Posted By John Sears on January 26, 2010

So I waded into the pile of Zombie media we have to review and picked up the fourth collection of Zombie Tales, entitled ‘This Bites’.

Appropriate enough, on the whole.

This volume has a number of acclaimed writers slumming in the field of Zombie-bashing comics, including one, Kim Krizan, who’s been nominated for an Oscar for screenwriting (best known for Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, for which she got the Oscar nom). Also included is a one-shot from Alex Medellin, well known in the comics world for Mr. Stuffins, as well as a slate of other authors and artists. Zombie Tales, being an anthology, consists of wildly varying styles, settings and stories. There is no cohesive world that all the ‘tales’ play out in, which affords a great deal of latitude in the precise type of Differently Animated being lambasted.

Generally lambasted, at least. There are a few bright spots amidst the low points. “I Sing the Body Putrescent, or Zommy Dearest”, deals with the issue of Zombie labor and the unequal opportunities afforded the Differently Animated, even as it perpetuates some negative stereotypes; the artwork is also quite charming. “Zombie Come Home” could have been a beautiful tale of the friendship between a boy and his Zombie, if not for an unkind ending that seems tacked on to fill an anti-Zombie quota. “Population Control”, drawn by the aforementioned Mr. Medellin, seems to blur the line between cannibalism and Zombiism; I’m not sure if admitting that humans can have a problem with tasty people-meat too is a step forward for Zombies; lest we forget the Donner party and South American soccer teams though, we must admit, living people eat people too.

The final story in the entire collection is the only unabashedly kind portrayal of Zombies, concerning a group of Zombies who, with counseling and a pharmaceutical treatment of some sort, have gone on the wagon, so to speak, no longer eating delicious human brains. We at the ZRC commend this sort of responsible behavior, from Zombies or humans; non-consensual brain-eating is wrong. Likewise we can give a cautious, but approving thumbs-up to “The Mixed Up Zombies Who Started Living and Became Incredibly Strange Creatures”, written by Ian Brill, drawn by Toby Cypress and lettered by Marshall Dillon. Good show, all, for showing that even in the den of hate that is Zombie Comics, from Boom! Studios, you can publish a pro-Undead work.

I was legitimately surprised by The Mixed Up Zombies, as well as Zommy Dearest. How rare it is to find, at least in the world of comic books, an even slightly benevolent treatment of those members of society without a core body temperature. Yet here, in Zombie Tales, widely known as a competitor for Worst Zombie Bashing Institution (currently duking it out with Fred Van Lente’s shop at Marvel), we are starting to see cracks in the facade, and compassion for our Undead brethren seeping in.

It’s a great sign.

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Tags: Comics, Review

Posted By John Sears on January 25, 2010

On the one hand, it’s fascinating to see this American Sign Language translated youtube video; click on the lower right corner for a Closed Caption option that re-translates the ASL back into English in real time so you can see the differences in structure between ASL and English.

Very fascinating, very cool implementation.

On the other hand.. it’s for Re: Your Brains, one of the most popular Anti-Zombie songs of the last decade.

So, hmm. Bit of a moral dilemma.

Still, if there are any hearing-impaired ZRC readers out there, you can now see what we’ve been objecting to with the work of Mr. Coulton with sign-language accompaniment.

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Posted By John Sears on January 20, 2010

The ZRC picked up a copy of Rich Burlew’s
Start of Darkness, a prequel story/book to his popular webcomic ‘The Order of the Stick‘, while on a recent trip to the local game store here in Madison to acquire the grey-green dice to play Zombie Cafe.

It was an unrelated purchase at first, but upon reading it, I realized that the ZRC had to stake a position on this book, as it is in fact crammed full of depictions of the Undead.

So, some background. Start of Darkness concerns the origins of Order of the Stick’s two most enduring villains, Redcloak and Xykon. Xykon is himself undead, a lich sorceror. Which is to say he’s a magically animated talking skeleton, and thoroughly evil (or Evil, in Dungeons and Dragons alignment terms). However, he’s the villain, and so being Evil isn’t necessarily a comment on Undead in general; it’s sort of a requirement of the plot. He fits none of the traditional stereotypes of the Undead, perhaps because he’s a special kind, perhaps not. He’s not technically a Zombie, so Xykon is slightly outside our purview to begin with. However, Xykon is a necromancer, which means that he creates other Undead. Specifically, Zombies. This is where the trouble begins.

Start of Darkness is a complicated, engaging read, and Xykon is developed from a very young age into a compelling, even savagely threatening villainous figure. The last two pages of this book are extremely heartfelt and depressing, devastating in fact. I read it all in one go and will confess to being extremely pleased with the story overall, as a member of the general public.

But as a Zombie Rights Campaigner I must ask: did it have to have so many ugly Zombie jokes? Zombies are presented as nothing more than unthinking, unfeeling, brain-devouring machines. In fact, Xykon turns his fallen foes into Zombies to torment their souls after death. He abuses them, uses them as menial labor, and all the while they stand around, uttering the infamous phrase: ‘Brains’

Even for a vicious, amoral, murdering monster like Xykon, this goes too far, good sir. We will not stand idly by and tolerate this retrograde, lifeist, anti-Zombie prejudice.

Thus, the Zombie Rights Campaign has no choice but to roundly condemn this entertaining and well-written graphic novel. Perhaps, in future, Mr. Burlew could devote his considerable talents to a work that advances the cause of Undead Equality, rather than casting the Differently Animated in such a harsh and negative light.

Category: Zombie Media | 2 Comments »
Tags: Comics, Review

Posted By John Sears on January 19, 2010

Lots of images of our highly successful outing to B-Movie Madness 2 last weekend in Chicago. I apologize for the graininess of these pictures; our digital camera is rather elderly, and the new camera model we are looking to upgrade to doesn’t come out until next month.

(Images behind this cut to spare our bandwidth deprived friends unnecessary load time on the main page)
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Tags: Movies, Public Appearance

Posted By John Sears on January 18, 2010

(Pictures from B-Movie Madness will follow in an upcoming post)

So your humble ZRC representatives went to the B-Movie Madness 2 film festival this weekend in grey, chilly Chicago, and a good time was had by all.

First we would like to offer up thanks to our hosts The Horror Society, who ran a fun and effective gathering for horror movie fans and consumers of fine merchandise. We picked up a few items ourselves from the other vendors/activists, as a matter of fact.

The ZRC got in a lot of great networking, and we talked to any number of individuals. We passed out many copies of our new informational pamphlet, ‘Zombie Rights and You’ (PDF to be posted online shortly), and sold a number of our ZRC pro-Zombie items of merchandizing. One item in particular was well-received, though I’ll save it for a surprise in a following post. Suffice it to say it is new, it is Pro-Zombie, and it GLOWS IN THE DARK.

How cool is that? I love things that glow in the dark.

The film festival was held in the historic, and gorgeous, Portage Theatre on North Milwaukee Avenue. I heartily recommend seeing a film there, for it harkens back to the so-called Golden Age of cinema, which sadly produced a large number of anti-Zombie films (mostly involving Voodoo zombies). Still, the immense vaulted ceiling, gorgeous interior work and old fashioned accoutrements are a charming backdrop to any film. Concessions specialize in alcoholic beverages for patrons of a legal age, and I’m told that their White Russian is very tasty.

Well, that’s about it for now. Some photographic posts will be coming as soon as I’ve worked on the images with the old image editing software, but I thought a quick text update for now would slake your thirst for Zombie News

Category: ZRC News | 1 Comment »
Tags: Movies, Public Appearance

Posted By John Sears on January 13, 2010

A couple of weeks ago now, the ZRC received a comment on our blog from game creator Wayne West of Spare Brains Games, who kindly offered to send us a review copy of their Zombie Cafe card game.

Of course the ZRC was very pleased to take up this noble responsibility, and so last weekend we got our copy in the mail. Upon which the ZRC learned that its staff had misplaced all of their dice, and more had to be acquired. Not just any dice, mind you; dice suitable for playing Zombie-themed games, for this and future reviews. Plus, this excuse justified a trip to the local game store.

Lo and behold, the perfect steel-grey and green dice were there, ready to pair with the game.

And with that, we were off to the Zombie Cafe!

Zombie Cafe is a refreshingly simple experience after years of playing complicated, constantly-changing card game monstrosities like Hecatomb, Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh (all of which contain/contained heinous anti-Zombie stereotypes by the way). Everything you need, except some 6-sided dice, comes right in the package.

(A one page set of rules, front and back. Ahh, nice to play a game without Errata)

In essence, Zombie Cafe works like this: each player is given a set of brains to sell, and opportunities to draw and deploy ‘Specials’ cards that make their brains easier to unload, their opponents’ brains harder to serve, or otherwise alter the numerical balance of power. As a player relieves themselves of brains, however, they also lessen their card-drawing power, giving other players a chance to catch up to, or gang up upon, their would-be-Champion. The dice are used as a randomizing element to determine the sale of a particular brain on the basis of its total adjusted score.

Particularly innovative in this game is the concept of a ‘Play Immediately’ card, which presents an additional randomizing element to the gameplay, feeling a bit like an infusion of Monopoly’s Chance cards. Given that players often zealously guard and regulate their hands, this adds a potential downside to drawing and turns a universal-benefit into a bit of gamble; drawing a card will, usually, expand one’s strategic options, but it could also spell doom in the form of an additional, unwanted brain that you have to unload.

(Here you can see the Brain and Specials card decks)

Zombie Cafe is easy to learn, easy to play, and highly portable, with the contents all easily fitting into the small game envelope; one could most likely put the entire game in a moderately sized case for carrying a MtG deck. In our experience, games take 15-20 minutes to play (though this is with 2 players, longer games could well take more time), which is perfect for a quick break before bracing oneself for the latest Romero atrocity at the local multiplex, or while hanging out at a convention, or otherwise engaging in direct pro-Zombie activity. (We will be taking the game with us to B-Movie Madness this weekend). Without a doubt it’s a fun independent gaming experience, and on that note we can heartily recommend it.

However, from a Zombie Activism perspective, there are some troubling qualities to be found here. While, generally speaking, the Zombies in this game are portrayed in a far-more-evenhanded approach than in most media, holding down jobs, creating a functional society, possessing taste and intellect, there are still some lingering prejudices to be found within. A losing Cafe-owner is said to be eaten alive by ravenous undead customers, for example; there is also the occasional humorous slight against the Differently Animated. One might also comment on the brain-exclusive diet found in the game, but honestly, we all know brains are delicious. Living humans would eat more of them, if not for prions and the fact that a brain is almost entirely made of cholesterol.

Still, progress is measured in baby steps, and Zombie Rights Campaigners must take what good news we can get, and here is some good news indeed. A Zombie game where the object is to peacefully co-exist with the Differently Animated, to share commerce, currency, perhaps even camaraderie with Zombies? It’s almost too good to be true. The fact that it’s enjoyable is icing on the cake.

Recommended.

Category: Zombie Media | 5 Comments »
Tags: Review, Zombie Gaming

Posted By John Sears on January 6, 2010

Well, the ZRC went out this last weekend for a public appearance, to see the Saturday show at the High Noon Saloon here in icy Madison, Wisconsin, featuring as it did ‘Dead Man’s Carnival’.

From a Zombie Rights perspective, the name was a bit of a misnomer; there didn’t appear to be anyone there who was, in fact, dead. Instead we got to see a rollicking circus sideshow, with stage magic, comedy routines, rocking music, a little saucy burlesque, acrobatics, fire-eating, stunts and more.

It was a wild time. It wasn’t, however, hugely Undead-related.

So if you’re looking for a great (somewhat blue) show, by all means, catch Dead Man’s Carnival when and if they come to a town near you. The ZRC can’t speak for their politics vis a vis the Zombie Community, but as entertainers they kick ass.

That is all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled ZRC Programming.

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Tags: Public Appearance

Posted By John Sears on January 6, 2010

Well, I finally got my copy of Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #6 (stupid holiday weekend, stupid shipping).

Honestly, this is a bit of a filler issue. It’s funny enough, with your zany Deadpool antics and Z-Pool continues in his wacky, but ultimately heroic, quest to return home to the Zombieverse and prevent himself from being used as a bioweapon by various superscience groups.

But… eh. I dunno. This issue clearly existed to get the cast from plot point A to plot point B. It doesn’t have a lot to do on its own, but appears to be the start of a big new story arc involving our wayward Zombie friend.

So stay tuned, I guess, for future Deadpool issues, where the two Deadpools, both living and otherwise, will blaze a new trail of carnage and witty banter across the dimensions. Wheee

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Tags: Comics, Review

Posted By John Sears on December 27, 2009

Just a quick note to show that Zombie Shirts with positive depictions of the Differently Animated are sweeping the land. The always-delightful webcomic Skin Horse has a Sunday special up featuring our own lovely heather green American Apparel garment and a ‘Lurch for the Cure’ t-shirt modeled upon a recent Skin Horse storyline item. Behold the power of the undead harnessed for positive social change.

(Though the stiff-armed walk is a tad stereotypical, the effort to be inclusive is still greatly appreciated. Bravo Skin Horse and Skin Horse fans.)

We at the ZRC have a great appreciation for Skin Horse, since Skin Horse character Unity won our Zombie of the Year 2009 Award for outstanding contributions to improving the image of the Differently Animated. Since winning this award she has been seen collecting pledges for a campaign to find a cure for Death itself, surely a noble goal if ever there was one.

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Tags: Comics, Zombie of the Year 2009

Posted By John Sears on December 27, 2009

Just a quick update to note that the ZRC has indeed obtained a booth for the upcoming B-Movie Madness 2 Film Festival in Chicago as planned. We’ll be there, Marv Blauvelt will be there, a ton of other talented people will be there. Some less talented people will be there too, like a foul squid-man and Baron Mardi, our first ever rejected candidate for Zombie of the Year.

The word on the street is that those children are still in therapy; for shame, Baron, for shame. That’s to say nothing of the goat.

Plus the organizers seem really swell so far and quite amenable to The Cause. So good for them, and good for all you Chicagoans (is that the term) for hosting such a swell looking event.

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Tags: Public Appearance