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_

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*


 

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.

Casting characters

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Clint

There was a feature Wizard Magazine used to do back in the day, which many online geek sites still continue their own versions of: who would their speculative actor picks be for a movie based on a comic book? Sometimes the decision was based on the looks, sometimes it was the attitude, sometimes both. Sometimes it just seemed to be a person the article writer had a crush on, or sometimes they just seemed to be huffing crack. I mean, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm? In what kind of crazy person world would that ever be a good idea?

Oh.

Well, it’s not like my own tastes have been perfect.  I personally thought that Jennifer Garner should have made a great Elektra, and I had serious doubts about Heath Ledger being able to pull off the Joker.  I had full faith Robert Downey Jr. would nail Tony Stark, but really, that was some low-hanging fruit in predictive terms.

Maybe that’s one reason why I’d never really applied this sort of speculation to Zombie Ranch. Suzie’s character is influenced in part by John Wayne, but she sure doesn’t look like him. The closest I’d come to that sort of thing was at the very beginning, discussing with Dawn that Frank might bear some physical resemblance to Paul Newman. Not that Paul Newman could play Frank now, much less Andy Devine being available to follow up on the inspiration he provided for Uncle Chuck.

Plus, on the occasions it did cross my mind, I figured it’s probably best to let the characters be their own people, not chain them to the look and mannerisms of this or that real-life person (or persona). I once was part of a gaming group where the gamemaster always required us to pick some well-known movie or TV star for our character’s look, and while yes, that did make it somewhat easier to visualize, it also seemed somehow limiting.

Well, with all that said, I must admit I looked over at the TV while my wife was watching yet another episode of Revenge, and murmured, “You know, she kind of looks like Suzie…”

“She” being Emily VanCamp, though I think what really prompted me was seeing her in a disguise where she was without her usual blond hair. Once that happened, the face just fell into place.

On the show the character she plays is hardly what you’d call a working class rancher type, but the intensity of purpose is certainly there to match the similarity in look. Heck, her biography even states “she is a talented horse rider“. She’s Canadian, but it seems these days the U.S. outsources all its tough cowboy roles to foreign folks, so why not its cowgirls as well?

What difference does this make to the comic? Probably none, really, but after all my hemming and hawing, along comes Miss VanCamp and just unknowingly stakes her claim as someone that, yes, I could imagine bringing Suzie Zane to life.  Plus she’s not long dead (or undead).

As for the rest of the cast? Well, except for this and maybe Kathy Bates for Muriel, I got nothing… and I’m still not exactly looking. I’m curious though if any of you out there have speculated where I haven’t. What say you, have you had any idle thoughts on current actors who you might pick for a Zombie Ranch movie, were budget no object?