Zombie Cliche Lookout: Sacrifices for Survival
Surviving in the zombie apocalypse is no small feat. The longer a person lasts, the more they’ve lost and sacrificed along the way. As they become a more weathered and experienced survivor, they’ll need to build up a thick skin, not just to survive all the challenges of the zombie apocalypse, but also their own regrets.
At some point, the luck tends to run out for most people. Some of them are fortunate enough to be killed immediately, but others linger on with death looming over them. This gives them the opportunity to reflect on what they’ve lost and given up along the way, leaving them even more despondent in their final hours.
About this Episode:
This one is reaching way, way back to the comic’s beginnings. For those who don’t remember and don’t want to go back and try to find the relevant episodes, here’s the cliff’s notes version. Gene, the news producer, pressures Ted into staying at the station and on the air, even though Ted is worried about his family. Gene assures him that his wife and kids are safe, because the station sent an intern over there to take care of them. That intern, by the way, was bitten and turned, and nearly killed Ted’s family.
Would Ted have done any better of a job keeping his family safe? Well, that’s pretty debatable. After all, they’re all fine right now. Also, I’m not great at body language in the comic, but I like having characters not make eye contact with each other when they’re guilty.
Discussion Question: Guilt
We can’t really predict when and where the zombie apocalypse will actually start. A lot of people have crazy fantasies about surviving the zombies, perhaps even becoming an exalted leader of the new world. Of course, those plans generally depend on everything working out exactly as they have imagined. That’s just not terribly likely.
Instead, those that survive will likely do so through a combination of good luck and canny choices. Along the way, they’ll lose a lot. Some they’ll sacrifice, some they’ll lose having no control over the situation. In the end, they survive, but they’ll wonder, was it all worth it?
Imagine you’ve made it through. Your old life is gone. Everything you once loved and worked for is no more, but you’re alive and can help rebuild society. Was it worth it?
like having character not make – character–>characters
That’s the only typo I could find for today’s episode, if anyone else spots one, have at it! 😀
Wait, found one in the Discussion Question: “Some they’re sacrifice,” they’re–they’ll
Fixed this one as well.
*Edited to remove confusing insult*
Aaaaand that’s the end of that. You will comport yourself civilly hear, or you simply won’t be commenting here anymore.
Got it; fixed!
oh nice he.s alive but how
I’m not sure I get exactly why Ted is thinking he should have been where Vicky and the kids are right now. He’s one of the defenders, and of course he should be upstairs nailing boards over the windows, which is where he should be all along. He has a severely limited time to get to grips with what will happen to him, and that it could happen unexpectedly. We only know that people turn into zombies on Dave’s command! 😉
He’s not apologizing about not being in the basement when they were trying to board up the window; he’s apologizing for staying at work rather than coming home to his family when the whole thing started.
Was it worth it? Well, it depends on what I’ve done in the past, but if I’m alive, of course it’s worth it.
I’m hoping that Ted will have an emotional, memorable death. I don’t know how it will turn out, but I’m sure you won’t disappoint us, Dave!
Also, something that I didn’t like a lot in this episode is that Ted doesn’t seem to be in pain. It would’ve been better if he was leaning against the stairs or if he had problems making coherent and full sentences. But it’s just a minor issue, everything else was awesome!
I also wonder what the hell Clark and Barb are doing in the background.
You make a pretty good point about his ability to talk without being in agony. Duly noted.
I’m glad you noticed Clark and Barb. What, indeed, are they doing?
I think that they’re either looking away in sadness or planning what to do with Ted. I also noticed Barb has her arm stretched out, it almost seems like she’s picking up a weapon to put down Ted.
Both excellent theories.
I do that in one of two ways, but they both boil down to having the one character not only not making eye contact, but also looking in the direction of the camera (but not making eye contact with it, either). In this one, Captain Reynolds stares off across the tracks, doing everything short of ignoring Walsh (he is giving him an answer, so he can’t be totally ignoring him): http://ballinabricky.com/2015/04/07/the-dead-ep-22/
That’s less “guilt” and more “hatred.”
The “guilty” method I use is like this one: http://ballinabricky.com/2015/03/10/the-dead-ep-14/ , where Bosie has a whole conversation with Oscar while refusing to make eye contact. He is either “looking past the camera” or “3/4 face.”
Another method I remember using, but too far back to locate the specific strip, would be to use that 3/4 view but with the guilty party’s face turned *away* from the other person (but still *toward* the camera)…kinda the reverse of Bosie’s 3/4 view there. A little forward bend of the waist (if standing) also helps add a note of “despondency.”
Excellent tips here. You can’t do a lot with minifigs, but the little tricks you can pull of are pretty interesting.
Even more if you are willing to take them apart and conceal that fact with camera angles and obstructions. I’ve found some of the tips on this blog helpful, even though I’ve yet to use any in my strip: http://thebrickblogger.com/2014/11/posing-lego-minifigs-in-unconventional-ways/
Are you asking if the effort of surviving was worth it in that scenario? If so then I have to say yes. I would see no point in surviving at all if mankind as a species was totally wiped out. (last man or earth scenario) Maybe its because my worldview supports the idea that we as a species have a greater destiny. Maybe its just because Im one of those people who always have to have a bigger plan that hes working toward. Either way the species and its culture must survive.
You’ve piqued my interest; what do you think is our greater destiny?
Without putting too fine a point on it I don’t necessarily accept that our development as a species was purely driven by evolution as we understand it. There are plenty of species that have been much more successful then man (survived much longer so far) without anything that approaches our capacity for analytical thought or sentience. The most prevalent, crocodilians, sharks and certain mollusks are downright stupid. We didn’t need to develop this big brain in order to survive so why have we invested all the energy in developing it? Why waste time and resources on complex thought, art, music or culture? Pure evolutionists will argue that this is simply the direction that mutation took or that we as a species have been hugely more successful than the others I mentioned.
I don’t really buy into either of these arguments, evolution is driven by survival of the individual not the species. Some argue that we developed complex social behaviors in order to cooperate and facilitate better individual survival. But heck, ants and bees do that without having to develop anything that approaches our brainpower. I could go on, but I think you get my point.
We are alone in the history of the earth, we may not be alone in the universe, but as the very frustrated scientist as SETI will tell you, anyone else is a looooong way off or just plain not talking.
To answer your question, I think that we are meant to grow, to learn and develop. One day to colonize other worlds and keep growing and changing. To find a way to survive the eventual death of our own planet and our own star and keep moving outward.
It may not mean much is some poor starving kid in Sudan who spends her days picking botflies out of her sisters hair, but, to me at least, we area headed to something bigger
Very interesting.
I have to take issue with this statement though: “evolution is driven by survival of the individual not the species.” I would argue the exact opposite is true. A species involves, not an individual. In fact, an individual cannot evolve. They might have mutations that end up being beneficial, but evolution only comes at passing down the genetics over generations.
Let me clarify. Evolution is an ancillary result of individuals competing. You are correct that an individual cant evolve, but each individual is driven purely by the short term. The drive that leads to evolution is the drive of an individual to compete against his own species for food and mates. For example., if Homo Erectus A (HEAfor short) wants to breed with HEC but HEC is with HEB then HEA may well pick a fight with HEB in order to get with HEC. He doesn’t care that HEB may be injured in the conflict and that might put the survival of the troop in long term danger.
I got to disagree here too. Evolution is the product of random mutation giving creatures advantages and disadvantages. Those with advantages are more likely to pass on their genes. Extrapolate over a few thousand generations, and you’ve got a new species.
I get what you’re saying, but the way you’re expressing it doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter that HEA and HEC get into a fight; what matters is whether one of those individuals had a random mutation that gave him an advantage, and thus ensured his genetic material was passed along.
I wish I had more time to dig into this with you today. I hate doing this in snippets. But answer me this then. How does a system of random mutations that works in the way you describe lead to organism’s that co-operate (in a sophisticated manner) to survive? You are correct of course about the mutations, but your missing my larger point. These social behaviors must have taken thousands of generations to really develop, but in their earliest stages they would have presented a disadvantage to immediate survival. If you are daubing paint on the wall of the cave while Im getting a full nights sleep then Im a better hunter the next day and that might make the difference in me living another day. In the long run your ability to communicate pictorially about herd migration and water sources might give you the edge, but will that mutation survive long enough to get passed along. If it worked like that they why didn’t sharks and crocodiles develop more intellect and group behavior. Wouldn’t it have been a lot more consistent for us to just get more physical (stronger, faster) though the evolutionary process then to develop all this cognition. By the time we developed really complex social order (living in villages) human evolution had essentially stopped because the driving survival need was gone. You can argue that this was just a series of random mutation, but how the hell did these mutations present enough of a real advantage over enough generations to survive in such a physical world.
and what about me why you not talk to me
Because you’re just using the comments to advertise your website. I want to have conversations with people, not interact with ads.
My response would be that not all the mutations would be beneficial, at least not at that time. Many, many species have died off because their adaptation weren’t suited for the environment, or we no longer suited to the environment after the environment changed.
As to why we would develop the ability to communicate and cooperate? I honestly don’t know enough about the subject to speak intelligently about it.
I see human evolution discussion has been prevalent in the comments. Here’s a Discussion Question for Dave: If zombies could evolve or mutate, what would they become? Something even more terrifying than the living beings they originally came forth from? Or would they evolve into another species, like the homo-sapiens and other related species did?
One of the most challenging tasks of any good writer is to take something fictional and apply known theories to it regarding a certain subject. Zombies being what they are, can’t mate, but does that necessarily mean they can’t mutate their body cells into a new form of zombie? I think not! Think outside the box, not inside of it! 😉
Hmm, that’s an interesting one. Might use that for Friday’s strip.
That’s one good suit, eh?
Only the best for Ted.
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Hey muaz, spamming the comments is not good for your attempts to promote your site. Better resources exist to do that for you, anyway, and it would be advisable for you to find them sooner rather than later.
ok no problem and don.t talk to me