Episode 157

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Dave

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Zombie Cliché Lookout:
The great Russian playwrite Anton Chekhov had a rule about showing important looking items. The Cliff’s Notes version is this: If you’re going to show a chainsaw, then you damn well use it at some point, or your readers are going to be understandably upset. What Chekhov didn’t mention, and what could probably be left unsaid, is that chainsaws are just so f’ing cool that you’d be daft not to use them, at least briefly, in a zombie apocalypse tale.

106 thoughts on “Episode 157”

  1. Finally! Chainsaw action!!!!! Poor sacrificial Jeff. );

    • You have some very conflicting emotions.

      • I can now die a happy guy.

        • Hah, don’t you want to wait around for some of the bloodshed?

        • I said I can die a happy man. Not I am gonna die a happy man which I will.

  2. Hey, he doesn’t even have to worry about splatter.

    • No sir.

  3. Fantastic. I tip my hat to you for this stirring solution… and may even be a little misty-eyed. That’s mostly the fatigue and beer, but still – well played.

    Of course, who’s to say that things couldn’t be reversed in a few short panels…

    • The fact that I can make someone, exhausted and tipsy notwithstanding, misty-eyed is a hell of a thing.

  4. Good luck, Jeff! You’re going to need it! 😀

    • You got that right. I mean, does he even know if that chainsaw will start?

      • Well with all those sharp pointy bits and the weight it’ll make an excellent bludgeoning weapon for the time he’ll be able to wield it! 😉

        Chainsaws don’t necessarily have to start to be dangerous weapons! 😉

        • I suppose they don’t. But they get way cooler once they’re running.

      • That’d be wonderfully ironic, if the chainsaw was already out of gas as the zombies surrounded him.

  5. Haha, gotta love the first frame!
    This won’t end well… this won’t end well at all. Let’s just hope that Jeff won’t hurt his friends with that thing 😀

    • How could you possibly hurt your friends spinning around in a whirlwind of blood, gore, and spinning blade?

      Oh yeah, very easily.

      • It sounds almost as if you’re speaking from personal experience, Dave! 😉

        • Thankfully, I just have a vivid imagination rather than a pile of friend mcnuggets.

  6. Mutts is gonna die because he will be so happy!

    • He has been conspicuously quiet this morning… that’s probably a bad sign.

    • Fist pumping at my cubicle.

      Probably the only happy person in this building right now!

      • On a Monday morning? Bet on it.

      • Something about “fist pumping at my cubicle” made me giggle!

        I wonder how that went today…

        Mutts: “Yes! Yessss!!!”

        *awkward stares from coworkers* ”

        Coworkers: What are you so happy about?”

        Mutts: “Oh, well, you see I read this comic on the Internet… about zombies… made with LEGO… and there’s a chainsaw!”

        *awkward stares intensify*

        • Yeah, you’re probably better off making something up…

  7. Hmm…

    Heh.

    • Indeed

  8. Wait Jeff is the final boss. You have to kill him before he slices you.

    • Hah, good call here.

    • I hated that part of Resident Evil 5… It got really annoying after the 7,000th time around…

  9. I just had a random thought: What if Jeff’s slow zombification meant he would have become some super powered up “boss” zombie, if given time? We may never find out! 😀

    • You might not find out in the comic, but I’ll say that something like this simply won’t happen. BotD zombies are all the same. No boss zombies, no fast ones, no smokers or boomers. Just zeds.

  10. 50(!)

    • And Mutts reports for duty.

      • today is a good day

    • It was very interesting trying to read that first comment aloud in my head…

      • Seems like something that might strain your vocal cords if you tried too hard.

    • too many exclamation marks in comment, eyes hurt… ow. 😐

      • Your wish is my command sir. I have now expressed my joy through basic algebra.

  11. i LOVE when underdogs make a big sacrifice. gives me hope for the rest.

    Thanks for pulling that card. again. =)

    • It’s a big favorite of mine as well. As you can tell, since this is the second time I’ve used it.

      • Its the staple of every proper zombie story. Sacrifice vs cowardice…one or the other is always played out.

        OR SHOULD anyway…unless you’re too focused on zombies riding horses.

        • What is this craziness you speak of? Zombies on horseback?

        • an hour and a half of me sitting on a couch with my arms folded shaking my head in disgust.

          George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead

          2009 R 89 minutes

          Rebel military man Crocket (Alan Van Sprang) and his band of rogue soldiers seek refuge from the living dead, only to land squarely in a family feud between the undead-hating O’Flynns and the Muldoons, a cure-seeking clan determined to help their zombie kinfolk. Cult horror master George A. Romero rises again to deliver another delicious zombie fest where the festering question is: Can a caring family coexist with their flesh-eating loved ones?

        • Just a terrible, terrible movie.

        • Ummmmmm….. sounds like a good idea. The Walking dead did a storyline about that same thing – religious farmer wants to save his loved ones that have turned. He keeps them all locked up in a barn.

          I’m not sure what i’d do if my dad or my son turned. gonna go cry now. =(

        • I was a big fan of that Hershal storyline. Let’s just say that TWD does it considerably better than Survival of the Dead.

        • Let me put it this way…that description that some ad agency wrote months after the movie was made is the best part of the movie. In fact I am sure it took them days to come up with a way to make it sound good.

          Check it out…if you have netflix it’s streaming now for free.

        • Angelina1…check this out….this video addresses the movie a little bit. When you hear Hitler ranting about horses…

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utKWis6WSM4

        • I might have to watch Survival of the Dead at some point, simply because the very title of the movie is in itself a contradiction… and Alan Van Sprang is an awesome name!

  12. where did you get the head of the nurse from? (the worried one, not the smiley one)

    • From the Build a Minifig bin at the Troy, MI LEGO Store.

  13. gene seems to be the only one smiling now, not even barb is smiley!
    let’s just say that he is proud of what jeff’s about to do 😉

    • Gene is stoic. His expression does not change.

  14. Wait isn’t this the first time he’s spoken throughout the time in the hospital? If not he chooses his words carefully…He’s like a modern day spartan…that or he’s too ill to talk :/

    • I’m going with “Not really feeling that great”.

      He did response to Ted’s amputation suggestion.

      • That’s it…Nice work man…

        • Hah, thanks.

  15. First, beautiful shot of the chainsaw I loves it. Best of all, my visit to Brickcon gave me an opportunity to nab up the Advent Calendar from a Vendor still selling them. So I will have one!

    Second – GO JEFF!

    That’s a very well played out strip this week Dave and I am enjoying it.

    Walking Dead season 2 starts up this month, so I’ll be looking for it, plus I’ve been rewatching past episodes of Season 1 and considering renting some zombie flicks to watch this month.

    • Speaking of The Walking Dead, would anyone be interested in a live blog of the premier? Never done one before.

      • October 13th right?

        • 16th at 9:00 Eastern

        • I’m down

        • Terrific.

  16. Well done, Jeff! Such a smart move – you’re zombifying and you’ll delay your soon-to-be companions so your soon-to-be food can escape!

    • I really like the way you said this. It’s got a kind of hilarious duality to it.

  17. On a site note…I have a case of fingernail plate and brick finger from pulling apart plates & bricks last night sizing a moc…

    • Dude, get a couple brick separators. Post haste.

      • they don’t seem to work well with plates tho. They have a new one coming out with a pointed end to dig so hope that helps.

        • I use my brick separator all the time. I’ve had plate issues before, but I find that sticking the plates in question to other bricks or plates usually solves the problem after trying a few different configurations.

  18. But what shall he do? Will he remove the couch and rip them to shreds? Or will he wait with the mug for them to get in? The world may never know!

    • I’m glad to see a lot of concern for the real star of this arc: the coffee cup.

      • Hey, steal a mug, pay with your life! 😉

      • No no no…no it’s not.

  19. That’s definitely the way to go, especially if your future looks like a Zed. I bet he’ll go out in glory, killing enough zombies to help his friends escape and then WHAM! trips and kills the last zombie–himself!

    • Or at least die trying.

  20. Hurrah, Chekhov’s gun chainsaw goes off in an awesome heroic sacrifice! (I was out all day, so nearly missed it!)

    • Don’t worry, Louise, I’ve got – like – three more weeks of padding before that thing sees any action.

      • …..

        • The kids love padding.

  21. Twelve words (including these): half-zombified Jeff with a chainsaw equals awesome!

    I love it! And I love the depth of the first panel close-up of the chainsaw, very nicely done.

    Sam could learn a lesson or two from this man…

    • Thank you, sir.

  22. *Jumps around the room*
    *cries from excitement*
    *realizes needs to go to the bathroom*
    *goes to the bathroom*
    *returns*
    *re-reads comic*
    *starts jumping again*
    <The last 5 minutes of my life

    • You lead a very exciting life, sir.

  23. Two things: First: Now all we need is a bloodshed with zombies entering through the door and Jeff quating red vs blue saying “Today is a good day for you to die!” or my personal saying (From rvb) “Hope you brought your wallet cause the rent in hell is payed in advanced!” Second: Why doesn’t Jeff take the pistol out from the chainsaw and shoot the zombies?

    • Pistol out of the chainsaw? Oh, the bar on top. I don’t know why he doesn’t do that.

      Also, Red Vs Blue is borrowing that quote from Crazy Horse, who was also a badass.

  24. I think Ted is mad that they put his couch up against the door! So in the last panel he gets drunk. Side note When fighting real zeds you might bece an achoilic. So don’t get mad at stew!

    • I really like that face for Ted. I guess he does look a bit drunk, but that’s not too far out of character.

  25. Dave, I decided to use that idea a few strips ago for the survivors trapped in a vault, as a Twilight Zone special on my comic.

    • Also, I also have plans to use the whole “object focus” idea as well. Check the last few strips, and look for something you wouldn’t want to leave behind- namely, Santo’s revolver!

      • Outstanding!

  26. So I’ve decided one thing, and it might just blow all of your minds to hell.
    “Logic”

    I must apologize I’m enjoying my Monday today.

    • Logic… for what¿. `•_•`

    • I feel weird being the only one that didn’t get over excited about a chainsaw… Hey y’all should watch Texas Chain Saw Massacre 😀

      • Wait not exited about the chainsaw?¿!¡ Your accounts gonna get banned.

      • Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a hell of a movie. Very, very creepy.

        • My God…growing up in Texas that movie terrified me as a kid. I saw it a bunch of times at a real young age before HBO and other cable channels started putting such movies on later at night.

      • If I am not mistaked there is a remake right?

        • There is. I’ve heard it’s not good.

          I don’t get the logic behind remaking a film like Massacre. It’s a unique piece of art, and I don’t see how you could reproduce it without losing a lot in the process.

        • Kinda sad that it actually happened… I watched a-lot of movies when I was younger (Note I’m still in high school) imagine that at one point in my life zombies horrified me :P.

        • I maintain that there are different kinds of “scary”. Texas Chainsaw is scary in a way that zombie movies aren’t. I like zombie flicks, the good ones anyway, because they build up dread. It’s not this sudden, quick physical threat, it’s a long term law of averages kind of deal. Sure, you can dodge the zombies today, but what about tomorrow? What about next week? What about every day for the rest of your life?

        • Oh I am not going to lie to you…Zombies have freaked me out my entire life. I don’t want to give away a blog post I am working on but they are without a doubt the perfect antagonist.

        • They don’t scare me what so ever any more… Sort of my idea of new age adventure talk.

        • New age adventure talk?

        • Perhaps he means decline of the modern masculine man? Video games over cutting wood with an ax

        • Interesting read.

        • Very niche and indie