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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.

Okay, okay, zombie talk… zombie games!

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Clint

“Get back on topic!” said the handful of readers of this blog. Maybe.

So to assuage this no doubt nonexistent controversy, I’m going to mention a few zombie video games in development. One I’ve played a demo of, the others are just pure conjecture from trailers, etc.

I guess let’s start with the one I actually played, courtesy of a free demo period on Steam which at the time you read this will have ended the previous day. We are timely as ever! I did post about it on our ZR Facebook page over the weekend, so maybe some of you saw that. Anyhow:

The Last Stand: Aftermath

This one’s an interesting concept. Instead of guiding a single character or group of recruits through a zombie apocalypse scenario, you have “volunteers” that you control through the game world one at a time, sneaking through zed-infested neighborhoods seeking gas for your car and supplies for your compound. Oh also doses of anti-viral, since you’ve been infected by a new strain of virus and don’t have long to live. The anti-viral only temporarily slows the progress of the disease, so you’re basically doomed no matter what.

“You” is a temporary concept by design, though. The car you travel in, gas up, and (most importantly?) load supplies into has a beacon in it and will get recovered by the compound when you meet your untimely end, one way or another. Then the next day you pick from one of three new volunteers who have shown up back at home base and start off again. Same car, different fodder. Life is cheap I suppose, while working cars are not. The supplies your last run picked up can be used to help out the new guy (or gal) and hopefully they’ll get further along. It’s sort of similar to Hades except instead of being an immortal who keeps reincarnating when defeated, you’re guiding a never-ending(?) stream of different folks who know they’re going out but basically want to do some good for the tribe before they die.

I was a little muddled on the objective but I believe it’s to get beyond “The Wall” and then…? But it’s not like I got very far, only a few neighborhoods before I stirred up one too many zeds… when they get riled enough to start running after you it seems to be game over for that particular survivor, or at least I couldn’t find any way to get out of that. In fact I couldn’t even seem to traverse obstacles that I’d jumped over or through just a minute before and which I would have dearly loved to put between me and them. That and an unfortunate problem of not being able to see your character or zombies at times because of an imperfect isometric viewpoint is a frustrating bit because some of the other activities like sneaking and distraction and such are fairly intuitive and, dare I say, cool.

But since the game is still in pre-release there might be time to smooth out the kinks, so worth keeping an eye on, especially if you’re a fan of rogue-like (or “rogue-lite”) games. It definitely preserves the high body count a zombie movie often involves!