Zombie Cliche Lookout: Repercussions
Actions, as we are all well aware, have consequences. And when you’re living in a world where the dead get up and try to eat you, you can pretty much assume that those consequences are going to be dire. If you betray your fellow survivors in a cowardly attempt to escape, they’ll manage to survive the zombies, while you’ll be trapped and devoured.
Even when you do things “for the greater good”, you run the risk of it coming back to bite you (figuratively here, although the zombies might be a bit more literal).
About this Episode:
This makes 300 episodes for Bricks of the Dead (not counting bonuses, April Fools jokes, and the like). Quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself. When I originally started the comic, it was in a graphic novel format on a different website. At the time it was called LEGO My Brains, and I never thought I’d still be doing this 300 episodes and almost three years later.
Other News:
Hey, do you remember that Free Zombie Fiction section of the site I started? Well the number of free zombie short stories has recently doubled (going from one to two!). Check out the latest from our very own Evan. And keep checking back, because I have another one on the way very soon.
Discussion Question: Predictions
One thing I always like to read through in the comments are your theories and predictions of where things might be going next. Since this is a somewhat auspicious occasion (300 episodes!), I figured I might as well spoil myself and just turn it into a discussion question.
What’s next for this set of characters? How about Sam? The news crews (plus Barb and Clark)? Are there new characters on the horizon? Who is the next to get killed or infected?
Just a really broad theory, but I am looking forward to a link up between all of the recent plot-lines, meaning Stewart’s, Sam’s, and the rest of these guys. Either that or something concerning the undead right around the corner. Congrats on 300!
We’ll be seeing some zombies very soon, actually.
Typo alert: Murphy’s word balloon, panel 7: Missing an ‘I’!
Should read “But I need people I can count on.”
Fixed, but you might need to do a hard-refresh to see it.
Thanks for the head’s up. For some reason the comic PSD didn’t save, so I had to redo it. *sigh*
Well, it showed up without needing to be refreshed at all, Firefox seems to be good at detecting image alterations and updating those needing it. I’m not sure what you mean by PSD though?
The PSD is the layered Photoshop Document for the image, which is editable, unlike the flattened image. I keep one for every comic; it allows me to make edits to the comic. For some reason, the saved file I had for episode 300 had be overwritten by episode 299.
Regarding the discussion question: After 300 episodes, I expect that Dave will have ready for release some snippet of useful information on the method of zombie infection these guys might be able to use to help people who get infected and turned into zombies!
Or I expect that Dave would do a YOLT type of scenario and bring in characters who not only are unaffected by zombie bites, they know some friends who would resurrect the dead!
The discussion question’s a bit loaded, it’s hard to pick a line which Dave’s almost certainly not going to take!
The discussion question is totally loaded. Intentionally so, even!
Congratz on 300 episodes, sorry if it’s a bit late. I really would like to see Murphy educate these newcomers to his party – but especially the news reporter and her camera assistant – about what this zombie apocalypse actually means and why they shouldn’t want to keep their old reporting jobs!
In case you were wondering, the formation of a group can become evident by the time spent together, or it can become evident by the fact that they start hammering policies in the group out!
Murphy better have a big hammer and anvil or he’s gonna have trouble! 
It’s his cabin. If they don’t like his rules they can GTFO, especially if he finds a couple of boxes of ammunition for that M14S.
He who has the guns (and training), makes the rules.
@Bo: You evidently don’t think driving them to his log cabin in his car means anything to him. I think it might mean a bit more than what you think it means.
I’m not saying he doesn’t value having a group. Humans are social creatures by nature. What I am saying is that it’s not worth it to sacrifice integrity or principals for the sake of the group. If they get around to their namby-pamby, singing Kumbaya “progressivism” (read: communism) so prevalent among so-called “journalists”, he can, and should, show them the door.
They’re all so anti-private gun ownership now; but you can bet yer ass that when it does hit the fan, they’ll be begging for someone like Murph to save their worthless little lives.
Regarding the direction this comic is taking: I think Inez and Brent need a crash course to bring them up to speed on what these “things” or zombies are in order that they can properly deal with them and know why it’s so dangerous to be a news reporter in a zombie apocalypse!
It might also give them cause to think about Murphy’s decision to smash their videotape, even though it’s not exactly the best decision ever made, it might just save their lives for a while longer!
Very interesting ideas here.
I think smashing the take was a good idea. It’s a distraction, a luxury the group can’t afford right now. If dickhead wants to keep a journal in his downtime, he can knock himself out. Having the kind of literal tunnelvision running a video camera in the dust and blood requires. It’s not like the batteries were going to last anyway.
The tape. He smashed the TAPE- damned fat fingers…
There is certainly going to be continued conflict between Murphy and the newspeople. I say this because newspeople are inherently liberal (as manifest in this story). Liberals tend to live in denial (as again, in the story above). They want to go around HUA while Murph wants to TCB. It won’t be long before they try to rebuild the group as a Workers’ Paradise. There have already been allusions made to it in the redistribution of property into “community property” (or “communal property). When they do (and they will, again), it will surely hit the fan.
I like the idea of using the comic as a vehicle for teaching little lessons about life and survival. Having different groups with different levels of preparedness can illustrate how different people can tackle the same problem. For instance, while Murph’s group is scrounging for food, the survivalists can be thinking two moves ahead, planting their garden for next year, securing higher-tier supplies, like diesel fuel and generators, solar panels, medicine, etc., and forging relationships with other survival groups.
I can see Murphy taking on a Rick Grimes role.
Congrats on 300 episodes!
Rick has put up with way more babysitting than I would have, I think.
Thanks Fox!
And the Rick comparisons pile on.
You’re the one that had to make him a cop.
And do you have any of the new cops in their tac gear? Maybe you can have Murph change out of his dress uniform in the next episode.
Or a BrickForge or BrickWarriors tac vest?
I don’t have any of the new cops, but I’ve got a tactical vest or two.
Those new cops (the ones with the printed tac vests) are cool, especially the printed legs.
Grazty on 300!!
Thanks!
Congrats on #300!
And thank you Dave for posting the story! I hope everyone likes it!
If not, I’ll answer all negative feedback at Contact@bricksofthedead.com.
My pleasure; it’s a great story. I’ve read it three times now.
well 300 isnt too bad, for anything!
300 fire ants in your shorts? 300 IRS audits? 300 mothers in-law? 300 colonoscopies?
well i was thinking more 300 calories, by the way Bo, on Febuary 22nd i belive, they’re having free trips to the capitol building, bring someone, its free.
Um, it’s always free to tour the capitol (your tax dollars at work).
I went during the session once for a nursing class. I highly recommend going during the session. It really helps explain why things work the way they do. Meet your rep while you’re there, too. Give him the riot act about any gun control measures they may be considering.
Congratulations Dave, a toast to the next 300!
Thank you, kind sir!
Congratulations on 300 episodes! Very nicely done.
Special 300 Spartans vs a horde of zombies at the gates of Thermopylae episode as a celebration?
Just kidding.
Hah, I think I only ended up getting two of the collectible Spartans. Maybe three.
I got two legionnaires, but no Spartans.
This guy got more than you did than
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59805558@N06/8417372840/in/photostream
(PS: Am I allowed to link this?)
Holy crap. Yeah, he got a few more Spartans than me.
And yes, you’re absolutely allowed to post links like this. They automatically go into moderation, but I approve them as quickly as I can.
Yeah, I was blown away by the sheer number of minifigs he got his hands on.
Quite a nice build on the scene setting to I thought.
Yes, it’s impressive on a number of levels.
In terms of the comic…
I reckon there is already a horde of zombies gathering outside the cabin…
They have walked into the cabin, all gone to sleep, woken up and stood there jib jabbing about all sorts of things. Where is the barricading of the cabin? The regular watch? Plenty of time for a nice large horde to be accumlating outside the cabin.
The truck with the news crew are going to come around the corner see the horde and end up crashing into the cabin… and all hell will break loose.
Heh… I’m probably way off the mark with the above, however… I’m pretty sure we are going to see some sort of carnage soon…. whether it is zombie attack, or Brent and Murphy coming to blows… yet to be seen!
I guess it could go a lot of different ways… and thats why we keep watching (reading)
Interesting how that works in zombie movies. I mean, the number of zombies cannot exceed the number of people walking the streets, in the case of most modern zombie stories the number of zombies cannot exceed the number of people to turn (excepting Romero zombies, which would also include the number of recently deceased). If there were fifty people living up there around Murph’s cabin, that would mean there are no more than that amount of zombies there now. Figuring attrition, zombies wandering off, etc. There probably aren’t too many up there now. I mean, it’s still a swarm out in the open; but with some sturdy walls, defense shouldn’t be too difficult.
I guess it could depend how close to another town they might be. Once zombies have cleared out a town, I would assume they would start wandering in search of new prey… so would start heading into outlying areas following wildlife and such forth. In theory you could end up with a mega horde from a main centre hitting smaller areas.
I guess a recent example of this I have seen is in The Walking Dead… season one when the camp is attacked, granted it wasn’t a mega horde… but it was a decent enough group that has wandered in from somewhere following prey.
COMIC SPOILERS:
You do see mega-hordes, much like you describe, later in the series. It’s an interesting idea.
From one Detroiter to another: CONGRATS on #300!
Thanks!
hey Dave, i’ve got something that you can post in a few weeks, see, we’re going on a klondike, and our scout master says to be prepared it was the zombie apocalypse, well im going to buy some glass soda bottles, and label them after the perk drinks from COD zombies. I’ll be sure to try and post it.
Sounds interesting.
Zombie knockoff superheroes.