Review - The Waking #1-4

Editor's Note: This review has been pared down from what was originally presented. In our zeal to push this comic as best as possible it was brought to our attention that maybe telling too much of the story isn't the best way to sell a new comic. What follows is a revised review, devoid of too many important story details. Regardless you should be buying this series simply because Raven Gregory is behind it, and he knows a thing or two about writing comics.

Hey there kiddos! It’s time for another review for your reading pleasure. This week we bring you Zenescope’s The Waking from the mind of Raven Gregory. This comic is an interesting one and we’ll be reviewing four issues today. It appears that The Waking consists of a cop mystery/Walking Dead type of book.

I have no idea whether I’ll classify this as a zombie comic, but overall the story is really well written and there is a suspenseful sense that consistently hangs over this one.


The first four issues of the series features empty bodybags, rising corpses and courthouse drama (without Judge Judy). These events are, of course, all related and indicative of a greater problem facing the town in zombies. These zombies are slightly different though as it seems they’re hellbent on revenge.

There’s even freaking kid zombies (as if you couldn’t tell by the demonic child on the cover of the first issue). Needless to say fighting off zombies out for brains is one thing, but when the zombies have alterior zombie motives then you might as well tell yourself it's going to be a long night.

This series was well drawn and well told. There were equal parts suspense, gore, sexiness, and intrigue to keep me completely gripped while writing this review. If you made it this far, then you should really get the comic to do it justice.

There are subtleties of character development that Gregory does a fine job conveying that really makes you feel some emotion about. This is a really good miniseries with something for everyone, and an uplifting ending brought on by the safety of the walking dead. Talk about a phrase I thought I’d never say, zombies make the world a safer place. Ha!

As I mentioned earlier this isn't your typical zombie book, so don't think that The Waking is the latest in the zombie craze currently sweeping media. I’m already optimistic about this series just based on the cover of The Waking #1 consisting of a really dark and creepy looking little girl holding a normal looking teddy bear. Who is this girl? What does she have to do with the waking?

Like a great story with equal parts gore, sexiness, detective work, twists and turns, love, hate, and intrigue? Enjoy Zenescope in general? Just go pick this series up in stores as it comes out. I was gripped from page one until the end.