2/17/11 HHH Review: The Waking

This week I get into Zenescope's The Waking (zenescope) tpb $12.99 by Raven Gregory , art: Vic Drujiniu

tpb cover  by David Finch. Kids can be the creepiest little fucks on the planet

#3 variant by Eric Basluda/ Neil Ruffino

Plot/Premise: 

   In the big city, police detectives investigating routine murders discover that the victims of these crimes are coming back from the dead in search of those responsible for ending their lives. Now the detectives are in a race against time to find the source of the recent "wakings" before the victims deal out their own brand of bloody justice. Meanwhile, a father with an incredible ability must choose between avenging his daughter's death - or losing her forever!

from the opening pages The Waking will hook you

Gord Says:
   I wouldn't be spoiling anything if I said this was a "zombie tale with a twist". For everything that I like about The Waking there were some lesser issues that nagged me while reading this.  


   Let me say right off the bat that most of my criticisms of this book are a result of the constraint space. This book should've easily been a 6 issue set opposed to the 4. One of the main issues I had was the underwhelming execution of plot points , in how they ended so abruptly and that was a result of not having enough time to extend scenes. 

   The opposite end of my critique is the back bone of the storytelling and that's the suspense build up. Gregory did a masterful job in building the suspense and stringing me along. Unfortunately as previously mentioned the limited space cut scenes short and somewhat under minded the incredible work Gregory did. It was like playing spin the bottle and waiting for the bottle to stop spinning , the butterflies are exploding , the anticipation is melting your innards , your excitement to see where it stops is too much... then the bottle stops and you get a peck from whomever. Happens so fast you dont get to enjoy it or even notice who it was. 

     I'm not familiar with Drujiniu's art but he's pretty good , he has a good sense of perspective and playing with angles. He made some scenes move off the pages, in particular ones when the action starts to pick  up, There's some good chemistry building here between Drujiniu and Gregory. 

    

Lets get an investigating team on how a dude whom wears tighty whities gets laid

The Good:
    Everything in general from characters , plot , dialogue ,...etc. You ever hear the expression " jack of all trades , master of none".. The Waking was very good in all areas but didn't  knock it out of the park in any specific area. Though if this was 44+ pages longer , who knows...

 You can just hear the windshield wipers

The Bad:
   Aside from not being long enough. The book itself had a 8 page preview for Neverland and some more ads. I'm not a fan of previews and ads.. Im not paying to get a 8 page glimpse of Neverland. However I'm a little more forgiving  with indie publishers understanding that they need to promote from within. So I wont be as scathing as I am with Marvel and DC with their selfless preview garbage. 


Verdict: Dig it or Ditch it
I Dig it to own it. I dig it like I dig making out with any girl caz.. its any girl. It's original ,  its well thought out and in the end I had a fun time with this book. Its worthy  of shelf space for any collection.


Value Rating: $13 cover price.. I'd pay $10.50/$13 for this. 

#4 variant cover by Eric Balsuda/Neil Ruffino

As powerful as Hate can be ... Sorrow can be just as strong. 
But In the end ..its our love that makes us fall