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.

Of names, Shakespeare, and hugging your destiny.

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Clint

So in this week’s comic, any of those of you out there who were still waiting finally got themselves a name to call our cheerful trespasser by. Is it her real name? Suzie doesn’t seem to think so, but what’s in a name? I’m reasonably sure The Lord Humongous was not given that name at his birth, and yet it’s a quite fitting moniker for The Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah. By any other name, he would still smell as sweet — “sweet” in his case probably being a mix of dirt, sweat, and pustulent head tumors.

This is also the second time I’ve used a partial line from Shakespeare as the comic title, perhaps proving beyond a doubt that I can’t help but let a bit of pretentiousness creep into my works — that or I’m just trying to make some use out of years of formal stage training in high school and college. In my defense, though, I would point out that quoting Shakespeare wasn’t always considered pretentious. In fact, let’s talk about a historical tidbit that’s not generally remembered nowadays: Shakespeare was huge in the Old West.

Surprising? If you’ve delved into The Bard beyond a half clueless high school English teacher trying to ram him down your throat as “culture”, not so much. Shakespeare’s original audiences consisted of no small amount of undereducated farmers and tradesmen, and if you look past the outdated language (sometimes you don’t even need to do that), you’ll find quite a few sexual references, instances of bodily function humor, and other elements I can’t quite bring myself to call highbrow: for example, one of the main characters in Twelfth Night is named “Sir Toby Belch“. Even The Bard’s most somber historical works will usually contain a scene or two that seems to have no point to it but random puns and vulgar slapstick on par with the Scary Movie films, which means they’re often cut from productions or left out of school editions entirely.

But this doesn’t mean Shakespeare should be considered lowest common denominator entertainment, either. Though he wasn’t above pandering to the baser amusements of the audience, he also achieved soaring heights of poetry and emotion in his works that connected to that same audience, no matter if they were illiterate rat-catchers or cloistered noblewomen. The greatest crime committed to Shakespeare in the modern age was this social/psychological shift into the mindset that his plays are the province solely of the elite and educated minority, able to be understood and enjoyed only by them.

In the West of 19th Century America, this prejudice didn’t exist. Cowboys and trappers and miners, many of whom couldn’t read, still loved to gather round and listen to the guy who could as he read from a tattered copy of Julius Caesar, often interspersing his own unique oaths and embellishments like the best tale-tellers do. Or better yet, there was the occasion that some big name actor or troupe from back East might pull into a town and put on a professional performance at the local theater, though the experience was closer to the rowdiness of the original Elizabethan crowds than the prim and sophisticated silence expected of today’s audiences. One of my favorite anecdotes–though one terrifying to contemplate as an actor–was about a fellow so adept at playing the villainous Iago in Othello that a drunken attendee clambered onto the stage with a loaded six-shooter and threatened to gun him down where he stood unless he confessed his crimes to the other dramatis personae. I reckon in that instance there was a quick improvisation, and the play enjoyed a happier and much shorter resolution that night to prevent a bullet in the head of one of the leads.

You could hold up that example to show how savage and lawless and disrespectful the theatergoers of the Old West were, but think about it a moment: the reason it happened was because the man got that worked up about what was happening on stage. This was an era where Shakespeare still lived and breathed and was the province of the common man and woman, stirring their passions and speaking to their own experiences. In fact, if you don’t mind clicking off a couple of pop-ups, I present to you a piece that goes into a lot more fascinating detail on the subject, as well as pondering what happened between then and now: LINK

Let’s see, what else is on the news docket for today: oh yes, the possible exciting news I had mentioned last time.

We’re gonna be on a panel!

Long Beach Comic-Con has confirmed us for a 1pm panel on Sunday, Oct. 31st, called “Starting Out: Independent Publishers/Independent Creators”. I know, what a waste to have a panel on Halloween and not be talking about zombies, right? But this is our first time ever doing a convention panel, so we’re not going to be too picky; right now, Dawn and I are just both wavering between being very excited and very nervous. Hopefully we’ll have enough good insights to talk about for all five or so of our family and friends that show up to see us. 😉 Then again, maybe we’ll get a crowd and be terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.

But as The Tick would tell us: “You can’t hide from it. You’ve got to hug it. Hug your destiny…!”

Who can say no to that big, blue mug?

Enhanced by Zemanta