Zombie Cliche Lookout: The Recap
When you haven’t seen some characters or a certain plot thread in a while, there tends to be an obligatory catching up moment. A lot of times this comes in the form of an artless information dump in which two or more characters who really should know this already vomit information back and forth to the benefit of the audience at home. After this bit of exposition, things move on normally.
A lot of times, loyal audiences resent the recap. To them, they’re being told stuff they should already know, which is a waste of time and possibly insulting to their intelligence, depending on how sensitive they are. One thing to remember is that not everyone is as keyed into the story as they are. Casual fans might forget certain things, and those new to the story might not have gotten completely caught up yet. Hence, the recap is often a necessary even to make sure everyone is on the same page before the next story arc can begin.
About this Episode:
Do you see that pot in the corner? That is probably the world’s very first load-bearing pot. The wall behind Murphy isn’t actually anchored to anything. The exterior door frame behind it is connected to the floor, but not the wall itself. To keep if from moving around too much I used that pot to give it a little pretty in conjunction with the door frame. It’s still not solid, but it’s stable enough for shooting the comic.
Discussion Question: Alternative History… with Zombies:
I love the idea of alternative history, although I have yet to find any that I’ve liked. What would have happened if the American’s had lost the Revolutionary War? What if Hitler hadn’t decided to attack the USSR? How about if the Cuban Missile Crisis wouldn’t have had that happy ending? It’s fun to think about, but what if we took it one step farther?
Let’s use one of the above examples. The American’s lose the Revolutionary War because they are attacked by zombies. How does Great Britain restablish control of the colonies and mobilize to fight the zeds? Do they bother? Perhaps it would be easier to leave the remaining colonists to their fate and come back in a few years when things have hopefully blown over. Of course the Spanish, French, Dutch, and Germans might try to move in… you can see where this is going.
What important historical event would you like to see reexamined, only with zombies unceremoniously crammed in?
I wonder who Murphy is talking to? I think everyone who’s sensible would be inside! 😉
He’s talking to the audience, mostly. Like at the beginning of Patton.
Actually if you look in the previous comic Stew already went in, so Murphy was only talking to Cheryl.
And on the Discussion question, there are so many cool choices. However, I’m a big fan of WWII history (specifically the German invasion of Soviet Russia) so I’ll pick something from that.
I don’t quite remember what the battle was or where it took place (I only know it was in Russia during WWII), but a several thousand German soldiers were surrounded in small ruined town by over a million Russian soldiers. It was extremely cold at below 0 degrees, and the German’s supplies were running low. The Russians came in and easily destroyed them (obviously). But It would make for a good movie if somehow all the Russian soldiers were infected and the Germans would have to escape somehow. You cold also flip it around if you wanted and the Germans were infected and when the Russians move in They get surprised.
I’d watch the hell out of that movie, ZQFMBG, although it’s awfully hard to root for the Germans.
I think your thinking of Stalingrad
Of course, Murphy could have moved inside too and he’s talking to everyone inside. And look! They have a chamber pot to use.
As to history, Not really that I can think of.
Yeah, if you look at the door, it’s inset. Outside, the door stuck out.
Oh yeah, I just realized that. Plus that pot wasn’t in the other one so I guess they are all inside now.
And seeing as there is no plumbing there could only be 2 uses for that bucket, and of of em ain’t pretty.
Hah, I wasn’t really intending for it to be a chamber pot, but I like the way you guys think.
It beats crapping outside and running the risk of a wandering zombie showing up, surely?
Siege of Leningrad. Zeds either created by desperate Soviet scientist or some extra creepy tie-in that exploits the occultism that existed in the Nazi Party. Or maybe the Japanese create the zombies in some desperate attempt to thwart the allied advance though the Solomons.
Both awesome ideas, and I always love when those stories tie into some of the weird Nazi occult research. I believe Japan had a similar program, although it was smaller.
Really, I didn’t know that. Well, I guess I know what Im going to blow the day researching on the internet instead of working…..I must say Dave, your comic and forum have not done much to help my productivity problem.
Oh I know the Wikipedia trap well.
I might be mistaken on this one; I remember seeing a bit of a documentary on History or Discovery a while back. I may be misremembering.
I think an alternative ending to the Cuban missile crisis doesn’t bear thinking about……
A zombie outbreak during the Napoleonic era though….massed cavalry against the zombie horde…..that would be one hell of a sight!
(A wee typo, wrong use of “scene”, should be “seen”. Opening line in your Recap)
I’ll fix that typo.
And indeed, Napoleonic tactics versus zombies would make for an interesting scene.
I dont know, I keep thinking about the Zulu wars where British units armed early single shot breech loading rifles were wiped out by Zulu warriors with spears and knives. Im no expert on military tactics, but I think there is a period in history where no army would stand a chance against a zed horde. Bronze age armies that used protected formations like the “phalanx” or the “turtle” (ranks of soldiers fighting with spears from behind an overlapping shield wall) might have done better then ranks of British Grenadiers firing muskets in vollies. . Maybe Calvary would have done better, but if a rider gets bogged down by people on foot with no consideration for living to fight another day then hes relatively easy to drag off his horse. I think pretty much anyone between the bronze age and the advent of the repeating firearm would be toast.
That give me an idea. Remake “300” and replace the Persians with zombies. Pure Gold
The Zulu war is a hell of a cool idea!
unless the zombies are co-ordinated enough to ‘form square’ 😀
fingertips gleaming red in the morning sun!
who is he really talking to? the camera guy?
All the survivors. Everyone went in the cabin except for Cheryl, and I think we can safely assume she trickled in as well.
in accordance with the discussion, I would have to say the space race. After all, what a better time to introduce an unknown pathogen that was trapped in a frozen rock, that the astronauts brought onto the space-shuttle, then brought it home with them. And the rock thawed, releasing the virus into that group of people on the aircraft carrier that was there to pick them up.
I can see a lot of potential here.
I don’t think the space shuttles ever took rock samples, where would they take them from? I can see a that working for the Apollo program though. The Apollo 11 astronauts spend 3 weeks in quarantine, but I don’t know if they were quite so thorough with the rock samples.
The shuttle program is also retired now, but the idea is solid.
I’d like to see a WW1 zombie story. Or one in Japan in the 1600s.
I wrote a short story set in World War One. It was in the Zombies Gone Wild anthology.
A slightly magical world where a roman legion is in Britain, cut off from Rome.With no reinforcements and low supplies, they must keep contagion of the Black Cauldron from crossing the curse frozen Channel.
Can they hold out? Can they get the Celt barbarians to realive the importance of teamwork?
I’d read this.