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.

I refuse to post again until next year!

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Clint

Yeah, okay, that’s not much of a threat (or relief), is it?

We’ve come to the end zone of 2011. There were ups and downs, but Zombie Ranch has persevered to its third print issue and fifth online episode. We celebrated our two-year anniversary and our 100th story comic. We got to exhibit at the San Diego Comic-Con, and over in Las Vegas I sat on a panel shoulder to shoulder with Neal Stephenson. We got to be special guests at Wizard World Anaheim, and would have been at Wizard World L.A. as well had that not been canceled.

Lest this begin to sound like some rock star lifestyle, it’s not. My email is not yet flooded with the adulation (or condemnation) of fans. We still pay our way to most of these appearances, and it’s only rarely we don’t also pay for the privilege of a table presence. When I talked briefly to Chris Hastings (the creator of Dr. McNinja), he’d never heard of Zombie Ranch, and probably forgot the whole encounter within a few minutes.

No, for the most part Dawn and myself continue our mild-mannered lives as nerds, working our day jobs. Neither of us are aces of self-promotion — I mean, look at how much spiritual searching I had to do even to decide to go ahead with adding Zombie Ranch to the TV Tropes site, despite their assurances that all published works are notable. I know Wikipedia certainly wouldn’t find us worthy of mention, they’re actually quite infamous for deleting the entries of webcomics much more well-known than ours.

There’s this balance we struggle with between wanting to let people know about what we’re doing, and wanting to make sure what we’re doing is worth letting people know about it. I don’t feel comfortable with that hyperbolic carnival barker style Stan Lee had in the 60s, declaring every new character a legend, every tale an epic (and that he was right about some of them ignores the fact that he was wrong about a great many others). 

We haven’t gotten rich off of doing this, and we haven’t gotten famous. We’re probably less rich (at least financially speaking) than we would be if we’d never started. But I do feel better about my life today than I did three years ago, because I’m applying myself in some sort of creative arts, and if the stats don’t lie there’s hundreds of you out there who are glad that Dawn and myself put our story out for you to read and enjoy. That’s a fulfilling thing to contemplate. There are people who have invited me to come talk to strangers, simply on the strength of the idea that I have interesting stuff to say. Better yet, I leave such occasions with nary a hint of tar or feathers upon my person.

What will another year bring? Well, if the Mayans are right we’ve got less than 12 months to make Zombie Ranch a household word. But then again, in that case such fame would really, really be fleeting since no one would be around to remember it. So I think we’re good with our progress so far. We’ve had experiences and opportunities we never would have had if we just sat back and let this story go untold, not to mention meeting some great people in the form of fans and fellow creators (and sometimes both!).

So here’s to the inevitable approach of 2012. Happy holidays everyone!