Awakening Volume One (Awakening (Archaia)) [Hardcover]

Nick Tapalansky (Author), Alex Eckman-Lawn (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Awakening (Archaia) | Publication Date: July 29, 2009

The once peaceful city of Park Falls has been tainted by a series of gruesome murders and missing persons. Cynthia Ford, known as the town crazy, finds retired police detective Derrick Peters and relates to him her belief about what's going on in town. Her explanation - Zombies! Unable to ignore Cynthia's information, though not sharing her beliefs, Derrick and others in the town explore the mystery as weeks turn to months and the death toll rises. Follow the first half of Park Falls' year-long struggle for answers in this collected edition of the first five issues of the Archaia existential horror series.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Although graphic novels featuring marauding zombies aren’t in short supply, this nightmarish tale from newcomers Tapalansky and Alex Eckman-Lawn takes the genre to a new level of artistry. When an epidemic of grisly murders afflicts the normally sedate city of Park Falls, retired police detective Derrick Peters is sent by an unnamed source to investigate. Despite tooth marks around the victims’ wounds, a pronouncement by one of the city’s eccentrics that zombies are responsible only arouses Peters’ skepticism. After a little digging, Peters’ main suspects instead become the former employees of a recently closed pharmaceutical operation, where a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s was being tested. Yet as the body count rises, and Peters starts shooting ravenous killers on sight, the true cause of the outbreak becomes more and more elusive. Eckman-Law’s avant-garde illustrations embody a hybrid of mixed media, including altered photographs, blurred sketches, and Post-it notes. The end result is montage of unsettling imagery that will haunt readers’ dreams for days. --Carl Hays

Review

AWAKENING is the type of storytelling achievement you often find yourself reading in trade format a year after-the-fact, wondering why the hell you didn't hear more about it at the time of its publishing. The type of book that goes on to achieve eventual cult status and terrible film adaptations that wholly miss the point. - Tom Mattson --Newseed Comics

Eckman-Lawn's hybrid work here just goes to show how much art can influence the feeling of a book and the nigh-limitless length that technology has allowed art to expand within the comic book medium. --Geeks of Doom

For anyone who sincerely wants to find the next horror concept comic that should be mirrored by writers and artists everywhere for years after it's done, aping such an original thing until it's no longer anything of the sort, then AWAKENING will prove a unique experience, and an immensely satisfying one at that. - Dave Baxter --Broken Frontier

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: ARCHAIA STUDIOS PRESS (July 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932386483
• ISBN-13: 978-1932386486
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #470,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nick Tapalansky exploded onto the scene with Awakening (Archaia Entertainment) in 2007, earning an Eagle Award nomination for Favourite Newcomer Writer. His work has also been featured in the Harvey Award-winning Popgun Vol. 4 anthology and The Perhapanauts (Image Comics) as well as Moon Lake and the forthcoming Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 2 (Archaia Entertainment).

He now skulks about the woodlands of Westchester, New York with his wife, freelance illustrator Jackie Santiago. He spends his free time recruiting scalawags and devising new ways to crawl into your mind.

You can find more at his website, http://www.NickTapalansky.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's more than zombies, it's an experience!, August 16, 2009

By 

Chandra Free "CF" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Awakening Volume One (Awakening (Archaia)) (Hardcover)

Chilling and hyper paranoid atmosphere permeates through Awakening. Creating a suspense all it's own, with secretive characters, and a big question asking, "zombies?" But it's far more than that!

Tapalanksy's words twist and weave in and out of Eckman-Lawn's stunningly dark and haunting imagery creating one of the most unique and amazing comic experiences to date.
It's a rare thing to find a masterful piece of work that dazzles and reveals in the darkness, consuming the reader into it's lavish world of noir. It's the much needed breath of fresh air in the over-saturated zombie genre. Giving the genre its first piece of true art and beauty.

The presentation of this hardbound edition is beautiful, including insightful case file entries, and beautiful pin-ups by Mark Smylie, Patrick McEvoy, Kaitlin Terentz, Pat Kinsella, and Mark Holmes.

I highly recommend this book to those who love their books full of noir, art, and horror. It's more than zombies, it's an experience!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brains never tasted so good..., August 26, 2009

By 

Vincent R. Nordone - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Awakening Volume One (Awakening (Archaia)) (Hardcover)

OK there hasn't actually been any brain eating in the story so far but I liked that title and I'm sticking with it.

So, on to my review...

I picked this book up at the San Diego Comic-Con as kind of an impulse buy as I've liked other Archaia products in the past and I have to say I'm definitely glad I did.

The first thing about this book that you can't help but notice is that the artwork is SUPERB. It's very hard to pinpoint Mr. Eckman-Lawn's style but his illustrations are legitimately creepy. His settings are gorgeous and surreal and his gaunt, sketchy, distressed characters really set the tone for this piece.

The Author, Nick Tapalansky, is obviously an evil, evil man. He likes to make you think that you know exactly what is coming next and then making you feel like an idiot for thinking that you had it all figured out. I LOVE IT!!! I really can't wait to see where this one is going.

Bottom line, this book is excellent. I am anxiously awaiting volume two to find out how it all wraps up.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE Awakening, August 24, 2010

By 

SarasotaTheBand - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Awakening Volume One (Awakening (Archaia)) (Hardcover)

I've followed this comic since the first issue. The story is obviously awesome (a new and smart take on zombies), but I buy it for the art. I love this hardcover...it's beautiful, and people always want to pull it off my shelf. The images inside are so varied, but they all show meticulous craftsmanship (EVERY single page), and avoid the ugly glossed look of a lot of similar comics. The color work is dark but so subtle--Eckman-Lawn uses light in all the right ways.

I can't WAIT for the next installment (they just posted the preorder here! http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-2-Nick-Tapalansky/dp/1932386955/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282661722&sr=1-2). Can't wait to see how Tapalansky and Eckman-Lawn pull the strings of the story together.