UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)
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12 thoughts on “540 – Trick Hello”

  1. Scarsdale

    Called it, she figured he’d do this, if by choice or by zombie voodoo. I’m sure the “friendlier” questioning will start soon, if she doesn’t just kill him out-right. Or just add him to the herd.

  2. Crazyman

    Gotcha! 😉

  3. Zombatar

    This turn of events is a surprise only to Eustace. And, maybe, Eustace’s subconscious. After all, this way he doesn’t have to actually risk actually attacking Suzie, which gives him a greater chance of survival than actually attacking her. I wonder what he was promised/threatened with?

  4. ConcordBob

    Not to nit-pick, but since sights are on target, finger should be on the trigger. Especially this close.
    The usual rule is “keep finger straight and off trigger until sights are on target”.

  5. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Not to nit-pick, but since that was current philosophies regarding trigger discipline have evolved.
    Of course, it will depend on who you get/got your training from.
    Experiments have determined that the fraction of a second to go from finger off the trigger to finger firing when appropriate is insignificant, and the risk of firing unintended is greatly reduced.

  6. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    I did the google thing and I believe I saw how you reached this conclusion … but there are two parts to it – One should not omit the second part.
    “Trigger Finger Discipline: · The practice of keeping your finger “off the trigger” until your sights are on target AND YOU ARE READY TO DISCHARGE THE FIREARM.” (Caps are my own)

  7. Crazyman

    She wants him alive so she can question him; otherwise, he’d already be dead. 💀

  8. ConcordBob

    Good discussion on trigger discipline!
    His skin is very pale / gray. Is this malnourishment, or has he been poisoned with a mind-control drug? I would have to go back and look a t all various of skin tone.

    1. TKG

      On a prior page we discussed what he’s likely got running in his system. I suggested that it’s probably Borrochero (Brugmansia arbora) which is already used by Colombian cartels to eradicate the free will of their victims.

  9. ConcordBob

    Oh, the gray is just the dim light. Here is McCarthy eating dinner, and has the typical white dude flesh tone.
    https://www.zombieranchcomic.com/comic/531-inquisitional-etiquette/

    1. Dawn

      Yeah, I was trying to show that it was dark. But went with the old Hollywood method of adding a blue grey tint over everything.

  10. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Now can we satisfy my curiosity? Colt, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, or other timeline variant?

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540 – Trick Hello
Posted on February 26, 2025 by Dawn

Suzie hearkening back to the last time Eustace was faked out. She probably regrets not being able to sneak the Lawn Ranger into the bedcovers to be the victim of the stabbing.

And with that, it's Episode 23 time! Welcome back to the Ranch, everyone!

Booking revelations

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Clint
Where “booking” in this context would be in the sense you might use it in, say, professional wrestling, i.e. “laying out in advance the general storyline…to include what the eventual outcome will be.” Trundling further along that comparison, there is the mystery component present in all manner of fiction. Whodunnit? How’dithappen? Etc. A writer tends to have these answers “booked” even though the particular event might have occurred far in the past of the story’s timeline, although just like in wrestling there might be wriggle room for happenstance and improvisation depending on the circumstances. Like the concept of Schrödinger’s cat, even the most defined backstory remains in a state of flux until observed by the audience. If the truth is the answers have been left more nebulous (like say, in the TV Show Lost) then things might morph. But at some point the reveal has to occur, the box has to be opened… …and that’s the scariest part, I think. When the writer or writers open up the proverbial box and say, “Ta-da! The butler did it!” or “He was dead the whole time!” or “The girl was actually a guy!” — that’s nerve-wracking, especially if your fiction has been leaning heavily on the answer. For several seasons Twin Peaks asked us “who killed Laura Palmer?” and the honest truth was even they didn’t know until a botched camera job captured a random production staffer in a shot and birthed the idea of Bob. I like to think I have a more solid grasp on my boxed-up cats than that, but even if you have it all rigidly plotted from the start, what’s to stop your “Ta-da!” reveal from being met by your audience with disappointment? What if they had it all figured out before even you did? Does their satisfaction with being proven right outweigh their lack of surprise? On the other hand, changing things up for the sole purpose of surprising people can just lead to disastrous inconsistencies, which are their own kind of let-down. I personally come down on the side of staying the course in that situation, where even if the reveal is met with disgruntlement (or worse, yawns) at least I can console myself that I’ve had months (or even years) to think it all through. If you have a suddenly deceased or departed actor you have to scramble to write around, that’s one thing, but a webcomic doesn’t worry about such matters. So anyhow, here I am this week, opening the Zeke box and showing at last the precise circumstances that led to his fatal accident. It doesn’t seem like it’s been weighing that much on people’s minds, though, so I’m not feeling a huge bite of nerves. But it’s always been an important piece of the puzzle to me so it’ll be interesting to see the reaction, if any, as it takes a final form.