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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.

How do you tell a classic?

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Clint

The original Star Trek series was pitched by Gene Rodenberry as a wagon train in space. It’s a telling example of the fickle nature of entertainment executives that you’d be hard pressed to get any sort of Western series greenlit these days, but back in the 1960s Westerns were all the rage and a science fiction series had to be explained in those terms for it to make sense to the people with the money. This is, naturally, why the opening narration refers to space “the final frontier”, hoping to hook in that same mass demographic that kept Gunsmoke on the air for 20 years. It didn’t work so well and Trek was cancelled after only three seasons of disappointing ratings, despite a massive letter writing campaign on the part of the small but rabid fanbase it did attract. Possibly the most ironic bit of the story? The final episode of the original series aired on June 3, 1969, barely one month before Neil Armstrong’s boots hit the lunar surface and America was suddenly gripped with space madness.

Weird to think about that now since your average person, much less your average nerd, is far more likely to show recognition of the name James Kirk than Matt Dillon. A new TV Show or movie might change that for the Marshal, but again, Westerns are the hard sell now, not science fiction. Even Firefly seemed to have suffered for daring to wear its Western influences on its sleeve. The Star Trek franchise has always been a little more subtle than that… except, of course, that to this day the famous line echoes down through the voice of new Captains of the Federation: “Space… the final frontier…”

Makes you wonder what neglected series of today might become the franchises of tomorrow? I’m sure Browncoats would be quick to latch onto the parallels in Firefly‘s case, but I’d argue that’s premature, and the only final arbiter seems to be the test of time itself in terms of the legacy a given work will have. The term “Instant Classic”, fond as we might be of tossing it around, is nonsense. Things that are considered classics might have been recognized and lauded in their time, or might have been derided, or even ignored and consigned to obscurity until rediscovered by later generations.

But does the idea that your average modern Comic-Con attendee would look blankly at you for bringing up Marshal Matt Dillon diminish Gunsmoke‘s status? That’s probably a dangerous claim to make, given that the only thing perhaps more fickle than entertainment executives is pop culture. People who review television for a living still seem pretty smitten with it. Probably people who write television for a living, as well. Perhaps even though we might not know Matt Dillon specifically, we have our own versions of his likeness in Deadwood and Justified.

Speaking of which, I still have to work my way through some more episodes of Justified. Haven’t seen enough yet to really feel comfortable with a review here, but I won’t make you wait 40 years for my opinion. Time makes the classics, but that doesn’t stop us from jawing back and forth a bit in the meanwhile.