One of Netflix's latest original series is the post-apocalyptic teen comedy Daybreak, following a high school student searching for his girlfriend in a ravaged vision of Glendale, California, populated by territorial tribes, and ravenous zombies known as ghoulies. The television series is a loose adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel series Daybreak, created by cartoonist Brian Ralph and published in 2011 by Drawn & Quarterly.

With the first season now available to stream in its entirety on Netflix, and Drawn & Quarterly publishing a new hardcover edition of the graphic novel, Ralph sat down for an interview with CBR to reflect on the comic and how it helped to inspire the Netflix original series.

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CBR: Daybreak, the graphic novel, is told entirely from first-person. What was it about taking that approach that you wanted to do?

Brian Ralph: I think that came about because a part of me was thinking about video games. I wasn't playing video games and my students and people I knew were talking about playing video games and I was sort of jealous about the way they felt so immersed in the adventure. And I just had this thought "How do I make a comic be that immersive experience?"

It just sparked, it was just a quick idea and I thought "What if all the characters talk to you and you're able to make decisions somehow in comic form?" It was just enough of a clever idea that it got me thinking of new solutions all the time. This is unique and I've been doing so many comics, drawn so many pages of comics, that I felt like maybe I was getting a little in a rut. And this new idea and new way of telling stories that it kept me super engaged thinking of new solutions and new problems I'd have to solve. What would happen if the audience had to find their way out of a situation? We don't talk, really, and you don't see our hands as a character.

As a storytelling device, it just kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out how to solve and it was just exciting for me. I was going to Small Press Expo [in Bethesda, Maryland] and it was being published in small chapters and I kept talking to people who were reading it and there were all these different theories and ideas. It was fun for me to sort of hear all these people saying things like "Oh, we're not real [in the story] and the man is crazy and talking to us." and I weave in more moments where you as a character would have to pick up a gun or you've got to go off on your own for a mini-adventure, things like that. It just kept me engaged.

With that perspective, there's always a sense of tension because you don't ever really give the game away visually. Was that something that was very deliberate, the idea that we're never going to quite see what we're up against but they're always there?

Yeah [chuckling]! That was another really interesting problem to solve. Honestly, I was like, "Eventually, I'm going to have to draw the monsters," and I tried in my sketchbook and it never quite felt right, like it never had the weight I felt it should have. By showing the monsters, I just felt, like you said, it would just give up the whole game there.

And I felt maybe they're just good at avoiding them, they're always off-camera. There's always the stress of them around without actually having to see them. That felt really fun to me and I knew it was a bit coy and maybe pushing some of the patience of the viewer but it just felt right to me to do that. I didn't feel quite right ever showing them.

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In terms of the Netflix adaptation, you've been working with [executive producer] Brad Peyton for years on this thing. How did this all kind of come about, bringing Daybreak to television?

I had a really long conversation with Brad, I think, in 2012 -- that's how long we've been working on it. And, right off the bat, he had so many really interesting ideas and things he wanted to bring to the story. Honestly, I was relieved to hear his ideas, like, "Wow, he wants to bring new characters in and do this and do this and do this." They weren't things I found intrusive, I really liked his opinions.

He obviously really liked the story and he had a lot of great ideas and I was like "Yes! It does need that! This is awesome!" He wanted to bring more characters in and he wanted to do things with the monsters. He said "For a show or movie, I think we'd need to show a little more than what you've done with the monsters," and I agreed. I was like "I get it. For Hollywood and maybe the audience, you need to bring a little bit of that Hollywood excitement to it."

And I really appreciated his opinion, it was really refreshing. As a cartoonist, you're working alone and you're in your head; you're only capable of what you can imagine. But when you bring in someone else and their point of view and their ideas, it really just opened up the whole world. This Daybreak world could be bigger than what I was even drawing.

There's a bit of a departure when it comes to the tone and scope of the series like you were saying. It definitely leans more into the coming-of-age teen comedy realm.

Yeah, there's been a lot of questions about that and I get that the book is very different from what the Netflix show is. I agree. My thoughts on it are I really like what they did with it. I know fans of the book are going to think one way and fans of the show are going to maybe pick up the book and be confused about the source material. Or fans of the source material are going to be like "How did the book turn into this snarky, teen adventure-comedy?"

I don't know, man, I'm just like everybody else. This is just a crazy experience for me as an artist to have made this thing that has sparked the imagination of all these people. There's all these writers that were involved and there's obviously a huge expansion of characters and the world and the type of humor and type of storytelling. It just blew up into this way bigger thing but I've been really on board with it since my very first conversation with Brad Peyton. I just really liked his ideas and his energy and I was like "Yeah, let's do this. Let's hand this over and collaborate with people who are excited."

And things he held on to -- he was adamant to hold on to this sense of positivity in the story. It's the apocalypse but the characters still have a sense of humor, they're still somewhat playful and got this great attitude. That's one of things he really wanted to keep as he blew this show up... even bigger, he wanted to keep this sense of fun, whereas a lot of zombie stuff and apocalyptic stuff is darker and these kids are not only surviving but enjoying the experience. I thought that was a really cool take on what I had drawn. I was like "Yeah, that is kind of what I was striving for was that little bit of humor and positivity."

So I really appreciated that and I think that the Josh Wheeler character they've created has elements of my character and the one-armed thing was difficult as a character element so I think they made a nod to it in the show without fully going with a one-armed character. There's just so much interesting dialogue about the show versus the book and some people have been really negative about it. Ultimately, I'm just really excited to have this happen, not just for myself, but to have the book turn into something bigger than anything I could've imagined. It's just been a really cool experience.

You've said you're proud about the Netflix adaptation but what are you particularly proud of, all these years later, about Daybreak and this new edition that's just come out?

I remember myself sitting down and drawing that book all those nights and being super engaged in what I was doing. Really, just genuinely drawing that comic for the love of telling that story. I wasn't doing it with any Hollywood vision in mind or "Oh, this would be a great movie or TV show." I was drawing it just for the love of comics and I really enjoyed sitting down and spending time with that character and problem-solving different situations. I think, when I look back, it was just a real pure moment for me as an artist, just doing something I loved.

And I can only imagine that's why this got turned into a show because Brad Peyton, when he picked up that book -- I think he bought it at Meltdown Comics [in Los Angeles] -- he found something in that. He noticed there was some genuine quality to the story and that's what he wanted to bring to the screen.

Streaming now on Netflix, Daybreak stars Matthew Broderick, Krysta Rodriguez, Colin Ford, Sophie Simnett and Austin Crute.

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