Zombies! (Rant and Review)

[roseembolism]

It must be the season. On the various message boards I've been reading, there's been a lot of talk of what to do to survive a zombie attack, and as it turns out, a lot of people seems to have things pretty much figured out as to what they'll do. I've been reading those plans (or as much of the plans they'll "let the public know"), and have come to one major conclusion:

Never mind the zombies, the biggest threat to civilization will be the people who know just what to do to survive a zombie incursion. I mean, do we REALLY need multiple bunches of psychos homing in on local police stations and shopping malls with the intent of grabbing as many weapons as possible? All with the main intent of fending off OTHER bands of gun-toting anti social types who have short lists of those worthy of restart civilization?

Which makes me wonder: have there been any stories where the zombies are a minor threat, easily dealt with, and the REAL problem is all the people who react to the situation by going all "me and mine ONLY" survivalist? Maybe one where the zombies aren't even a danger, but the people are?

Anyway, in keeping with the season, here's a couple reviews of some cool zombie webcomics:

The Zombie Hunters: set five years after one of those standard "Zombies eat everybody" scenarios, the last remnants of the human race are clustered at aa small arcology. The Zombie Hunters are those people who go outside, to well, get hunted by zombies, mostly. The art is nice, with a somewhat manga-derived linework, and excellent, bright coloring. While there hasn't been much chance to get into the plot, the dialogue is well scripted, and the pace jumps between humor and tension very nicely. So check it out.

Dead Winter: It's a crime drama, it's a slice of life "work sucks" comedy, it's a ROMERO ZOMBIES INVADE comic! This comic is wild- humorous, tense, and at times really surreal (Seriously, hat's with the sword in the dreamscape bit?) It has a nicely long lead-up reminiscent of Shaun of the Dead, and then abruptly we have people having to turn, more or less gracefully, into heroes. (That's probably what the dream stuff is about, come to think of it). And the artwork is brilliant- cartoonish yet expressive, black and white except for rare, important splashes of color, and the whole thing really looks like it could have been done with brushes.

Hey, I don't even like zombie stuff, and I love these comics. Seriously, check them out!

Comments

[devonapple.livejournal.com]

have there been any stories where the zombies are a minor threat, easily dealt with, and the REAL problem is all the people who react to the situation by going all "me and mine ONLY" survivalist

In a way, "28 Days Later" was that film -- midway through it became more about man's inhumanity to man than about the actual zombie plague.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

I thought that one of the main elements of zombie films is that one's fellow survivors are a threat. A common element is the notion that in the face of a threat or disaster, all social rules will break down and it will be every man for himself. Which is nonsense and one reason I dislike the genre: people just don't operate that way.

[mithriltabby]

How do I know the world isn’t already taken over by zombies? (Other than that I don’t see them shambling around moaning “qualia... qualia...”)

[deirdremoon.livejournal.com]

It's not zombie-specific, but the story _The Postman_ is very much about man being the main problem. IIRC, it starts (and this is like the first five pages, I'm giving away nothing) with some non-apocryphal but serious problem like a few cities being hit by dirty bombs. But because people panic in the week or two it takes the National Guard and the feds to establish emergency procedures, many of the major roads, defensible positions, and food and armament sources are taken over by survivalists who "always knew this would happen" and start fighting each other. Civilization breaks down because no one area has enough people in legitimate charge to re-establish order, and it all just unravels.

I'd be curious to go back and re-read it to see if this was written before the Internet really took off, because I'm not sure the premise holds true today if the power remains up during the initial panic. Of course, maybe it's even MORE true if somebody takes the power stations and cellphone repeaters offline, because then everyone sucking at the teat of constant information will flip the hell out.

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I was thinking of The Postman, where the weird survivalist groups were the big threat.

It was very much an 8-0s W.W.III threat sort of thing, ad i think there's an interesting parallel between nuclear war survivalists and zombie plague fans, except the latter don't actually believe in zombies. I hope.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

Cormac McCarthy's The Road is another post-apocalyptic story, in which the worst danger is groups of cannibalistic raiders that no longer follow human morality. It's unsure if the raiders were themselves survivalists to begin with, but they form militia groups and are pretty damn nasty to come across.