Zombie Cliche Lookout: Now What?
In zombie stories, there are peaks and valleys of excitement. After moments of extreme action, there’s a lull where everyone can catch their breath, and figure out what they’re going to do next. Unless, of course, there are still a couple of zombies poking around, waiting for everyone to let down their guard.
One problem is that figuring out what to do next isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. For starters, it’s usually pretty tough to be part of a group that doesn’t have a lot of competing ideas about how to handle every situation. Next, there is often no single “good” course of action, and choosing the best outcome, or the least worst side-effect, is often something that causes people to butt heads.
About this Episode:
If you look closely at a couple of the panels, Abe’s skin tone is taking a turn for the worst. Unfortunately, in all this excitement, no one seems to be paying attention to that.
Other News:
I am happy to report that I am now able to put weight on my leg, and am finally able to walk. I’m not very graceful or very fast, but it beats the hell out of crutches.
Discussion Question: Best (Non-Shooting) Sport to Prepare for Zombie Survival
This weekend I had the chance to go to a fencing tournament. It’s something that a couple of my cousins are into, and I’ve been wanting to go watch them for a while now, but hadn’t had the opportunity until Sunday. It was pretty fun, and it got my thinking about zombies (naturally). It made me wonder what sort of sports a person should be into if they want to be well equipped to survive the zombie apocalypse. Would combat based sports like fencing or Krav Maga be the best choice? How about sports that help develop your outdoors skills like backpacking? Perhaps general fitness sports like cross country or mountain biking? Let me know what you think, but don’t include target shooting, archery, or other shooting based sports.
SAM is in big truble
Hah, he just might be.
HOLY MONKEY BUTTS!!! I don’t know how many of you guys know, but didn’t Sam shoot Abe in THE FRIGGING CHEST!?!? HE’S GONNA COME BACK AND EAT THEM ALL!! Someone shoot Abe’s dead body in the nogging. Please.
New idea, Abe comes back as zed, bites one of them, others make a getaway but run into zeds. Then friend and foe unite to defend. Kinda cliched right?
Grammar Nazi Alert: If you look closely at a coupe of the panels -> “coupe” –> “couple”
Anyway, from that, I’d like to see how the group will react when Abe reanimates.
Thanks for pointing that out!
“chess”… Always good if you can be a few steps ahead of whom- or whatever you have to deal with… 😉
And maybe a little ‘Parkour” and “running” for when the plan doesn’t work…
Chess is actually a pretty cool idea. Way to think outside the box.
There are a wide range of sports or activities that would help; such as: Swimming and cross country/hiking for endurance,
perhaps work at a YMCA for a while to help with leadership skills,
Police Officer so you know your guns, have access to heavy trucks and other vehicles and when worst comes to worst, Police from what I have seen are not fat donut eaters, but near elite soldiers, unmatched in hand-to-hand (a lot of them are retired or still active MMA fighters) excellent shots with sidearm and shotgun/C8 (I’m in Canada so they use C8 carbines) and are unmatched next to the army with weapons.
The police and army I do not put too much faith in, they would not fall in an outbreak, but contain and destroy most of it.
Wow. Where are these “elite level” policemen of which you write?
Around here, most of them can barely qualify twice a year with their handguns, to say nothing of rifles/carbines/shotguns.
The last gun class I took addressed this. People assume a competency that is often not there.
You’ve definitely had very different experience with police offices than I have. I’ve known a few who were very capable and in good shape, but they haven’t been the majority by any stretch.
Too funny, my son has his first fencing practice today. Even more surprising there are 22 other boys signed up along with him. Who would have though it was that popular. As far a good sports for ZA prep I would stick with cardio and outdoor living stuff. Anyone who has ever practiced any fighting art will tell you that hand to hand skills would be almost useless against a zed and might even be a disadvantage because you train to the point of reflexive responses that might actually put you in a worse position against an opponent who can kill you with a tiny bite.
That’s awesome, Damage. My son didn’t seem to interested fencing. He kept asking when someone was going to get killed. Too much Princess Bride for him.
Eskrima – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskrima
Instead of wooden stick, I’ll use sword and other bladed weapon.
I heard in the movie “I am Frankenstein”, Adam’s fighting technique was based on a modified eskrima, he is using a 2 heavy metal blunt object.
Very interesting. Looks like good practice for machete fighting.
Combat arts, like Kali/Arnis/Escima, unfortunately, aren’t set up for fighting zombies. None of them actively practice the “head shot”, because the head is a small, moving target. It’s hard to hit on one’s best day, and well protected to boot.
As for zombie training, I recommend a good mix of cardio, anaerobic, and weights. Cross-fit or something similar would be better in a pure survival situation than MMA; BUT, because of its emphasis on physical fitness, MMA would be worlds better than Krav Maga. Full-contact sparring beats all.
I still haven’t found the ultimate pure-zombie weapon. Techniques that work against living people don’t translate well to shambling undead hordes. I am still thinking a winged spear with a cruciform or triangular profile, a pure stabber with a relatively short tip, say six inches- enough to penetrate but not perforate.
Would the cruciform/triangular point help prevent it from sticking?
It’s only for stabbing, not for slicing- may as well make it the best stabber possible.
Try searching for images of the original SOE/OSS wrist daggers. Now imagine something like that attached to three or four feet of one-inch diameter hickory with lugs to prevent over-penetration- a nasty stabber.
I’m sure if there was ever a call for it some one or a group of people would eventually develop a sort of martial arts to combat the undead directly. I can imagine it’s going to involve a lot of keeping things away/keeping them prone.
Most all fighting arts are environment-specific. I am sure there are many zombie-specific techniques that involve protecting yourself from their nasty gobs.
Is it a trope that all new members meet the original jack @$$ of the original group first, or is when they take over? Maybe that is combo trope, idk seriously.
Bo as the right idea, for exercise, however the #0 even before #1 rule and that is all arts were first meant to be defensive, never hit until you need to do some harm. So I suggest thick protective gear before martial arts. Afterwords you have to find a style you don’t feel ridiculous doing in your gear & then practice in your gear until it is natural.
Parkour for running and finding routes to higher ground.
Don’t rely on the police some are better than others, my hometown cops I can only give them scathing reviews…the things I’ve seen, the reports, the local news, they keep an eye on the local scout troop, because they keep scout knifes or multi-tools on them.
Love foolish lego’s chess idea, wish more people would think. Still I’m one to speak right?
Running away does seem a hell of lot smarter than tangling hand to hand with zeds.
Camping and hiking should be the basic sports for preparing for the zeds. These get you in shape and teach many skills you will need like land navigation and plant identification. Branching out with hunting and fishing for food would be helpful especially if you use traps and snares.
For weapons simple medium sized ones like an axe, baseball or cricket bats or a good sized walking stick. As others have said the object is to keep the zeds away from you. Hand to hand fighting always hurts both parties.
Oh and first post. Hi everyone
Excellent first post, Rattraveller.
Hi,Rattraveller !
Every sport that improve endurance will be fine. I just can’t imagine the frustration of being caught by zombie after a 10 minutes chase… So the longer you can run the better. Any sport that can also improve your resistance to hard weather condition is fine too. Winter sport or desert hiking. I like to think about baseball too 1st because I love batting and then you also have to take decision in a seconde (fielding or running). BTW Go Mariners 😉