Broken Frontier

Since last we left Park Falls...things haven't gotten better for the town on the brink of the end days.

Breaking from the multi-character epic that has been the first four issues of the coolest and most original zombie piece since The Walking Dead got under way, we spend most of this issue with Detective Peters. This issue is all about character development as we learn a lot about his past and are introduced to a specter more menacing then the plague surrounding our reluctant hero.

You have to give it to Tapalansky and Eckman-Lawn, they aren't satisfied with merely changing the whole zombie sub-genre. No, they have to tackle the crime drama as well. Never happy with just changing how you perceive comics as a medium, they have to keep you guessing as to what their actual comic is about.

Here, Tapalansky steps back from the stifling claustrophobic tone that has been the overwhelming driver of suspense for the first four issues. Through a keenly told flashback, the writer manages to increase the foreboding terror of his work by introducing us to the one guy who may be more terrifying than the end days surrounding the town of Park Falls. As we learn that the town is not isolated in the zombie outbreak...we learn a lot about Peters' past and in this one issue everything changes. There is no telling where this narrative may go after this, but I am along for the ride.

Eckman-Lawn is an enigma. This guy, who could clearly be displaying his work on broad canvases in art galleries around the world, has chosen to tell serial stories of the fantastic. He can be glorious in details and sparing in his violence. He knows how to emote the terror of Tapalansky's script without going for the cheap gore. His art needs to be taken in. This is simply gorgeous art that needs to be lived in. It requires a commitment of the reader that is not normally asked of the comic fan. This is abstract art that is difficult and meaningful. Everyone will probably walk away with a different take on what the page actually offers, but it, like any great art, speaks to you immediately and with authority.

Awakening is not your average horror book. It is something more complicated and special. It is the kind of thing that needs to happen more often. It is the mark of a change in the medium and is quite simply the next level to which everyone else should be aspiring.