Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
Aw, poor April.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
April 18th, 2007 at 12:12 am
LOL I was going to ask about the power outage yesterday, you must have read my mind. Good way to answer that question before it got asked.
nice to get a little more backstory too
April 18th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Oh, boohoo. Anyway, the way she talks about it makes the tornado a suspect, you know. I guess now we know wtf knocked out the power… and it sure wasn’t zombies chewing on cables.
Also, this page seems to have unusually tame paneling… compared to the others.
April 18th, 2007 at 2:55 am
maybe the tornado had nothing to do withe TFZ, or rather he didnt cause it, it was caused by a Vamp. who knew his history (I know some vamps control weather in some stories, but normlly thats limited to mist) maybe it was a tornado of bats and flying monkeys! yar! or maybe its too early in the morning for me to think properly 😀
April 18th, 2007 at 3:11 am
The power would have went out soon enough even without the tornado, though, keep in mind. I’m not sure how long it would take, but probably within three or four days of the outbreak starting the power would be out in most places in the world, with most people dead and no one to operate such things. But without the tornado, the kids would have seen the zombies on TV or the internet in those first hours/days. And having almost 20% of your small town’s population killed by a tornado would make those kids pretty numb to most things anyway probably and less likely to question things like the power still being out for weeks.
Also, there wasn’t any unusual outside influence on the tornado or anything! Just a regular tornado.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:32 am
Most powerplants are automated to work a week or two without people operating them, I think. I could be wrong, granted… But if you want a good post-apoclypse story minus the zombies, go e-bay or amazon.com ‘Earth Abides’. It’s not in production anymore, but secondhand copies work well. 😛
I thought of it now because in Earth Abides, the power plants and most of humanity’s creations continue to survive for about two weeks after a plague wipes out the vast majority of humanity.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:38 am
The powerplants wouldn’t work if they’re bombed by zombies flying planes, though! Among many other possible reasons for the power to go out. But anyway, the tornado nicely takes out the power in this story, so no problem there. “Earth Abides” sounds interesting.
April 18th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Zombies flying planes? Dunno how well that’d go since their brains have decomposed to the point of making them pretty stupid, but the thought is still a pretty awesome picture in my mind.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:12 am
You weren’t serious about the zombies flying planes were you?
I mean, I liked in Land of the Dead how the zombies learned but I think the fact they’ve whiped out most of the world already gives them all the power they need in this story.
Or, maybe depends on the planes, if you’re gonna have zombies flying WWII planes I’m all for it ^.^
No stealth bombers that fly faster than the speed of sound though lol
April 18th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Um, have you guys read any of the comments before? I’ve already talked about how the First Zombie flew around the world controlling his troops and sending some off in parachutes and such — I went into detail. Also, if you read Page 32 of the comic you’ll see that the First Zombie obviously has full mental capacity and that he controls the other zombies with his mind, making them do anything he wants, anything that he can do. And I already talked in previous comments about how he’d be flying WWII planes.
Here’s just ONE OF THE POSTS about it.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
i didnt like the face of math in panel 4 :S, anyway, nice comic
April 18th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
“Also, if you read Page 32 of the comic you’ll see that the First Zombie obviously has full mental capacity and that he controls the other zombies with his mind, making them do anything he wants, anything that he can do.”
Comic 32 simply says that TFZ is controlling the other zombies “somehow.” It says nothing about having the mental capacity to systematically have dozens of zombies controlling complex aircraft, or that they can do anything he can do. Page 32 makes TFZ’s control over zombies seem more along the lines of “Everyone in this area, go kill the humans inside the mall.”
“Um, have you guys read any of the comments before?”
Yes, but not ALL of them. Readers shouldn’t be expected to do this and then talked to like they’re idiots when they question something like a zombie flying a plane.
April 18th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
About the power issue, couldn’t TFZ simply have directed enough of his forces to go in take over and wreck the power plants, that way even the automated ones would no longer be putting out power.
As for the spoilers that have been given, some of the spoilers push the whole suspention of disbelief thing for me so I’m sticking to beliving what’s been said directly in the comic and taking everything else with a grain of salt for now.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Just wanted to drop by and say hello, been reading the comic and really enjoying it. Also, loving that it updates regularly. Keep up the great work.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
“Comic 32 simply says that TFZ is controlling the other zombies “somehow.†It says nothing about having the mental capacity to systematically have dozens of zombies controlling complex aircraft, or that they can do anything he can do.”
Correct, but at least a million times in the comments I’ve said that he does control them with his mind and that he can make them do whatever he can do.
“Yes, but not ALL of them. Readers shouldn’t be expected to do this and then talked to like they’re idiots when they question something like a zombie flying a plane.”
Of course ALL readers aren’t expected to do it, but it’s surprising to me that the readers who take the time to make comments that make it sound like I’m doing something very stupid haven’t also taken the time to read through the comments for recent pages where I’ve responded to those issues several times, especially the commenters who have already been previously approved, so they’ve posted here before, and especially when those comments are commenting on something I said in a COMMENT (so you’d assume they’ve been reading the comments often) and not something that’s appeared in the comics. And I did not talk to anyone like they’re an idiot.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
First, I normally do not read this genre (horror/violence/gore) and am not a major fan on this type of art, so major complements to you for putting something together that has hooked me and checking back regularly. I generally prefer cutesy manga or the fantasy/action/comedy/romance genres. I came across the comic from the Marry Me site, which I found by clicking a link from another comic I read regularly, probably Dreamland Chronicles but I don’t remember specifically which.
Second, I’m a little disappointed with the tornado. I am thoroughly enjoying the rest of the comic and have no other complaints, disbelief issues with the world being wiped out etc. or why vampires can fly etc. But the tornado happening to take the power out of *this* town, which you indicated to be special to TFZ, by pure circumstance, when other things do not appear to be circumstantial, disappoints me. It seems to me to be a deus ex machina, if I understand that term properly.
Third, I want to request less spoilers, but perhaps the answer is that I need to stop reading all the comments. Other comic sites have forums and can label certain threads [spoilers], perhaps something like that could be arranged? But its a free webcomic so I’ve not room to complain, just suggest. But part of the enjoyment is the mystery of watching the story unfold over time, its the crack that brings fans back.
Fourth, ditto other commentors on an FAQ section or similar. Misfile has pinned threads re: two of the author’s most asked questions.
Fifth, I’m enjoying +EV, WickedPowered, and Sore Thumbs.
Last, you may not mean to, but you do sound defensive in several comments I’ve seen, in an off-putting way. You’re very talented (otherwise I wouldn’t have been clicking those links to see what other work you have out there), so I hope these comments are taken constructively.
Cheers,
A Fan.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I have to say that I started out really loving this comic, but my feelings have been steadily going down hill. I’m all for people changing up the usually formulaic zombie genre, but the creatures in your comic aren’t even really zombies in my mind, they are just a single organism under one mind that can spread, more like the Zerg from Starcraft than zombies pretty much everywhere else. TFZ is too omnipotent for my tastes, and as plot points go, the pretty much daily things posted in the comments that show the holes in your plot are just answered with some form of either, “He is TFZ, so there.” or, “Yes, TFZ can make the zombies do that to, so the humans can’t survive, end of discussion.”
I know I’m coming off as really critical, and I don’t intend to, because there is still a lot I like about the comic, but I just feel like the idea is more than a little shaky. Also, I just get personally turned off on stories where the humans are too incompetent to save themselves at all, because ultimately, I don’t think twenty five people can repopulate the world, so one way or another, humanity is finished.
I honestly don’t know what point I’m trying to make with this rant, but I’ll just keep reading and see how things go.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
“Last, you may not mean to, but you do sound defensive in several comments I’ve seen, in an off-putting way.”
That’s because I’ve been extremely disappointed with the book so far and think I’ve done a horrible job with the writing of it, so when people point out things that they think are errors but actually aren’t, it’s extra annoying, because it’s bad enough as it is without adding fake problems to it. If someone just said, “The writing sucks,” I’d say, “I agree with you.” But if someone says a specific problem which they’re wrong about, I’ll correct that.
“. . . the creatures in your comic aren’t even really zombies in my mind, they are just a single organism under one mind that can spread . . .”
The First Zombie can only control the ones in his immediate area and it takes a great effort to do that. At the most he can control maybe two or three at a time to do a specific difficult task, but in general he can tell a bunch of them to KILL HUMANS or whatever and, like good zombies, they do it. Keep in mind, though, that what I say in comments is nowhere near the full story or how it’s going to be presented in the comics, and the comic itself so far has not gone into any detail at all about how the First Zombie controls the others, so it’s way too premature to criticize that aspect of the story.
“Also, I just get personally turned off on stories where the humans are too incompetent to save themselves at all . . .”
That doesn’t make any sense. Too “incompetent” to defeat five billion zombies?
“I don’t think twenty five people can repopulate the world, so one way or another, humanity is finished.”
You’re assuming way too much about how the story will end and how many humans will be around at the end. I haven’t spoiled even CLOSE to everything yet and there’s tons of other twists. I have definitely said that humanity will win, though, and believe me, there won’t be a single plot hole anywhere in that victory.
“But the tornado happening to take the power out of *this* town, which you indicated to be special to TFZ, by pure circumstance, when other things do not appear to be circumstantial, disappoints me. It seems to me to be a deus ex machina, if I understand that term properly.”
I don’t understand. The tornado has almost no impact on the story, though. It’s just an interesting thing on the side to help explain the attitude of everyone and how the children didn’t know about the zombies, but the children’s knowledge of the zombies has almost zero impact on the story. It’s not necessary to the story in any way for the kids to not know about the zombies and for the power to have been out a few days earlier than normal for this town, so I don’t see what’s disappointing about it. Crazy coincidences are only bad things when they’re IMPORTANT. This one isn’t. This one’s just, “Huh, interesting,” as opposed to “Oh, come on!” No reason to say “Oh, come on!” here, because it doesn’t matter. Just some extra pain for our characters, that’s all. The power aspect is completely inconsequential. The story still works perfectly fine if the kids knew all about the zombies from the start. It’s an extremely minor aspect.
“. . . the pretty much daily things posted in the comments that show the holes in your plot are just answered with some form of either, ‘He is TFZ, so there.’ ”
There hasn’t been a single plot hole and almost all of those comments are from people who simply refuse to believe that The First Zombie and his zombies could kill everyone on Earth. They just keep trying to bring up other ways that people could survive and I have to keep repeating, “No, EVERYONE (except the ones in the story) dies and it’s very easy for TFZ to do that.”
April 19th, 2007 at 3:47 am
1. *Whips out a stick and swats at Owen for the Panel4Face of Math* I overlooked it until I read the comment that… Commented on it. >_>; That’s just… Terrible. He looks like he got beat down by Tyson, minus the biting fetish. (Yes, that -is- a terrible pun). Not to overly bash on you, but c’mon. We’ve seen you do amazing art. We -know- you can do better.
2. I can see where the guys are coming from saying how things look like plotholes, and I can see where Bobby’s coming from saying, ‘No, just give it time god damnit!’. The point is, people should back off and stop nitpicking, and I revouch for my idea of making a ‘FAQ’ page to help stop some of the repetativeness.
April 19th, 2007 at 4:51 am
i think everyone just needs to read the comic, stop taking everything so seriously and have a good time! come on, does anyone know how many versions of vampires, werewolves, zombies and other mythical creatures there are out there? didn’t think so, anyone can make up their own version of what a particular character can do. get over the fine little details such as a tornado taking out the power, thats a perfectly reasonable explanation and people are taking it way too far. as for tfz, just wait until something actually happens with him. lastly when nuclear war, zombies and everything else happens people are in no way able to coherently respond to such a crisis, if a bomb dropped near you and zombies invaded i doubt anyone would be able to defend themselves much less organize a worldwide resistance.
April 19th, 2007 at 5:48 am
Just wondering about generators and such fuel propane. There is some power available even if a tornado wrecked everthing. Just wonder. ( Also sorry if you all ready posted some times I miss post)
April 19th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Hey, C’mon guys. Math can’t look like a pretty-boy all the time! Panel four has him looking sort of bored in my eyes. “OK.. I’ll listen to this food item talk more about her history so that she thinks i care or something. Sigh.”
….ooooor i might be misreading things. Either way.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
It was less the expression and more the face itself. The shading makes it look terribly lumpy.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I am going to have to say lay off Bobby and read the story it seems to be a story of all things will be answered in due time!
April 19th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I for one feel I should apologize to the author for my previous bouts of trying to poke holes in his universe. While this is sometimes a good thing (some stories out there *deserve* it) in moderation, I stopped because I realized the questions I had are effectively irrelevant. And after a while moderately irritating.
Since I doubt we will see a GURPS sourcebook for this world anytime soon (although a FAQ would be worthwhile) the voluminous, specific, written in stone mechanics of how the world went to H*** don’t effectively change all that much in how things develop.
We know it’s a zombie horde movie. These zombies differ somewhat in that they have a ‘general’ who can give them specific directions on how to operate complex equipment (guns, planes, etc.), but it’s still a zombie movie.
People (normal or vampiric) are shoved together into a confined space/area and if they leave they usually die rapidly and painfully. Several of them, perhaps most of them will die anyway – but what matters is what the people do and how they react when they are put in a pressure cooker and the heat is being slowly turned up.
Other than that, just chill out readers. Just imagine that someday you will be able to watch this on the big screen with a giant sized tub of popcorn in your lap.
I look forward to it myself.
Keep up the good work.
April 19th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
” . . . such as a tornado taking out the power, thats a perfectly reasonable explanation and people are taking it way too far.”
Just want to point out again that that’s something that doesn’t need an explanation. The loss of power and when it happened and why is not anywhere near a crucial aspect of the story. I did not write the tornado thing to try to explain the power thing. Two totally separate things that just happen to have an impact on each other.
April 19th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Well, the tornado may not be a critical thing but it adds to the human drama by directly impacting the young lady that is right at the core of the story. Adds a little spice to the human drama that someone that critical to the story lost their family before the zombie horde really got started, but they still carry on because the kids need them.
I can just see the townsfolk listening on their car radios as the world goes into the toilet. And they don’t dare fire up a generator and turn on a TV anywhere a kid might see or hear. Eeek.
April 19th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Agreed. My point was simply that it’s not something that’s necessary for the story to make sense. It works either way. And the generators will come into play later. Been saving ’em for when they really need ’em. And I’m writing about the radio at the moment actually.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Hi everyone. In regards to Math’s face in panel four, Bobby’s script had written;
” And make Matheson’s face very distorted and lumpy looking, almost over-rendered. like you are trying to show off your cross-hatching techniques”
..So please write your angry messages directed to Bobby and not myself, who shall remain free of blame.
Thank you and good night.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
“Last night’s [4th panel of Last Blood] was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured that I was on the internet within minutes, registering my disgust throughout the world.”
“I know it wasn’t great, but what right do you have to complain”
“As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.”
“What? They’re giving you housands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? If anything, YOU owe them.”
“…worst episode ever.”
Keep up the good work guys, even if a face looks lumpy 😉
April 19th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
LOL.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Hey! I’ve seen the book on Marry Me site and I must admit that first page looks incredible, a lot better than on the screen! Well, I don’t think there’s even the slightest chance that I’ll see it anywhere in Poland…
April 19th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
You’ll see it if you buy it! Gonna put that video on here shortly.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Deus ex machine = God out of the machine
Contrived plot point that allow the protaganist to escape what would overwise be an inescapable situation. Literally in Greek tragedies, and God would show up and give the hero tha exact item he needs to survive. Another good recent example is the end of Parasite Eve and the magic bullets in it.
April 21st, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Correct, and the tornado doesn’t fall under that definition in any way.
December 10th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
THIS IS THE BEST PAGE SO FAR!