Zombie Cliche Lookout: Nothing is Safe
If there’s one truism about zombie fiction, it’s that nothing is ever truly safe. Indeed, the illusion of safety is one of the most dangerous things survivors have to face (along with the zombies, hostile living humans, lack of clean food and water, poor medical care… I could go on and on). The point is, complacency kills. Survivors who fundamentally understand that there is no place that’s completely safe have a much better chance of living through the stories than those who don’t.
Playing this out logically means that people need to accept the fact that, no matter what their efforts to harden an area, it will never be completely immune to danger. This can play out in a number of ways, from characters obsessing over every detail of something, to people becoming despondent and giving up again what they see as an ultimately futile endeavor. Those of us who enjoy the psychological aspects of zombie fiction find these sort of characters differences fascinating. In a lot of ways, it’s humanity in a microcosm. With zombies.
About this Episode:
This episode is a bit of a transitional one; we’re beginning to move away from the pharmacy and figuring out what Sam is going to do going forward. All they need to do is get everything on his list, and then it’ll be time to make a decision. Of course, that does leave a little time to hash things out between him and Cheryl.
Discussion Question: Sam’s Next Steps
Sam’s had some hard times since he was separated from the group, but he’s also done a lot of growing. He’s started to come to terms with his wife’s death, and that has helped him become much more capable at dealing with the challenges of the zombie apocalypse. Now it seems he’ll have an opportunity to rejoin his old friends, but should he do it? Or should he strike out on his own?
I hardly imagine Sam not reuniting with with his old folks. Now I think this will happen after he goes back to Tara’s place. Don’t know if he will go alone though (I’m still betting on Cheryl knowing Tara BTW).
Considering all options possible, I still hope that Sam will be able to see Murphy again. And gets emotional with Stew.
You know, I hadn’t considered Tara and Cheryl knowing each other. They are in a small city, so it’s possible.
there goes my prediction… 🙁
Well, you never know.
Typo alerts: “I could go on and one” one–>on 😀
“much better chance to living through the stories” to–of 😉
And yes, my PC is back from the shop. Turns out the AV software was having an issue that required someone to stop it. Another $130 out of pocket. *sighs* Now to wait for a fix from the AV company responsible for all this.
Welcome back… I guess 😉
Fixed both. Glad you’re back, sorry about the PC issues.
You could always put it up to reader vote.
Does Sam stay with the party or branch out on his own…which would be horribly more dangerous not to mention a total jerk move for those party members who still care for him, left to always wonder if he is still out there, alive, cold, hungry, healthy, and not being devoured alive by shambling corpses.
🙂
Man, talking about stacking the deck.
To the wild with him, I vote.
Hello! Phew read all 677 episodes in 3 days! 😀 Any ways I would like to thank you Dave because I used to be afraid of zombies ( well to be honest I am a total wimp D:) but thanks to your comics I appreciate the horror genre a little bit more! I would still be freaked out by a movie but at least now I appreciate the horror genre. Thanks for reading my comics. 😀
“thanks to your comics I appreciate the horror genre a little bit more”
Man, what a cool comment! Glad you enjoyed my comic and got something out of it.
Keep up the the good work! And thanks again! 😀
Your changing lives, Dave. You are changing lives.
😉
There are 2 truisms in this situation:
1) where there is a will there is a way
2) Murphy’s law
So far Sam has strengthened his will a lot and depending on the number of extras his friends picked up along the way, they can do an epic journey back to his friends were only the main cast survive. Also I’ve noticed the lack of cars for even a small city. Could his friends have gotten one up and running on a “clear” (less zed filled) path?
This maybe a great chance to do do an extreme pull out shot to show the scenes of a blurry, long, hard, and fully zed covered route both forward and backwards.
Maybe the build would be a baseplate, 2*1’s for 4story houses with those random angle bricks, 2*1’s thins for ranch style, 4*2’s with the short angle bricks for apartments, something for cars, grey dots for zeds…well the theory sounds nice right? Plus it would give you a map, so you remember where you put what next to what as a reference for yourself in picture form.
Still it is a fantastically great comic I enjoy reading when I can and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Thank you for taking your time to make this comic and reading the comments.
I like your comic its awesome
Hey Dave its awesome
Has the comic finally come to an end?
Nope, just taking a bit of a break due to real life getting in the way of my hobby. I’ll have a guest comic starting up shortly to help fill the gap.