Customer Reviews

Awakening Volume One (Awakening (Archaia))

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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!

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.

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.

I have to say, this is not my typical genre, but I was hooked as soon as I opened the book. The artwork is amazing, and complements the superb writing beautifully. My biggest disappointment is that I have to wait for volume 2 before I can find out what happens next! BUY THIS BOOK, it's well worth the investment.

There is not much more you can say about Taplansky's The Awakening Vol. I (or the subsequent volume for that matter) other than: it's fantastic. The artwork is very unique, very good, and perfect for the narrative. The story is good - different and intriguing and Taplansky does a wonderful job with the main characters. David Fincher's Se7en would love this book.

The artwork s casts a dreary, rust-belt aura that is at times visceral and, at other times, quite surreal. Often, street signs appear more clearly than the faces of characters in the foreground creating sort of a reverse perspective: we're forced to take in the city first, the characters second. Intentionally blurry, it seems like Alex Eckman-Lawn (illustrator) wants the reader to feel the day-to-day slog that Derrick Peters feels, he wants Peters to blend into the cityscape as is Peters' desire. Peters feels blurry, although his intellect clearly tells him that extraordinary events are unfolding, his heart is not in it (at least, not initially) and he slowly pulls himself towards the center because his moral sense of duty, like a worn out motor, still propels him forward, albeit not as quickly as it might once have.

Like many before (and likely after) me, picked this book up because of the allure of zombies - I can't get enough of Kirkman's The Walking Dead - and I was blown away with how well all the other plot elements are folded into the larger story arc. This book gives you more than you bargain for: the zombie survival tale folded inside a gritty murder mystery/government conspiracy. Think: Se7en meets The Mist...with zombies.