The Abandoned [Paperback]

Ross Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2006

Big-hearted volunteer worker by day, unruly rocker by night, Rylie is one of the most-liked residents in the small island-town of Buffalora. When she sets her sights on Naomi, the new girl in town, love is definitely in the air. Unfortunately for Rylie, so is a storm, the kind in which nothing good ever happens... Suddenly everyone aged 23 and older diesâ€"and quickly rises from the dead! These flesh-craving zombies seek out the last remnants of youth and hope for society. With death in the air and love on their minds, Rylie and Naomi must make their way through the vast swamplands to salvation...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Campbell (Wet Moon) adds color—in this case red—to the OEL manga format, the better to highlight zombie gore. Actually, the red keeps the reader's eye on Rylie, a red-headed black lesbian in a swampy Southern town. She's trying to start a relationship with her crush, Naomi, while the world ends around them. Campbell beautifully captures the decaying grandeur of the South, with the palpable weight of its languid air. Wearing little clothing isn't sexual; it's survival in the heat. His characters are solidly fleshy, realistic and with presence. There's a thin line between sex and death, and the characters deal with both in nonsentimental, practical ways as they talk about life and what they want to become and finding someone to love. The questions any teen faces, like whether or not to leave town when you're older or whether your friends will still be your friends as you grow up, become more powerful through the zombie symbolism. When a loved one turns 23, he becomes one of the monsters, and here the adults literally eat their young. This unique blend of zombie horror, relationship drama and Southern gothic says much about love and survival. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up–An amazingly constructed horror story that operates on several levels of despair and grotesquery, this book is an effectively disturbing and affecting read. During a hurricane and a power outage, all individuals beyond their early 20s die and are reanimated as zombies. Readers follow the slow deterioration of a band of outcasts and counterculture youth who try to survive. The characters are not bright or beautiful, and the fact that they could inherit the Earth is as terrifying as their inevitable deaths. Campbell hits all the right notes with the zombie action, and the scenes of dismemberment and the undeath of loved ones are vivid and terrifying. The artwork is rendered in black and white and red, and the atmosphere intensified by the red wash gives mud, blood, and flesh a dimension that lends additional substance to the earthy, palpable physiques of the characters. Grim, grotesque, and gory, this book will appeal only to a limited and stouthearted audience as most readers wont be able to see beyond the visceral depictions to appreciate the craft of their rendering. But both in terms of artwork and a fine twinning of existential and tangible horrors, this is an exceedingly well-made volume.–Benjamin Russell, The Derryfield School, Manchester, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: TokyoPop (March 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598164341
• ISBN-13: 978-1598164343
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,339,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably my favorite zombie anything, March 12, 2006

By 

Guacamole (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Abandoned (Paperback)

Wow, what to say about this book? Well first of all, the artwork is gorgeous on absolutely every page. I finished it ages ago but I've just been looking through it all day. Ross's girls are amazing. (Along with his everything else.)

The characters are unique and have very realistic personalities, and you'll really be sympathizing with them right from the intro.

And of course, there is a lot of completely awesome zombie-slaying, (and assorted gore) which is beautifully emphasized by the fact that the entire book is done in nothing but blacks, reds and sepia tones.

Another plus is the illustration gallery and the fanart section in the back of the book.

edit: The only downside is the cliffhanger ending that will never be resolved. (So sad it got canceled!)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Abandoned brings some emotional depth to the zombie genre, August 2, 2006

By 

A. Sandoc "sussarakhen" (San Pablo, California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Abandoned (Paperback)

The Abandoned by Ross Campbell is a wonderful find. It's not often someone can take the oft-used zombie tale and inject it with a good dose of emotional depth. Campbell's tale of estranged and outcast youth is made even more tragic as an unexplained event occurs overnight to add even ore danger to these young characters' internal strife and angst.

The premise for The Abandoned is simple enough. Some sort of event happens which turns everyone 18 and older into the living dead who want nothing more than to devour the remaining survivors who happen to be everyone 17 and under. This puts a new spin on the concept of the old eating their young. The main character in Campbell's dark tale is Rylie, a black lesbian teenager who lives with her near-catatonic father in the rural backwoods of Georgia. It is through her eyes that we see her witness the end of the world as she and her friends know it. We're also privy to her genuine, loving relationship with Naomi even as death slowly encroaches around them and the rest of their friends.

The bittersweet tale is made more tragic through the horrifyingly violent situations when the zombies that used to be the adults slowly, but surely thin out Rylie's group of survivors. These interludes are shown in all their gory detail through Campbell's excellent artwork. He pretty much keeps the tone of the artwork all in browns, grays and shades in betweem. Then suddenly as violence and death occurs he adds in vivid splashes of red as limbs are torn and ripped. Stomachs and throats are ripped open. Viscera and entrails are fought over. Such images and the vividness of the red Campbell uses are like shocks to the system. Campbell knows his zombie lore and he doesn't deviate from the "Romero Rules" which makes this fan of the genre pretty happy.

The Abandoned is a well-written and drawn graphic novel that takes the typical zombie tale and adds a heavy emotional depth to the proceedings. Ross Campbell's story and its characters are well-done and fleshed out (no pun intended) which helps in making them relatable. The only thing that disappointed me about the book was the smallish size of the book in comparison to the usual comic graphic novel. Other than that minor flaw everything about this book is very good. I highly recommend The Abandoned to fans of the genre. They won't be disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome and brutal, April 18, 2006

By 

Richard Van Camp - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Abandoned (Paperback)

I recently read The Abandoned by Ross Campbell (published by TokyoPop). Wow! Very, very cool. This has love, lesbians, a storm that brings only a wave of death only to have those who pass on come back as meat and marrow starving zombies who attack without mercy or memory that often they are eating their family and love ones. Gah! Our main character, Rylie, rocks with her plunger of skull crush and the other main characters all shine with their brilliant and unforgettable characters. The thing about The Abandoned is it's a quiet parody of the zombie genre but it's also enchanting because of the dialogue between the friends, lovers and allies and how Ross Campbell takes his time drawing them and giving them their own plot arcs between the horrific zombie attacks. I like how none of the characters are above being attacked and there's a survival mentality that kicks in for the group that's tough, wise and smart. Had it all been men, well, they would have all died in the first wave of attacks. Man, what a great graphic album! Warning: it's very, very gross. It's made more gross and graphic because in the short time it takes to read the graphic novel, I found myself rooting so heavily for the characters. To see them eaten alive with that horrible look in their eyes frame by frame is, well, brutal.

You have to check it out!

Richard Van Camp
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