Zombies are everywhere these days, but Zenescope took a different approach. This is one of the most unique takes on zombies I have ever seen, and I wanted more. The comic starts off as a murder mystery. The narrator grabs your attention right away, literally, but tells you to pay attention or you might miss it. A man walks into a store to get wine and gets hit by a car. How is that related to zombies? The four issues have such fantastic pacing that it never misses a beat. You follow two detectives who pick up the case and are actually likable characters. They are both smart-mouthed and make funny cracks at each other, so you are always entertained. This eludes the boring “cop dialog” that other comics tend to have.

After this initial setup, you will be hooked. You also follow a homeless-looking man who keeps his zombie daughter chained up. They keep flashing back to him to grab your attention. You want to know what’s happening here. Children make everyone feel vulnerable. As the story picks up, you meet a couple other people, and then the zombies come. These zombies don’t just mindlessly eat everyone; they come back from the dead to avenge their deaths and then die. That has to be the most original use of zombies ever. Of course, New York City is freaking out, but later you find out what this homeless man is all about.

You also find out who’s narrating the story by the end of the 4th issue, and it all comes to a satisfying close. It’s very hard to get an open and closed story that’s memorable in just four short issues; that takes talent and skill. The Waking may not surpass the popularity of The Walking Dead, which is remembered for its fantastic characters, but the originality is something that people should look into. The art is gorgeous by Zenescope standards, and surprisingly, there’s full-on nudity here. Usually, they censor it somehow, but it was nice to see an adult-only comic actually be adult-only. The writing is spot-on and fantastic; I can’t really say anything bad except that I wanted more.