Zombie Cliche Lookout: The Most Dangerous Game
You’d be hard pressed to find a lot of examples of zombie stories where the zombies are the most dangerous bad guys – there are a few, certainly, but it’s just not the norm. The zombies are usually there to thin out the crowd of survivors and act like cannon fodder, but the real threat is almost always other living people.
This one goes all the way back to zombie movie roots. In White Zombie, for instance, the zombies are simply tools of the sorcerer. For a more modern zombie-take, look no further than my favorite example for anything ever, Night of the Living Dead. You get a few human enemies there. Ben and Cooper are enemies to each other, and the zombie hunters in the film’s final moments end up being accidental (or are they?) bad guys to Ben.
About this Episode:
This is the first time I’ve done a single-panel episode.
Oh, and you know how I had everyone more or less in plain sight of the house for a while? That was somewhat on purpose (although I did want them a little farther away). These guys are still very green in the survival department, and they’re just not thinking about how dangerous other people could be. They made some dumb decisions and now, well, this happened.
Discussion Question: Best/Worst Living Villain
So who is everyone’s favorite living human villain from a zombie story? Their least favorite?
My favorite has got to be Cooper. He’s an ass, but you can also understand where he’s coming from. At least to some extent. He’s got a sick kid, he’s stuck away from home with not way to help his family, and he feels completely helpless. Along comes this guy who tried to take charge, and Cooper just loses it.
Least favorite? I’ve got to go with The Governor from The Walking Dead comic. Way too over-the-top for my taste. The rape was awful, and the weirdness with his daughter was just too much. He took me right out of the story.
Geeeeneeeee!
Maybe he can just walk it off.
that’s what I said! Geeeeennneeee!
Pray for Gene.
Totally save 😛
I’m not following on this one.
DANG IT GENE!
Make him come back as a zed and kill at least one convict.
DO IT MAN.
He really messed up, didn’t he?
I wanted a headshot, but I’ll guess I must be “happy” with what I get… Kill off Clark with a headshot and we will not have problems, okay?
Don’t give him any ideas!
Hah!
Man, Phantom, you really want to clean house here, don’t you?
I see no problem in a little more bloodshed, as long as we see whoever is inside and THEN kill them as well! Hehe… He… Hehehe… (read in evil tone).
I totally read that in an evil tone.
Nnoooo! This just got (more) serious.
Shit got real.
For the discussion question idk if Resident Evil counts, but the Police Chief Brian Irons in Resident Evil 2 was a pretty good/bad villain, He went crazy when the zombies started overtaking the city and started killing his fellow officers left alive in the precint along with several survivors including the mayor’s daughter that he killed/stuffed and possibly raped. In a book based off this game he is very graphically detailed and it shows how psycho he went after the city started falling apart.
I only vaguely remember the plot of Resident Evil 2, which is weird considering how much time my buddies and I spent playing it.
But yes, games definitely count. Nice example here.
PS Maybe Barb the nurse can save him. . . .
It is pretty handy having a trained medical professional on your team.
I think he’ll need more than just a nurse though. It looks like he bought it in either the lungs or the belly, both of which need surgery. You might be able to survive a shot in the limbs without a surgeon if you’re lucky, but I don’t think that’s likely for a body shot.
Darnit.. Of course I’d call it on the wrong person.. Dammit.
That whole thing with Clark checking in the window alone? Classic misdirection.
oh…Gene….how unprofesional..
Well, to be fair, he’s a TV news producer. Tactical assault isn’t really in his job description.
Can’t believe no one has mentioned Captain Rhodes from Day of the Dead! That guy was pure badass evil. Got his comeuppance in the end but he really only cared about himself and ruled the underground facility without even a care for who he hurt along the way.
Disagree with you on the Governor though Dave. There is a side story to Walking Dead called Rise of the Governor. I listened to the audiobook and it does help you get a sense of why he turned out the way he did. He wasn’t always the crazy badass weirdo we knew in the comics, and the stuff that happened helped shape him into the freak he ended up being.
Lovely one slide panel today though!
I was hoping someone would disagree with me on the Governor; he’s definitely a divisive character. From what I’ve gathered, it seems like people love or hate that story arc, without many being in the middle.
As far as the book goes, that’s really interesting. Any interest in doing a review?
Possibly dude-I’m sure I still have it, will need a re-listen though!
If you’re up for it, it’d be awesome.
PEER PRESSURE!
Ok I’m in!
Yay!
You can email me at [email protected] when you’re ready for the review and we’ll go from there.
I hadn’t hear about these books (Rise of the Governor and Road to Woodbury) Just added them both to my audible wish list.
I’d heard of the first one. I didn’t realize there was another.
My fav villian is Major Henry West in 28 Days Later. Chris Eccleston is so creepy as the nutcase military leader bent on repopulating the planet. Can we finish thining out the herd first? Maybe it’s a chic thing, but that kind of psyco scares me more than runners.
Awesome example, Angie. The part of the movie just creeps the hell out of me.
Nice one Dave, was kinda expecting a head shot with him peeking around the front of the van but this is even better! Nicely framed!
Although he has only taken a single shot to the central mass……thats survivable (or have I seen too many hollywood movies 😀 )
Depending on what the bullet hits, it’s absolutely survivable.
very true, even if it does play ping pong with his innards. The key though is immediate medical attention, otherwise he’d bleed out.
And that just might play into the next few episodes.
I have had some advanced first aid training but I am not a medical professional by any means. I am kind of surprised to hear you guys say that a center mass his is survivable under these conditions. to my thinking, a hit in the heart, liver or a major blood vessel and you bleed out in minutes. I cant see how you would repair or re-inflate a collapsed lung. And a hit to the stomach or gut and you die of sepsis if you don’t bleed to death first. Im sure he could get lucky and have the bullet just whiz though him on some path where it didnt encounter a major organ, blood vessel, or bone, but it seems really unlikely to me. There are some guys on this board who know a lot more about this stuff then I do, please enlighten me if I am mistaken.
I’m not saying it’s super likely, but people have survived all sorts of stuff. People have been shot in the brain and walked away.
Psh, look at the setup. You totally used a decoy to draw the attention away from him, you escalated the drama dramatically (pun intended), and you used a full one panel comic.
Even if it’s not instantly, no way he’s not dying.
Hah! Ooh, look who knows so much about dramatic structure!
From the prisoners perspective… they are in a house, they have potentially seen a guy with a knife sneaking around outside, and now seen a guy with a gun peeking around a van… perhaps they figure they are about to be under attack, so shoot first, ask questions later.
Can’t help but wonder if they shouldn’t of just yelled out and tried to get some dialogue going with the occupants, from behind the safety of the van… hindsight is an interesting concept… as who is to say that if dialogue had been instigated that the situation would be any better than it is currently.
Hmmmm, looking at where the bullet has hit… it seems low enough to miss the lungs…. it is on the wrong side to hit the heart…., and judging by the blood spray out the back it looks like the bullet has passed right through, which hopefully means there hasn’t been any bouncing around or fragments left in there, so maybe it hasn’t done any major damage… however, I’m not a Doctor, this is a Lego torso on a web comic, with a blood splatter, with multiple ways this can play out… so perhaps we are over analysing it just a little bit haha 🙂 🙂
Really digging your analysis of the placement of the gunshot wound here, Madd..
I kinda saw it coming too but that’s a very nice one Dave, well done.
I really thought everyone was going to call it in the last episode when it ended with him taking a look.
I think one commenter knew what was happening, but kept his comment spoiler free, which is cool.
i think that a proper way to end this comic’s chapter is to go back to the other group, leave us in suspense
Maybe it’s time to check in with the Vice-President again?
thats kind of a giveaway, but i’ll take it. But i could be wrong, i mean i thought that yesterday was Thursday, then i remembered, its not Thursday, so i could be wrong
You never can tell.
Oh no! Gene!