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.

Art and politics

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Clint

By now a good chunk of folks in the United States are aware of the controversy surrounding our VP-Elect attending a performance of the musical Hamilton, and what happened after. It’s one of many controversies in the wake of Donald Trump winning our presidential election, but truth to tell it’s pretty far down my list compared to stuff like this, or our incoming Attorney General being on record as saying “good people don’t smoke marijuana” (Dawn has a legitimate medical need and our state of California has long recognized that, but the Feds under Jeff Sessions may very well not. I would love to interpret that he’s only against smoking and is okay with edibles, but I doubt he even knows that’s a thing).

Anyhow, I don’t want to turn this blog into “real-world political hour”, but it did ping my radar when someone criticized the Hamilton cast for bringing politics into entertainment. I mean, we’re not talking Garfield here (ironic Presidential name check aside) — Hamilton itself is a production very deliberately making a political statement, starring a cast of politicians, all about American politics past and present. It’s like watching The Passion of the Christ and getting upset that it’s religious.

Now mind you, as far as I know Mel Gibson didn’t stand up in front of the theater after his film to ask, say, Richard Dawkins to please keep mindful of Jesus (also Richard Dawkins wasn’t in line to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency). But I would venture to say that where art is concerned, stuff like Garfield is a rare exception. Even an ostensibly fluffy newspaper strip like B.C. couldn’t help but occasionally bleed through a comic or several expressing creator Johnny Hart’s Christian ideology.

Zombie Ranch hasn’t gone out of its way to avoid the occasional political commentary of its own, whether it’s an arguably premature declaration of victory or some elitist media darling making jokes at the expense of their guests. But it’s also important not to read overly into things. I know many people who retroactively consider Ender’s Game some kind of hardcore Mormon tract after finding out about the political views of Orson Scott Card. I don’t agree. Alan Moore is a self-admitted pagan anarchist in his personal life, and yet V for Vendetta represents for me a surprisingly nuanced take on the subject of order versus chaos, with the title character occasionally shown to be just as topped off on ruthless madness as those he fights. They are both, at heart, excellent stories and commentaries on human nature above all else.

If they seem occasionally muddled in their message, well… that’s what makes them most interesting to me.

That’s not just politics. That’s art.

That’s life.