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!

The moment of silence…

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Clint
Ah, the age of streaming video. October brings with it more than the usual glut of what I’ve (fairly or unfairly) come to call “Netflix Horror” and its rows after rows of not-quite-but-almost-amateur productions; not that I’m throwing any big stones here in my glass house, but get ten minutes into most of them and it’s just the same old boobs and blood and foolish behavior from well-heeled stereotypes. If you’ve just smoked a bowl or three and that’s what you want, more power to you, but one of the biggest pitfalls for any creative endeavor is this: if you’re not doing anything original, you better do it really, really well or you’re already going to be on a back foot with regards to standing out from the rest. But I digress. In addition to films that are obscure for the reasons above, there are films in the catalog that might be obscure for other reasons. Or perhaps I shouldn’t use the word “obscure” since some of them were quite famous and successful in their day… I’m speaking of silent movies. Scrounge around on Netflix and you’ll find a selection of them, both Made in the USA and not. Now it’s a feat in itself that these prints have survived nearly a century, but are they all classics for that? Not necessarily, but still, it’s an interesting exercise to check them out. And here’s where I come around to my thought for the week: this is not only an interesting exercise for the aforementioned bowl-smoking session, it’s interesting from a comics perspective. Because moments. Moments in comics are just what you might think: the “freeze frame” that’s presented in a given panel. The moment is something our imaginations fill in on either side, completing the action presented… comics never show the entire punch being thrown, but in our mind’s eye we see it happen. The choice of the moment is crucial, though, which is why 99% of the time a thrown punch will be drawn at or just after the point of impact. You usually don’t want to draw the guy cocking his arm back because unless there’s a purpose for that it’s just quite literally wasting time and space. So film, including silent film, is a full-motion medium that doesn’t really need to worry about those economics, but silent film is an intriguing beast because of the necessity to insert those breaks displaying the dialogue in print form. With these intertitles the director had to make the decision of where to momentarily interrupt the visual flow… or sometimes they’d just have someone talk and gesture and never use an intertitle at all, just counting on the communication to be clear enough without… Well, let’s call it a word balloon, right? They’re a form of word balloon, those intertitles. That was my thought, at least. When you’re creating a comic with dialogue, part of your choice of moment has to pay attention to which “freeze frame,” which moment, is going to best accompany the words being said. What’s the key emotion? What will best flow? Those early silent movies were in a way struggling with similar concerns. So if you find yourself watching one, you could do worse than pay attention to the director’s choice of where to cut for those intertitles, and whether that choice seemed good or bad for the story. Moments of silence. No tragedy required.