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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.

On Gallantry and Goofustry.

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Clint

Have you ever heard of the old series of comic strips known as Goofus and Gallant? If not, you may have at least run across any number of homages and parodies based on it, such as the Dimwit and Duke cartoons in Bioshock Infinite. The basic structure was simply that the boy named Goofus, positioned on the left, would always be doing things the wrong way, while the boy Gallant, appropriately positioned to the right, would approach the same situation with the proper actions and/or attitude. Goofus grabs, Gallant asks. Goofus mocks, Gallant empathizes. Goofus rebels, Gallant obeys. So on and so forth.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Maybe even too simple? Aren’t there, after all, situations where a bit of rebellion might be the correct choice? I think Martin Luther King, Jr., among others, could make a case for that.

When Dawn read the script page for last week’s comic, she laughed at the last panel and said, “Lacey has a point.”

“I like to have Lacey score a point every so often,” I responded. “Keeps things interesting.”

Having a Goofus and Gallant dichotomy where one character is always good and right and one character is always wrong and bad? I mean, hey, I liked He-Man as much as the next kid when I was a tyke, but my tastes are a bit more sophisticated these days in terms of both receiving entertainment and creating it. I like that occasional indulgence in the trope of “Jerkass Has a Point“. It keeps both the characters and the audience engaged, evaluating what they’re experiencing. Perhaps even more importantly, it keeps you as a creator doing the same, preventing the far more unfortunate occurrence of “Strawman Has a Point” where whatever you were trying to say on a more thematic level goes horribly awry.

Now of course, the rightness or wrongness of my characters at any given moment does not mean you have to like them any more (or less). Lacey does seem on the whole to be more Goofus than Gallant, doesn’t she? Yet I’ve heard people express that they find that endearing, feeling like those flaws make her more relatable. Those same flaws have led others to really, really not like her. But if she was made up of nothing but flaw, that would be as boring after awhile as it would be if Suzie were a shining paragon who never stumbled.

Good drama lies somewhere in the middle, I reckon.