake up in the rubble and see a ragged, desperate one-armed man greeting you. He takes you underground to a safe space, feeds you, offers you a place to sleep, and then announces that he'll take the first watch. It's not long before the peril of the jagged landscape has located you and your newfound protector and is scratching at the door.
What transpires is a moment-to-moment struggle for survival—The Road meets Dawn of the Dead. Daybreak is seen through the eyes of a silent observer as he follows his protector and runs from the shadows of the imminent zombie threat. Brian Ralph slowly builds the tension of the zombies on the periphery, letting the threat—rather than the actual carnage—be the driving force. The postapocalyptic backdrop features tangles of rocks, lumber, I-beams, and overturned cars that are characters in and of themselves. A New York Times Graphic Novel Bestseller and YALSA Great Graphic Novel For Teens, Daybreak is an art-house take on the classic zombie genre.
Praise for Daybreak
“Daybreak's black humor gives way to something more unsettling...Ralph's first-person approach is brilliantly cruel” —Noel Murray, A.V. Club
“Daybreak is a rock-solid read, and many horror comics would do well to learn from its example.” —Cyriaque Lamar, io9
