Episode 779: Helping Hand

Photo of author

Dave

Published:
Updated:

Zombie Cliche Lookout: A Gentle Push

People are always the truly dangerous forces in zombie stories. Sure, zeds will take out a lot of people, especially during the early parts of the zombie outbreak. But once people settle into the new rhythms of life, the zeds are generally a pretty minor problem (with exceptions, of course). The hard part is figuring out which living people are dangerous, and which you can trust. Sure, you can trust your gut, and that will probably get you halfway there or more, but to really separate the wheat from the chaff, you’ll need to engage with some of your freshmen level psychology course, and do some analysis.

And now you’re thinking Russell is a bad guy, right? What, do you expect him to lure Stew off into the woods where he’s going to club him about the head and shoulders with his comically oversized wrench? Okay, fair enough; he just might.

About this Episode:

I had originally scripted Russell actually pulling Stewart out of the hole in the third and forth panels. It turns out, that’s pretty tough to pull off with LEGO. I tried and failed a few different methods, and ultimately just had to do things a bit more simply. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it to look decent.

Discussion Question: What’s Russell’s Deal?

Building on my above hint (or misdirection, if you will) above, does it seem like Russell is being a bit evasive? Is that just how he is, or is he dancing around something with poor Stewart?

Yeah, this isn’t really much of a deep thinking style question, but I think it’s fun to read through some of your speculation. The only problem is that you guys often have better ideas than me, a fact about which I am deeply resentful.

17 thoughts on “Episode 779: Helping Hand”

  1. I’m not sure I would read anything into what Russell’s not telling Sam. He has neither reason nor obligation to tell him anything about who has returned. It will be interesting to see what Stewart makes of Sam’s return, although I highly doubt Sam will want to tell them all about his misadventures. Anyway, Russell seemed to be a self-appointed leader and or mediator – depending on how you look at it – at the last meeting where Inez left in a bit of a huff after disagreement with Cheryl.

    I think Russell just likes to take things easy and not overwhelm people unnecessarily. He doesn’t know what type of person Sam is, he’s barely met him, and he certainly has no clue about Sam’s misadventures. He therefore clearly wants to appear distant and somewhat respectful, until he learns something that would tell him to act differently.

    • Really interesting read on the characters.

  2. I think Russell probably just forgot Sam’s name. 😀

    Russell can do no harm. I think you wanted Stewart digging graves, but you also wanted him to be surprised when he saw Sam. So you thought “Hey, let’s have Russell be unreasonably vague!” I thought you were better than that, Dave. 😀 Hah!

    • Yeah, you’re not far off here.

  3. Maybe it’s not Sam. Maybe it’s…ummmm…its been so long. Can’t remember whats going on in the story. When did inez leave again? Didn’t Tara join Sam? Where is she? Was she at the Pharmacy. Oh yeah, he was there for her dad’s meds, right? But he didnt go back,to her house, after that did he? Maybe he did. Lol. Oh yeah. I think he did. 🙂

    • Yep, Tara joined Sam. They picked her up after the pharmacy, and the dad stayed behind.

      • Okay. I got it now. Thank you. I’ll have to re read some of the comic.

  4. I don’t have a feel of an ulterior motive for Russell, but it could just had been so long that I’ve forgotten any hints at it.

    So, from Sam’s perspective, I’d have no reason to doubt him either…

    …just be all like, “Why Russell, WHY?!?” when he did betray me. 🙂

    • Okay, so no one is buying into my obvious ruse.

      • You know commenters, Dave, some have the memory of an elephant. 😀 Anyway, obvious ruse is obvious! 😀

        • Oh I know. You guys always remember this stuff better than me. It’s embarrassing.

        • There’s an app for that, you know! 😉 I mean specifically, for the storyline planning bit! 😀

  5. If Russel wanted to club Stew, he would have made it while he was digging, coming from behind, so I still think he is one to trust.

    Besides, as a Hawks fan, I’ll always put my trust in Russel… LOL

    • Lol!

  6. I still remember Vicky and her kids, lost somewhere with Vicky probably on her way to becoming a zombie and possibly her kids, too. Hopefully Dave will have a new angle or two on where Vicky and her kids disappeared to sometime soon! 😀

    This remains unaddressed, Dave should have this on his list of loose ends to tie up, anyway! 😀

  7. I think russel is going to try and kill him for his klondike bar.

    You laugh, but at the end of humanity where all of our tasty sweet treats stop being mass produced… What would YOU do for a klondike bar?

    • LMLBO! Laughing my Lego butt off!