Zombie Cliché Lookout: Before You Wreck Yo’Self

I really, really don’t like zombie comedies (outside a couple notable exceptions like Shaun of the Dead, which is one of the best zombie movies – comedy or otherwise – ever made). I say this because zombie comedies are generally the only zombie movies that feel free to acknowledge some of the inherit craziness of their stories. In a straight zombie horror flick, for instance, your find that the characters will very rarely, if ever take a step back and really examine their situation frankly. Because if they did, they would have to admin that some seriously crazy shit had gone down.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with characters accepting people coming back from the dead and feasting on the living. They have to, really. Denying it would be a death sentence. However, in most zombie flicks we tend to go well beyond that reasonable suspension of disbelief required to watch a zombie movie into straight-up Hollywood action move territory.

When your life involves car chases, shootouts, fist fights, and death-defying stunt like jumping several floors into a dumpster, you’re living in an action movie.

About this Episode:

So there’s a whole bunch of zombies right around the corner, which means our heroes can’t really stand around jawing for too long. At least not if they want to continue with their whole “not getting eaten” thing, which they seem to enjoy. At any rate, they’ve been talking here for a couple of episodes now. That seems like a long time, but in reality very little time is really passing here. Maybe a couple of minute of discussion.

Discussion Question:

The Apocalypse Creation:

This week’s creation is brought to you by a fellow named Nannan Z of The Brothers Brick in a collection of photos called Beyond the Sky. The story revolves around year 2017, post apocalypse.  But letting the creation speak for itself we can a ruined building and a man scavenging for parts inside a warehouse or some other factory.

While initially you see a mess of bricks on closer inspection you see ordered and purposeful chaos. What we’re seeing a lot of here is 1×1 round plates draped over the creation giving it a rubble look.

What is particularly nice about this creation is the contrast in color use. The solemn use of gray hives the apocalyptic look. It clearly shows us the familiar look of an abandoned building as we have all likely seen. The planks you see in the back shows what what once some sort of bridge giving you a hint of whatever the building once was.

My favorite aspect of this MOC is using the trans clear neon yellow below.

Right bind the yellow you will see a cracked sphere showing where the yellow came from. Holding some tubes connected to a machine in the back you can see he is cleaning up the chemicals spill and doesn’t look too pleased with the chore. Poor fellow, as if life post apocalypse isn’t hard enough you now have to deal with space garbage.

Have you seen a great zombie creation out on the web? Are you working on the next great zombie MOC as we speak? Well you had better let us know right away, otherwise we’ll never be able to include it here.

Zombie Cliché Lookout: Inappropriate Comment is Inappropriate

Talk to enough emergency room nurses, cops, and soldiers, and you’ll find that many of them have developed a sense of “gallows humor” to help them cope with the often incredible stress of their day to day job responsibilities. To the casual outside observer, this might seem cold, cruel, or just out-and-out assholish, but to someone on the inside, it’s a valuable weapon in their survival arsenal. If regular people were suddenly pushed into incredible circumstances, their coping mechanisms would surely be varied in both technique and usefulness. But surely a few people would adapt this time-tested method for themselves.

Of course, some people are really just assholes.

About this Episode:

For whatever reason, I love it when characters in movies and TV shows acknowledge how cool something is. It’s a rare thing because writers generally want their characters to be above such things. They also don’t want to call out their own stuff for being awesome, which makes a lot of sense.

One recent example is from the FX series Justified (if you’re not already watching this, start). Early in the third season the main character, Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, tosses a bullet at a guy he was just intimidating, and then says “The next one’s coming faster”. On its own, it’s a killer one liner, but the show amps it up a notch. That encounter comes up later in the season, and Raylan has to explain the whole thing to a couple of people. One man’s reaction was pitch perfect: “Deputy, that might just be the coolest thing I’ve ever laid ears on.”

Discussion Question: The One Liner

Another fun one for this episode. You’ve just fought off a small horde of zombies. After dispatching the last zombie by decapitating it with a machete, you have the time to make a quick quip. What’s it going to be?

Left with the Dead is a novella set that directly follows the events of The Gathering Dead. It’s not a direct sequel, mind you. Instead, it follows the character of David Gatrell after he is stranded in the middle of New York, and surrounded by the dead. The actual sequel, The Rising Horde, was published earlier this year.

One thing that I really, really liked about this story was that it was efficient. A novella of about one hundred pages, it doesn’t have a lot of room to tell you a long, winding story. So instead of a lot of setup, boring description, and meaningless sideplots, we’re thrown right into the thick of the action, which doesn’t really let up until the book’s final page. It’s fast paced, action packed, and scary in interesting ways.

Despite being a short, quick read, Left with the Dead packs in the suspense. Our protagonist starts off surrounded by zombies in a giant city, short on ammo, and without any real resources other than what’s on his back. Things don’t really improve for him from there. Instead, they just get tougher. Not only does he have to try to extricate himself, he also becomes responsible for two other people: a mother and her severely autistic seven year-old son.

That young boy is what really made Left with the Dead work for me. It takes our über-masculine special forces soldier, and humanizes him in ways most books like this could only dream of. He also makes for some interesting challenges throughout the narrative. Not only must the boy be protected, he must also be kept occupied and calm so as not to draw in the army of zombies prowling the streets.

One thing to note: I haven’t read The Gathering Dead. I say that for two reasons: first to point out that I came into this book with no preconceived notions about the world, plot, or characters. If something or someone changed inorganically from the original, I wouldn’t be able to pick it out. Of course, this book is quite well reviewed, so I would assume that is not an issue for fans of the original.

The other reason I mention it is because I really enjoyed this book, even without the greater context offered by The Gathering Dead.  Left with the Dead is very much a self-contained story, despite using characters and situations from an earlier narrative. That must have been tough to pull of, but author Stephen Knight does it with aplomb.

Grade:

Zombie Cliché Lookout: Getting on the Same Page

This is one that I wish would come up more often in zombie stories: people taking a quick minute to make sure that everyone in the group is on the same page. All it would take is quick, casual conversation to ensure that people aren’t operating on partial information, jumping to conclusions, or behaving irrationally due to ignorance-based paranoia.

For instance, had Murphy neglected to tell Cheryl and Stewart what had happened to Sam, who knows what irritating bullshit might have happened. Perhaps Stewart might have a chance to rescue Sam, but decided not to because he’s still operating under the assumption the Sam left of his own volition.

And do you know why? Because I absolutely, positively hate those sorts of plot contrivances. Other stupid plot contrivances, on the other hand, are fair game. You’ve been warned.

About this Episode:

I wanted to include people getting into the car in the background of these shots. Loading in the supplies, getting into the vehicle in an orderly fashion, that sort of thing. But the lack of actual doors on the car didn’t make that super… possible.

So instead, you can kind of sort of see people milling about the car. Not quite what I was going for, but sometimes you’ve got to play the hands you’re dealt.

Discussion Question: The Big Team Up

This one’s a little lighter than most of our discussion question. The zombies are here, the government has collapsed, and everyone is on their own. You and a partner of you choice are up against the unstoppable horde of the walking dead. The big question is, who’s your partner going to be?

Bruce Campbell? Snake Plissken? Salma Hayek? It’s probably going to be Selma Hayek, isn’t it? Whoever it is, give us the who and the why.

Zombié Cliche Lookout: Logistics

It is often said that “Amateurs think strategy, generals think logistics.” When people talk about surviving the zombie apocalypse, they’re generally talking about things like killing zombies, finding places to hide, defending against hostile survivors, etc. But there are a lot of other things at play. Sometimes, you have to move, and when you move, odds are you’re going to want to bring your supplies and equipment with you. But how?

In zombie movies, people generally just hotwire a car and call it a day. But that’s Hollywood where everyone knows how to hotwire a car for some damn reason. In real life, we’d need to consider these things far in advance, unless we wanted to end up as either zombie chow, or safe but starving.

There’s also the notion of securing a source of food and potable water. And if this source should be some distance away, how do you get the food to your plate? Why, logistics, my friend!

Although you could use some strategy to protect your supply chain.

About this Episode:

One thing that drives me nuts about LEGO®’s official vehicles, is that they’re ludicrously undersized. Almost all of them have room for one, or maybe two passengers. Not terribly realistic. So I figured I would lampshade it a bit by just pretending the vehicle could house a reasonable number of adult occupants (five).

Hanging onto the roof doesn’t sounds like a whole lot of fun, but it beats the hell out of being left in the middle of a city full of a zombies.

Discussion Question: On the Move

In a lot of discussion question answers, many of you indicate that you want to be in groups. Ten to fifteen people seems to be a popular number for most. Assuming that you’re not going to lone wolf it, what is your plan to get your group from place to place? Is everyone hoofing it? Are you going to setup a convoy? How are you moving your other supplies.

The Zombie Creation:

This week’s creation, “Fleshpocalypse” by Aaron (-_-) is a pretty simple one, but it’s got a pretty great sense of humor about it, which really appealed to me. Flashpocalypse takes your typical zombie creation and uses it to say something about a certain product we all love around these parts.

So What’s Going On?

This is your typical last stand situation. Our hero is hopelessly outnumbered and completely surrounded. Things aren’t looking good for him at all, but at least he can take a bunch of them out before he dies.

There’s not a whole lot of build her to critique. I like that the survivor is on comparatively higher ground, and we get some nice gore effects (I particularly like the machete wound that you could very easily miss if you weren’t looking for it). Beyond that, it’s a bunch of minifigs with some good posing and nice framing on the shot.

Let’s Talk About the Zombies

In my mind, this is by far and away the best part of this creation. Instead of typical zombies, we get one traditional LEGO® figure being surrounded by a horde of the flesh-colored monstrosities from the licensed sets (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indian Jones, etc.). As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan of the flesh-colored minifigs. At all. seeing them here as zombies made me smile.

Have you seen a great zombie creation out on the web? Are you working on the next great zombie MOC as we speak? Well you had better let us know right away, otherwise we’ll never be able to include it here.

Zombie Cliché Lookout: Staying Behind

When it comes to surviving the zombie apocalypse, one of the most fundamental rules is to avoid zombies at all costs, but in most zombie movies I’ve seen, there’s always someone in a big hurry to go against convention. Yeah, that person is generally already bitten, or they’re making some big heroic sacrifice to help the group get to safety. Regardless, it happens with a good deal of frequency in zombie stories.

Sometimes, the person staying behind is doing so for quite another reason: they can’t hack survival. There are a lot of potential reasons for this. Perhaps they’ve lost too many people who are dear to them, maybe they are being forced into a group where they’ll be marginalized and abused, or perhaps their psychology simply won’t allow them to adapt to a changing world.

Whatever the reason, they’ve given up the fight. It’s better to break it off with them quickly and move along rather than trying to talk them out of it and potentially placing yourself in danger.

About this Episode:

Some of you have asked why I bothered introducing these new characters if they were just going to be cannon fodder. It’s a fair question. Lyle was always destined for a short life in the comic, but Karen wasn’t supposed to go quite so quickly. However, I accidentally named the character the same name as a character in Zombie Outbrick. Figuring that overlap would do neither of us any good – we’re already two LEGO® zombie comics – I decided to off the character and move on.

Discussion Question: Mental Preparedness

We talk a lot about survival around here. Weapons, food, vehicles. Where we’re going, how we’d fight the zeds. But how are we going to prepare mentally for the rigours of life in the zombie apocalypse?

I don’t know about you, but I work at a desk, in front of a computer all damn day. Going from that to running from zeds and scrounging for food is going to be quite an adjustment.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a very long time. I admit I was solely sucked in by the cover. I really do think that person who created the quote “Never judge a book by its cover” should shut up. Oh sure you shouldn’t judge the ENTIRE thing by the cover but there is nothing wrong with a cover giving you a sense of feeling to tie into the story.

Dead Earth: The Green Dawn focuses on Deputy Jubal Slate whose stomping grounds are a small town in New Mexico but could have taken place in any small South Western town.

Communication with the world is quickly being cut off and a mysterious virus is taking down the citizens making them bedridden. Deputy Slate is a young guy but he isn’t new to the town. The Sheriff is sick himself so he is left running the show dealing with normal town problems to its citizens as they come along.

Rumors and paranoia begin to take shape and even go as far as government experiments on the surrounding area such as Nevada.

As everything reaches its tipping point and Deputy Slate can barely keep things under control a car pulls up dumping a body. Soon after the dead begin to rise.

The book is fast paced and never stalls out. At eighty pages you can easily finish it in one night. Once upon a time such a short book would have discouraged me, but I picked it up for my Kindle for 99 cents, so I can’t complain.

I liked the story quite a bit. It had some ever creeping sci-fi elements to it which is something I am craving more and more in my reading. There is only so much human vs. zombie one can enjoy before they need to shake things up.

The ending through me for a loop and I look forward to book the sequel Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road which is already out.

Grade:

*Published by Permuted Press

Plaguesville USA is an unusual virus outbreak story in the sense that we never get to see anything from the disease that wiped out 99% of the world population.

The story takes place in this post apocalyptic world, the remnants of the CDC have found a last hope to save the world in the person of an old man that survived the initial outbreak, his body might hold the key to human’s kind salvation. The catch is that the man is very old (102), and they must take him from Atlanta to San Francisco across the no man’s land the USA has become. As one might expect, our little group will have it all on the way.

A Gal’s Perspective

Plaguesville USA is definitely a Harold & Kumar meets Mad Max.  There is one ridiculous situation after another as Dr. Justin Kaes (pronounced ‘Case’) and his band of merry medical staff try to get aged Mr. Howard Lampert to California to create a vaccine for the plague that is wiping out humanity. They encounter biker gangs, cannibals dressed as cops, and even a feral kid who’s got a thing for the doctor’s girl. Just when you think the story will hit a slow point, the situation explodes into a new wacked-out emergency.

LaVigne’s characters each are very likable and he takes turns telling the story from five or six different points of view. Justin has a Type-A personality that refuses to give up him mission. His anxiety level made me chuckle more than a few times as I really see myself in him. Teresa, a biker gang runaway, is an Elle May Clampet with a penchant for guns. She is smokin’ hot and quite aware of it, but her tough side balances her out nicely. Although her dialogue is a broken kind of slang, she is a smart girl with a hard as nails survival instinct.

Although there are more, the most important player is Mr. Lampert. He is one of just a few elderly survivors of the original plague and his blood could hold the key to a cure. He is also mean as a rattle snake and has no qualms about telling you off. He also has a foul mouth and a stubborn streak that will send the most patient caregiver over the edge. He is voice of reason in most of the book and more that once is able to help the group escape the clutches of once lunatic or another.

In addition to a great story and cast of characters, LaVigne also opens each chapter with a “sound bite” from commercials for food and products from before the Fall as well as lyrics from pop songs of the era. Some of these had me in stitches and set up the theme for each chapter. Here is an example:

“Now available on Mitssubisho Playspot, fast-paced action with Urban Rapist 3! The sequel to last year’s smash hit, Urban Rapist 3 offers players new Victims, new Court Proceedings, and new Chemical Castration Mode! … (This game is rated XM; not recommended for children under age six.)”

- TV ad for popular video game, 2058

It did take me several weeks to finish this book. I did have finals and, to be honest, I enjoyed the characters so much that I was in no hurry to give them up.  All in all, Plaguesville USA is a great romp through post-apocalyptic America and I recommend it to everyone.

A Guy’s Perspective

The richness of this book is not so much the story itself, although it is a solid one but I found that the characters to be the real highlight here.

We have an epidemiologist who struggles to understand and accept what has become of the world. An old grumpy man who has seen it all and who is never short of a good line on the errors of the past. There are many more interesting people on this road trip to hell but I need to give a special mention to the lead female character, a young woman who only knew life as being part of a Mad Max-type of gang. Her personality makes her a very interesting character, and I’ll also add that – as a man – I was completely charmed by this wild beauty.

Plaguesville is a solid, action-packed tale that is very much what you would expect from one that takes place in such a harsh, distopian world. In other words, we get to meet a a nice variety of freaks who range from cannibals to religious psychos. I think the author really managed to hit the right spot in describing how bad things can get in a post apocalyptic scheme.

At one point in the book we do get to meet a bunch of creatures that raise the bar of weirdness a bit too high for me but still I enjoyed this ride from the first page to the last line.

Grade: