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.

On being discrete…

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Clint

If you happen to be a grammar guardian who knows the difference between “discrete” and “discreet”, hold off on the torches and pitchforks— I’m actually using the word correctly. This post has nothing to do with being subtle or secretive, but rather the separation of elements. Namely, the usefulness of splitting a story into separate chunks.

Whether you call them “chapters”, “issues”, “episodes”, or something even more esoteric, I’ve found the practice very useful from a pacing standpoint. Where a webcomic is concerned there’s really no authority or mandate for a certain type of structure, or even much in the way of structure at all. There is, for example, no real need to conform to the strictures observed by a monthly comic book, which tends not to run much longer than about 24 pages of content, not counting all the advertisements, letters pages, etc.

Zombie Ranch was the first real foray into comics for Dawn and myself, and in many ways is still a learning experience even after three years of publication. We’ve gone through many experiments, such as forays into animation, text-heavy pages, pages completely absent of text, art shifts, crazily dynamic layouts, etc. etc. Our first story arc happened to end conveniently at about the length of the pages of a standard comic, and for me set a precedent of trying to compose the ebb and flow of events after that into similar lengths.

But I’m always aware that I don’t *have* to follow that. Even when we go to print there’s no need to fit in ad space or be a specific size, and so when we were getting towards the end of Episode/Issue 3 I remember thinking, “I’d really like four extra pages to wrap this particular bit up in a way I find satisfying”. And there it was… if anyone happened to be paying attention, Episode 3 is 28 comic pages long, with a correspondingly slightly larger print issue.

I doubt anyone really noticed or cared, particularly online where, although we divide up the episodes with covers or title cards, the comics themselves are numbered to represent an ongoing, contiguous story. But for me that’s exactly how an online reader would function, right? You wouldn’t get to the end of the episode and stop, you’d just keep going until you got tired or ran out of material. However, the dividers still serve the function (at least in my imaginings) of letting a reader “pause for breath” during their archive binge, maybe taking a moment to reflect on what they just read before plunging onwards.

And from our end, these spots provide a convenient place to change things up a bit, taking a moment to work in some world info in entertaining ways that are hopefully never too jarring. Sometimes we’ve done these inserts mid-stream (like the “Moment With Suzie” in Episode 5), and at the beginning of Episode 6 we dispensed with any sidetracks to get right back to business. Is sidetracking for the beginning of Episode 7 the right call? Well, just call it some more experimentation if you must. The idea of cutting to some Safe Zone woman criticizing the fashion sense of the Z Ranchers seemed deliciously dark after the readers (who of course have seen a lot more of the “footage”) just witnessed them fighting for their lives and livelihoods. But the chapter change also again gives that breath in the pacing, like the pause before a bridge in the music, after which we return to the main theme.

I guess that’s a fairly subtle thing to consider. So call this a post about being discreet, as well.