Episode 632: Rude Awakening

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Dave

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Zombie Cliche Lookout: A Little Surprise

When it comes to surviving the zombie apocalypse, it can’t hurt to have a surprise or two up your sleeves should the situation call for it. Sure, there’s a lot to be said for transparency, but you just never know if you can really trust people. Unfortunately, this holds true for both the heroes and the villains in the story. In fact, the villains often keep even more in reserve than the good guys do.

This trope about the bad guys’ secrets usually shows up in one of two ways in zombie stories, and those ways reflect a lot on what kind of villain we’re talking about. The first way is the path of the true bad guy. They know they’re opposing the protagonists, and they’re knowingly keeping a secret so they can pull it out at the opportune moment and win the day. The other path is from my preferred kind of villains: the kind that don’t realize they’re the bad guys. These are people who are scared, and hiding things because they either want an advantage if they need it, or because they’re covering something up. Sometimes the thing they’re covering up is a zombie bite, but not always.

About this Episode:

So the other day I was talking about how not enough time is passing in the comic, and here I am, interrupting Sam’s sleep and the chance to pass into another day. I guess I’m just inherently self-destructive that way.

Discussion Question: A Little Something Extra

What’s something you’d like to hide away, just in case, in the midst of a zombie survival scenario? This can be something physical, like a hidden weapon, or something immaterial, like an idea or some sort of secret knowledge, like the location of a fully stocked disaster shelter.

12 thoughts on “Episode 632: Rude Awakening”

  1. Typo alert: “a lot of be said” of–>to 😀

    • Fixed.

  2. It occurs to me that it’s not too clear which person is being discussed in the second part of Dave’s Zombie Cliche Lookout. Normally, I’d just ask Dave which person he meant, but I’m going to twist it around, and ask the rest of the commenters out there: Which person do you think Dave is referring to here? 😀

    • I’m referring to two typos of hypothetical villains. What would make it more clear?

  3. Amazing episode! Great use of the focus, great building, great way to change rhythm… Caught me by surprise (like Sam obviously!).

    I think we all could hide a lot of things but I won’t go with hidding something physical, mostly because it can be found, which would show I’m not trusting other people too “obviously”. Better hide things like dark little secrets deep inside me…

    • Thanks!

      Also, well said about keeping things in reserve.

  4. The thing I would probably like to have hidden at all times would probably be a knife or something. Mostly due to the reason that there a lot of times in which the good guys are kept captive under the control of the bad guys, and a knife can be used to cut restraints or be used as a silent weapon.

    I also think that, on the other hand, if I was with a group of strangers and I found a secret stash of supplies, I would keep it a secret. I remember in a movie there was a guy who kept food hidden because he wanted to see who he could trust and share it with.

    • The thing about hiding supplies like that is that, if something happens to the person hiding them, then those supplies are lost for good. It’s one of those things that often works well to show the tragedy of mistrust in fiction.

      In reality, though, I’d likely do the same damn thing.

  5. The greatest example, for me, of a survivor hiding supplies is the German Captain in “Lifeboat”.

    I think that keeping the location of your hideout secret makes good sense.

    • I haven’t seen that. Just looked it up and sounds really interesting.

  6. Awesome episode… great use of the faces and the different levels of focus in each shot is very good. Well done Dave!

    • Thank you, sir!