UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)

9 thoughts on “558 – Cotton Clad Calamity”

  1. Raznaak

    Yup, he’s a bastard XD

  2. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Are those pajamas available in XXXL in the gift shop?

  3. Otaku

    It’s been a while, so let me ask: Did we get a reason for him to WANT Susie dead? Not to backseat, but if we didn’t, I’m worried were about to move into “Stupid Evil” territory. Now, stupid happens, don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad storytelling for that to be the case here.

    You’ve just done a good job NOT having that be a driving factor, so the “Kill off the stars of my successful reality TV show.” seems shortsighted, otherwise. Oh, I guess I could be mistaken about the in-story reality TV show’s success. Like, if the company behind them is losing money, or they think a change in management at the ranch would make the whole thing more popular/profitable, then I can see the above scenario happening as well.

    I REALLY think I’m just forgetting something important, but that I don’t have time to deep dive to remind me of, hence the comment. >_<

    1. Deoxy

      It certainly has been stretched out over quite a while, but there have definitely been hints from quite near the beginning that whoever is running the reality TV show definitely wants her dead.

      But I certainly don’t recall any reason why.

      1. Clint

        Yeah it’s fair to not remember since it’s been a hot minute (many, many minutes) but if you feel like a refresher the most relevant bits would be the beginning of Episode 8 and the end of Episode 15. We haven’t explicitly spelled out exactly what The Exec means by his “side hustle” or who was on the other end of that phone call, though.

        I’m hoping that when the whole thing is eventually available it will make sense, or at least enough sense to have hung this narrative on.

        1. Otaku

          Thanks for the replies, Deoxy and Clint. Yeah, I’d totally forgotten about those things. Good to know!

  4. Evervigilant

    Seems about time for the two people who aren’t there to make a surprise entrance as the ace Susie didn’t even know she had.

  5. Scarsdale

    There’s still 3-5 people on her side that might be planning something. This guy is a megalomaniac with a god complex, so letting him think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed sets him up for a fall. Everything depends on those cameras, and I suspect their little stop over by the charging coffins had something to do with her actual plan, not the one the a-hole thinks it is.

  6. lyra

    Really enjoyed the opening of Zombie Ranch. I like the combination of the western setting with the zombie concept, it gives the story a really distinctive atmosphere. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator, and I’d be interested in seeing how some of these scenes could translate into motion, especially as a short animated teaser or character scene.

    If you’re ever interested in something like that, you can reach me here:

    IG: eve_verse_
    Email: [contact.lilaclines@gmail.com](mailto:contact.lilaclines@gmail.com)
    Discord: Lyralilac_

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558 – Cotton Clad Calamity
Posted on August 26, 2026 by Dawn

What would you call this? Armchair assassination? Merk-from-home?

Well, Suzie ain't dead (or undead) quite yet, so we'll just have to see if his gloating is justifiable.

The mixing pot

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Clint

America used to be described as a “melting pot,” supposedly as a metaphor for a place where all races, colors and creeds could mix and flow together in order to create something far greater (and stronger? tastier?) than they could separately.

YMMV on how well that’s panned out. Let’s talk about the idea of a mixing pot instead, like the kind you might use (appropriately enough in this case) for paint or ink.

This past weekend Dawn and I were once again hawking our wares at the Long Beach Comic Con, and since LBCC is not nearly the sort of wall-to-wall hustle that SDCC is, we made time for ourselves to switch off for periods of what we like to call “walkabout.” Which is just what it sounds like: one of us gets out from behind the booth and goes walking about — looking at stuff, saying hi to people, etc.

So it was that I found Dave Gibbons all alone at his table at the Hero Initiative booth, with no line, and got to talk his ear off for several minutes. Yes, that Dave Gibbons. One-half of the creative team that brought us the greatest superhero graphic novel of all time. Well, technically a trade paperback since it was first serialized in individual issues, but you get the idea.

As far as I know Gibbons still lives in England, so I’ve got no idea how Long Beach got him out as a guest, but after a quick double-take I thought, “Self, yes, you’ve seen him before and that is Dave f’ing Gibbons right before you. Go get you some quality time.” After he didn’t immediately run me off, I eventually got around to asking him just how detailed Alan Moore’s script for Watchmen was. How much was already there, how controlled was the imagery and symbolism… I think he got the gist of my blathering because he interrupted to say that it was really a combined effort. “Do you know I came up with the happy face idea?” he asked.

No, I replied, I did not. He explained how at first Alan was picturing the character of The Comedian in military fatigues, but that seemed just sort of boring, so Dave switched it up to black leather and then threw in the happy face button as a contrast. Moore loved the little seemingly incongruous touch, and then had the brainstorm that they could start out the first panel with a close-up on it, and before you know it the two of them had excitedly figured out, together, that it represented a main theme and the whole series could revolve around it and the blood spatter marring its image.

The rest is history, but it just goes to show how collaborative an art form comics can be and how the mixing of writer and artist can produce something greater than either might dream up on their own. Out of that mixture can come magic.