Episode 147

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Dave

Published:
Updated:

Completely Unrelated News:
So I do a bit of web design on the side. I recently donated some time to rebuilding Zombie Walk Detroit’s (they do charity zombie walks every year) official site. I think it came out pretty well, but please check it out and let me know if I’m completely full of shit.

Zombie Cliché Lookout:
Living in an undead world means keeping on your toes all the time. To survive, you’re probably going to have to get used to shooting first and asking questions later, if at all. Zombie stories love to use the jumpy guy to demonstrate the potential folly in this. Generally this happens when another character comes back into camp without announcing himself, sometimes even with the intent of scaring the pants off someone. They’re very nearly killed, and the jumpy character is left even less sure of himself.

Sometimes this trope returns later in the film. The jumpy guy tries to play it cool and not freak out when he hears a strange sound. Of course this time around his gut was exactly right and a zombies eats his face off. The lesson? Life is cruel.

81 thoughts on “Episode 147”

  1. A shovel in a hospital? *Thinks for a second…* It’s one of those long-handled dustpans?

    • Hah. Well it’s out of the maintenance room. It’s probably there to shovel snow or to do light landscaping in planter boxes.

  2. Nice episode, Dave! Although I was a bit confused at first… looking at t he second panel, it seems as if Ted is looking at chainsaw dude, and is therefore referring to him as “one of those things.”

    It’s clear to me now that he meant the nurse, but it took me two times reading it to figure that out! (Perhaps I’m just stupid/tired, though… 😉 )

    Anyway, great cliché (as always.) It kinda reminds me of exactly what’s going on in Zombie Outbrick right now, with the attempted killing of people who were thought to be zombies. (Although, in Zombie Outbrick, it sadly wasn’t just an unsucessful attempt.)

    Ted’s face really works well for both the second and fourth panels, too!

    Also, your redesign of the Zombie Walk Detroit website looks great! Nicely done, I like the outline of the urban skyline at the top of the page. Although I can’t help but feel it should have a 2011 copyright at the bottom, instead of 2010…

    And once again, PW keeps things interesting… this time, the late-night ad is some sort of anime girl (or boy?) with purple and red eyes… And it won’t freaking stop blinking at me! It’s starting to become quite unsettling.

    • I know it’s CREEPY!!!!

      • That’s anime for you.

    • The Dude Person mentioned a couple of episodes ago using a ‘band aid’ to sort out stud thumb. What’s a band aid?

      • A name brand self-adhesive bandage.

        • A plaster? That makes sense :3

        • Are you from the UK?

        • Yes, are they not called plasters anywhere else?

        • I’m not sure; I’ve only heard Brits refer to them as plasters. In the US we tend to call them BandAids or bandages, although generally the former.

          BandAid is a name brand that became associated with the generic term, like Kleenex instead of tissue.

        • I’m sorry legomiles, I should have clarified! I wasn’t aware that it would cause confusion.

        • If it helps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2QnG3DwVW0

          I didn’t realize that Barry Manilow wrote that until his interview on the radio arts and culture show this week.

          Hm…. a Barry Manilow zombie…

        • I keep seeing Jay-Zed on my AV Club. It’s weirding me out.

        • I’ll upgrade the avatar there as soon as Series Five comes out. I’m sure you can guess why.

    • Now that you mention it, it does kind of look like Ted’s talking about Jeff. Crap.

      Yeah, the 2010 thing needs to be fixed. I actually finished the website and sent it to them last year; it’s just been a bit of a journey getting it launched. I’ll reach out to them to get it updated; thanks for pointing that out.

      • But Jeff’s the one with a chainsaw and Ted’s pointing at Nurse with his hammer while saying ‘Get it!’. Easy explanation.

      • You’re welcome, Dave. Nothing like a good nit-picker to find flaws in a website! 😉

        I’m just worried that it’ll give the impression that the site has been dead for a year (no pun intended!)

  3. I’m pretty sure the nurse didn’t appreciate being called “one of them”. And, how could she say hello if she was a zombie? I’m beginning to question Ted’s sanity…

    • Ted’s freaking out, going all Hudson on us.

  4. The Zombie walk site looks great wish I could got o detroit jyust to seee some real zombies and talk with other zombie enthusasts!But one thing where are the photos from your Flickr Dave?Ahh Ted’s paranoid nature I knew it would hurt they’re alliance sometime (Not really) but anyway great plot development!You can really get a feel of the timeline in this comic.The hammer looks like it’s pointing to the nurse that might not have been on purpose but it looks cool.As I’m typign this I only see 5 comments (One is mine) so this is taking long I bet i’ll get ninjaed.this is taking long becuase I’m watching Call of the dead videos on Youtube in another tab.Call fo the dead would make an EPIC zombie movie right?Even if it was animated I mean look at this animation (Links att bottom) whoa that looks realistic!Aww crap Yutube keeeps distracting me 🙁 oh well.

    LINKS:
    Call of the dead video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9oIZ6Oeo3o
    I’m think of formating all of my comments like this what do you think?

    • Some of the photos on the site are from my Flickr stream. I’ve gone to the Detroit Zombie Walk the last couple of years, and have accumulated dozens and dozens of photos, which comes in quite handy when I’m doing generic blogs on zombie (like the one I did last week).

      Pretty sweet video.

  5. Shovel=Weapon
    Ted=FAIL
    Gene=WIN

    • Maybe this can be a youtube series (WEAPON,WIN,FAIL) might be better than cute win fail ugh.

  6. Shovel=Weapon
    Ted=FAIL
    Gene=WIN
    Dave’s new website=Amazing!
    And the picture is a surgeon, I’ve always wanted one in Lego, hopefully it will be released as a collectible minifigure soon. I just found the next contest prize! Woop!

    • But let’s just hope for this contest SOMEONE doesn’t blow all the competition away. I like the idea of a ‘simplistic’ contest though.

      • A surgeon would be a fantastic collectible minifig. LEGO needs to do more medical people. EMTs – not just people dressed like doctors/nurses in an ambulance – would also be great.

        • Yeah, I think a surgeon would be great!

          I’ve actually been trying to think of more ambitious custom minifigs to attempt, I think I might have a go at making a surgeon figure using some more advanced decal techniques I learned.

        • Sounds like a great idea for a custom. I don’t understand why TLG hasn’t made people in OR scrubs yet. Seems like a simple enough figure to pull off.

        • If they do a surgeon, then I’ll have minifigs for my whole family! (Accepting generic white-collar workers for my office-working sib and mother, of course…)

          Geez, let’s see… yep, everyone including my various in-laws except for my brother (who’d need the surgical ‘fig). I’m especially glad that I have a brother-in-law who actually does have work to utilize the Scrimshaw ‘fig…

        • So who is your family works as a gnome?

        • Shh! We call them “toddlers” around here. The beard’s marshmallow, of course.

      • Yes a surgeon would be great.

  7. Nice one, although I would have rather expected a line like “it’s one of those things” as I believe it should be clear to everyone now that zombies are not people anymore.
    I like the website – how come BOTD is not listed in the links?

    • I can see your point there, but I like “Them” here because to me it’s evocative of mindless paranoia, which is a theme I’d like to develop a bit in the strip.

    • Yatkuu…I should have your prize mailed tomorrow or Friday. Please let me know at [email protected] when you get them.

      • Also..does anyone know if I can use usps.com “Click-n-ship” to mail a package overseas? What about customs forms? Its in a bubble wrap mailer and qualifies for First Class.

        • I’m betting not. I mail out overseas packages a few times a year and always go into the branch to do the customs forms.

      • ”Yatkuu…I should have your prize mailed tomorrow or Friday”
        D: Where can I get another of those zombies?

        • I will begin looking for those figs as soon as I have the money and when I get back from my NY visit… New York is an expensive place and it may take a while. I imagine you do not want to publish website names here without authorisation, so I will send an email soon.

        • ” I imagine you do not want to publish website names here without authorization”

          Exactly, especially when it comes to sites that do custom work. Unless they were a sponsor of the site of course.

          Our fearless leader has to pay the bills somehow.

  8. 1) Lol I like how the nurse is sort of smiling all through this…
    2) It’s the third strip with the chainsaw in it, C’mon you said it yourself 😀
    3) The Thing Prequel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKjErC2JLQc&feature=related
    It’s about the Norwegians and an American, remember how The Thing started? The Norwegians shooting at the “Dog” in the helicopter? Well this is how it happened. They’re focusing on everything that was seen in The original when they explored the Norwegian base: ex and axe in the wall in the Carpenter film will have to be put in the wall in this film. I think this is great lol 😀

    • 1. The nurse is used to dealer with shit with a smile
      2. You think I’m showing that chainsaw a lot now? Just wait…
      3. I saw that. I’m not sure how I feel about it. The Kurt Russell movie was already such a fantastic movie (and a remake in it’s own right) that another prequel/remake seems stupid. The trailer was surprisingly decent though, so I guess I’ll hold off and see what the reviews are like.

  9. Awesome! This comic gets better and better. Really does look as though he is looking at jeff(?). But I got it on the first time. He was looking at his teammates to inform them. I would do the same. And run. But if it was a zombie,once he turned back around he would get his face bitten off. 😀

    • “He was looking at his teammates to inform them.”

      That’s what I was going for. I wish I would have made him primarily looking at Gene though. Ah well.

  10. I like that site!

    Your less is more way of design is is a philosophy lacking with far too many sites. How many sites do you run…2?

    • Thank you, sir!

      I run three full time: this one, DelSquacho, and Red Star Web Development.

      I’ve also got a few sites for clients that I do routine maintenance and the like on, but am not responsible for content.

      • Wow! How do you find the time!? Unless you’re like me and have to have 2 things to do at one time.

        • Well this is the only site with a 3+ day a week update schedule. I try to post on DS once a week, and Red Star once a month. Sometimes I do more, sometimes less depending on how much time I’ve got.

  11. I loves it. More for expressions and getting another good angle shot on the chainsaw, seeing the technicals for how that was created.

    • Thank you! That chainsaw is out of last year’s advent calendar, by the way.

      • Oh yeah, we all keep forgetting how “bad at MOCs” you are, I hadn’t thought that it was from a set before. 😉

        I designed my own chainsaw a couple weeks ago, using some different specialized pieces. (Mine actually only uses 4 pieces… you might see it pop up in Zombie Outbrick at some point.)

        • I’m sticking by that “bad at MOCs” thing, damnit.

          Can’t wait to see a chainsaw make an appearance in Zombie Outbrick! Hopefully it sees some action.

        • Just horrible at them…..

      • That’d explain it, I haven’t picked up any of the advent calendar’s yet, kept telling myself I would last year but I ended up with a budget short fall.

        • I think I’m going to skip it this year. Budget’s tight and it doesn’t look very good.

        • What are advent calendars?

        • LEGO does an advent calendar or two every year. Basically 24 mini-models counting down to Christmas. They’re usually pretty fun, but kind of sucky when it comes to the price to part ratio. Reasonably Clever always goes all out for the Advent Calendars.

        • Oh yeah those little mini’s in poly bags…I have seen those on BL and always wondered where they came from.

  12. @ Zombie Cliché

    Three words.
    Shotgun. Bill. Murray.

    • That’s a pretty perfect example. Great scene.

      • Wow. Your knowledge is astounding. I’m sure the Bill Murray bit was a huge clue, but I did change the first word from Zombieland to Shotgun to make it harder.

        • Sarcasm?

  13. I’ve been waiting for ages for anyone else to point out that the Walls and Modern Art are from the Green Grocer apartment scene. I guess Dave has dismantled it now he doesn’t need it.

    • The modern art is definitely form the interior. The walls are different, although the same primary color.

  14. 3 MORE EPIDOEDES! :))

    • Oh I’m planning on making more than three.

      • Haha! 😉

        Only 3 more until 150, at least. I can’t wait to see what you have planned. (I don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t show us at least one zombie… horde… 😉 )

  15. (Sorry, this is somewhat off-topic)

    Hooray for PW! There’s no more freaky blinky-eyed androgenous anime thing blilnking at me tonight, instead the first thing I see in the late-night ad tonight is:

    The reader is immediately plunged into simmering and explicit sexual encounters between forbidden lovers.

    I really don’t know what kind of readers these Project Wonderful advertisers think BotD is getting…

    • That’s a very good question.

  16. Non-zombie-reltated MOC’s should be for 150. Because what if somebody made like a lego replica of the golden gate bridge? It would look cool, but it get on here. But if not than I am content with what dave chooses.

    • There are loads of great MOCs that aren’t zombie related, many of which I’d love to show off here. I’ll occasionally shoehorn in one, but I like to stick to my theme.

  17. “But it wouldn’t get on here is what I meant.

  18. Hmm. That nurse is remarkably calm considering the trouble she’s getting into here. 😉 Is she in some way related to Xena, warrior princess? 😀

    Nice choice of weapon though, a nice swingable macing weapon like a shovel will knock zombie heads dead all day long if you’ve got the stamina for it! Nurses often have to deal with unruly patients so I bet she’s still got a fair amount of stamina left! 😉

    • Nurses are badass. Got a lot of respect for nurses.

  19. true dat. cool glass wall.

    • Thanks!

  20. I like how the nurse is smiling the whole time.

    • It can be really difficult to get these characters to emote, you know?

  21. A more useful lesson from your Zombie Cliché might be more along the lines of “‘Jumpy’ is not the same as ‘Alert'”?