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.

Still saddled up

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Clint

If Dawn and I were married to this comic, we’d have just passed our third anniversary, which some call the “leather anniversary”. I don’t know why I bring that particular factoid up, except it reminds me that I still haven’t really had time nor opportunity to address the issue of leather goods in a mostly post-bovine setting. It’s yet another element of the world where I have the answers in my head and/or notes, but so far you readers have had to just play along, assuming you were even thinking about it at all. I always presume at least some of you are thinking about it. I mean, I would be… but then again, Dawn never fails to remind me what a freak I am for that tendency. She’s the type of person who doesn’t sweat the details so long as she finds something entertaining. I’m the type of person who asks, “If Spongebob lives under the ocean, how can he possibly be going to the beach?”

Then occasionally we run across an article like this which seeks to reconcile both parties. You might wonder how, with such different creative approaches, we’ve managed to keep Zombie Ranch going for three years, but we’re honestly not as opposite as I think either of us will admit. After all, sometimes she’s the one shutting down my ideas with tidbits like “he can’t shove the goat or it’ll just think he’s playing and shove back”.

Somehow we’ve gotten through, and hopefully still have a good comic to show for it. In fact we might even dare to hope that our occasional conflicts have led to a better comic than we might have otherwise produced. We learned as of Friday that Comic-Con International has decided to renew our professional status, which considering the sweat, tears, and even blood we’ve spilled over this project is nicely gratifying. The occasional gratification is immensely important, especially when you’re not really making any big profit.

Starting a webcomic is easy. Keeping it going, that’s the trick. Just this July the nice and talented couple we met at WonderCon had to shut the doors on their gorgeous fantasy tale Planes of Eldlor, although they’ve kept the art & sculpture side of their efforts going. Just this past week we lost a shambling fellow traveler in the form of The Other Grey Meat, whose writer has a strange habit of referring to my works as wise and intelligent despite all evidence to the contrary. TOGM was another husband & wife creative team in James and June Maillet, and although I’m sorry to see them bring their tale to a close, one side effect of having a webcomic of your own is sympathy for those peers who, for whatever reasons, just cannot continue. Even if you might miss their occasional stroking of your ego in public places.

That sounds dirty, strike that. Truth is, James was generous with his praise and support to a lot of people both inside and out of the community of ComicFury where TOGM was hosted, to the point he almost single-handedly managed to wrangle together an online convention last year featuring several hours’ worth of panel discussions. I don’t know if he plans to take a step back from all that now that his webcomic has ended (although he might very well be reading this and thus be goaded into commenting), but I wish I had half his energy on the subject of networking and outreach. At least half the battle of having a successful webcomic is letting people know you exist, and if the popularity of TOGM was any indication, he was pretty darn good at that.

So even though both comics mentioned have ended, I encourage you to give them a read if you haven’t already. They represent the good works of good folks, and I always had a soft spot for TOGM in particular, not just because James thinks I’m cool (though that doesn’t hurt) but because it was another very non-standard take on the zombie genre.

As for us, we’re still trotting along the trail, keeping a pace we hope will carry Zombie Ranch forwards for at least another year, if not beyond. Thanks for sticking with us, and for every bit of word of mouth you might have spread around to bring us new eyeballs. May you find the story to come every bit as compelling as the story so far.