It’s important to have role models, and in a society biased against your very existence, positive examples and outstanding individuals can go a long way to salve wounds and clear the air of prejudice and misunderstanding. For these reasons, each year the Zombie Rights Campaign tries to highlight a select group of Undead individuals from a variety of fields who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to educate the public and change the negative perception of the Differently Animated.

Many of the nominees are figures in the media; some are fictional, and some are bravely standing up, despite the dangers, here in the real world, day after day. All have earned our respect, notice, and above all our thanks.

So without further adieu, here are the nominees for The Zombie Rights Campaign’s Zombie of the Year 2010:

Baron Mardi, of Atomic Age Cinema, Clockwerk Pictures and The Dark Carnival Film Festival
Methods of Outreach: Film, Improvisational Comedy, Live Hosting Duties and Public Appearances

A prominent and publicly declared Zombie, as well as practitioner of powerful Voodoo magic including Zombification, Baron Mardi is a rising star in the independent horror world, helping host the premiere independent horror film festival in America for the last several years, The Dark Carnival. He is also a horror movie host, live performer and founding member of Atomic Age Cinema, which takes a satirical look at the films of yesteryear, including those perpetrating vicious anti-Zombie stereotypes. His recent film ‘Atomic Age Cinema TV 2: Atomic Boogaloo” performed the single best on-screen analysis and debunking of the Zombie Apocalypse meme that we here at The Zombie Rights Campaign have ever witnessed, and has become an instant classic in Zombie cinema.

{ … }, from Hanna is Not a Boy’s Name
Methods of Outreach: Sequential Art

Who says Zombies can’t be heroes? In the wildly inventive, visually distinctive webcomic Hanna is Not a Boy’s Name, our narrator and protagonist is none other than a { … }, a Zombie without a name or knowledge of his past, who teams up with paranormal investigator Hanna ___ to help others and perhaps uncover the answers to his own personal questions. Quiet, loyal, contemplative and introspective, { … } invalidates virtually every sensationalist comics stereotype about the Undead even as he quietly labors to improve his own lot in Unlife. Loyal friend, reliable companion, Zombie, { … } forms an indispensable part of a mystery solving pair and a starring character in a fantastic and enlightened comic.

Zombie Deadpool, from Deadpool Merc with a Mouth and Deadpool Corps
Methods of Outreach: Sequential Art

Zombie Deadpool has at times over the last year provided us with our single highest-profile case of a positive portrayal of Zombiism in the mainstream media; however, the disappointing and, in our humble opinion forced, ending to Merc with a Mouth saw him reduced to the status of another flesh-hungry ghoul, then dealt him his dramatic ‘comeuppance’ for a laugh. He has since returned to the pages of Marvel comics in the ongoing Deadpool Corps series, and the preview hardback, Prelude to Deadpool Corps, was promising, if filled with typical Deadpool lunacy. We at the ZRC appreciate the long and ongoing-attempt to provide, if not a Zombie hero in the pages of Marvel, at least a Zombie character you might want to share a beer with.

Professor Sid Barret from Soul Eater
Methods of Outreach: Sequential Art/Manga, Television/Anime, Toys and Other Commercial Endeavours

An entry originally from across the Pacific, Sid is a prominent supporting character in the smash hit anime series Soul Eater, being released this year in North America by Funimation. Sid acts as a mentor to the main cast of unruly adolescents as well as a stalwart and dependable agent working directly for Lord Death, entrusted with the most sensitive of missions and essential of tasks. Even in the relatively more enlightened and tolerant world represented within the Soul Eater universe, Sid faces occasional Anti-Zombie prejudice, a fact which was capitalized on in early episodes to teach his students a valuable lesson, relying on the unfortunate assumption of hostility many Living individuals make about the recently reanimated. As a potential bonus, Sid’s partner Naigus is apparently a Mummy, so the two of them demonstrate admirable cross-demographic cooperation amongst the Differently Animated.

Desmond Lockheart from Fallout 3: Point Lookout
Methods of Outreach: Computer/Videogame, Multiplatform Release

Technically this nominee barely skated in under the cutoff, as most versions of Point Lookout were released during last year’s eligibility period, but we here at the ZRC feel the need to highlight the excellent work done by Bethesda Game Studios over the last two years to reexamine the nature of the Zombie condition and enlighten the videogaming public to the possibilities of useful and peaceful cooperation and coexistence. Desmond is the latest, and one of the best, examples of this newly tolerant and complex approach to Undead storytelling in the videogame medium. Avoiding spoilers, this much can be said about Desmond: he’s extremely smart, capable, ruthless and yet not sadistic or evil, a character full of depth and nuance, and precisely the opposite of the Resident Evil stereotypes so dominant in this medium. As an example of the fine work being done at Bethesda regarding the Differently Animated, and as an individual paragon of a fully actualised Undead individual, Desmond stands head and shoulders above his savage virtual landscape.

There are many other worthy figures we would have loved to include in this list, but brevity is wit, as they say, and a short list helps to highlight these truly exceptional figures even more.

We here at the ZRC would also like to thank last year’s winner Unity, of famed webcomic Skin-Horse, who has continued her sterling representation of the Differently Animated throughout another year. We have, however, decided upon a rule for the Zombie of the Year awards that no winner may be subsequently renominated in a consecutive year, so as to allow new entries and opportunities for outreach, and so with all due respect we cannot renominate her for the second year running.

Here’s hoping for 2011, however.

Thanks to all our nominees, and as always, all copyrights belong to their original creators/publishers and images are used here under Fair Use principles. Best of luck, and come back to the ZRC blog in about a week, as we will unveil the winner of Zombie of the Year 2010 on Friday, October 29th, to give people a chance to reflect and appreciate a positive role model heading into the Halloween weekend.

Until then we are, as always, your Zombie Rights Campaigners.

Tags: Zombie of the Year 2010

This entry was posted by John Sears on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 at 11:01 pm and is filed under Zombie Media, ZRC News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.