Page 6: Acclimation
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008I hope the zombies don’t acquire Francis’s sense of smell. I’m guessing they will, though.
CLICK HERE to see Bobby’s mouse drawn MS Paint sketch of this page!
I hope the zombies don’t acquire Francis’s sense of smell. I’m guessing they will, though.
CLICK HERE to see Bobby’s mouse drawn MS Paint sketch of this page!
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Awesome page!
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Sooo…. I’m feeling it was a bit impulsive and premature of Math to partake of AFP’s cure right away. I mean, its not like the humans are going to start breeding to repopulate TODAY. Over 100 million zombie seems like a slightly more pressing concern. DOH.
Unless that stuff has a particularly short shelf-life?
Love the new page.
February 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 pm
wait
so the zombies are going to be inheriting vampire powers? is it limited to smelling or is there any more they can get?
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 am
4th! (sorry)
Last blood is officialy the coolest thing about zombies or vampires ever!
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 am
Uhm if this actually happens holy @#$&…… again holy @#$&.
This looks so dam awesome and you colour is really doing the Owen justice because look at Sullivans face now you can really see the many layers of muscle slowly decomposing from the right side of the head instead of just seeing a chomp missing (this is not a critisism I suck at drawing myself and suck at looking for details unless they jump out, like the colour made it do today).
I also bet that seeing as the comic has yet another reminder of Francis conquering the world in a month that we will have yet another stupid person saying its impossible to do that.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 am
Lucis
Math didnt know he was gonna be human.
Did you read the last GN?
Also this is looking really good!
and i cant wait for next page(as always lol)
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 am
Damn WLB and his bloodhound zombies
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
haha just noticed Rage is still in chains..he must be napping or im sure youd be hearing alot of cussing out of him
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Call me old fashioned, but I don’t really like the colored in pages. It won’t stop me from reading it nor enjoying it, nor does it really downcast on Owens skill, I just prefer the original format. The story’s getting pretty interesting again pretty quick.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 am
Superb as always, can’t wait to see where this heads. Again, the color rocks.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 am
I dont mind the colour. What really matters is the story telling and its going along great. This twist that perhaps the zombies will inherit a vampire ability which would flock any nearby onto the humans. I am eager to see what happens.
and I notice a gang from the first part of the Last Blood story, each page got around 100+ comments. But now the comments after a few days are still less than 50 or so on some. Where have all the fans gone? Where is the loyalty
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 am
But… it’s not like he made all of the zombies the exact day he came out of the ocean, right?
It won’t be anything like *snap*, all the zombies lock on the remaining humans…
Then again, I guess they might have some sort of a pack instinct or something.
This is bad.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 am
Crocen,
Yes, I read the last GN. I think Math had some idea of what AFP’s cocktail was, otherwise he wouldn’t have fetched it while he and April were discussing the survival of the human race, yada yada. He might not have been sure but I think it would be foolish to assume he was entirely clueless. Just my opinion. But thanks anyhow.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 am
Oh, and… is Rage dead, or just felt asleep because no one seemed to remember about him and he was tired of moaning through the chains?
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:05 am
“Where have all the fans gone? Where is the loyalty”
The real fans are the people who stayed. The other “fans” obviously weren’t loyal enough to wait out the gap between the end of the first and start of the second GN.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 am
“I’m feeling it was a bit impulsive and premature of Math to partake of AFP’s cure right away.”
He didn’t know what it was — only knew that Addison left it for vampires to drink. Certainly had an idea of what it was, but he didn’t plan on waiting either way. Bit impulsive maybe.
“so the zombies are going to be inheriting vampire powers? is it limited to smelling or is there any more they can get?”
Keep reading!
“you colour is really doing the Owen justice”
Not sure exactly what that means, but just want to point out that Owen also colors the comic.
“haha just noticed Rage is still in chains..he must be napping or im sure youd be hearing alot of cussing out of him”
You’ll hear from him on Page 7!
“and I notice a gang from the first part of the Last Blood story, each page got around 100+ comments. But now the comments after a few days are still less than 50 or so on some. Where have all the fans gone?”
The start of the second GN has been fairly boring, which promotes fewer comments, as opposed to the end of the first GN, which had lots of interesting stuff going on. We also lost a lot of readers because of the long wait between the end of the first GN and the start of the second.
“But… it’s not like he made all of the zombies the exact day he came out of the ocean, right?”
Right, so it’ll be a gradual process, but over 99% of the zombies were made in the first 10 days, so it’s not gonna take long.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:14 am
I say god damn that color looks good! The artwork is good in B&W, dont get me wrong, but color really does bring out the quality.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:28 am
Hey, I’m still reading it! Couldn’t left something so awesome
The idea of zombies having the vampires power gives me the creeps…
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:43 am
But atleast now, the last humans would actually be able to jump on a ship and scuttle out on the ocean, The zommies might be able to smell, run, climb and float, but can they swim and crawl up the side of a steelplated tankership? Francis would ofcause have to hold off all the zommies with his little army until they find a ship and get on board.. hmm..
I like the second panel.. the smirk he got.. ” I do have a great sense of smell” 5-10 miles…. vs 820+.. That mustve hurt a bit to be told he atleast looks a bit concerned after..
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:52 am
“The zommies might be able to smell, run, climb and float, but can they swim and crawl up the side of a steelplated tankership?”
They can definitely swim, and I’m sure they’d find a way onto any ship.
“Francis would ofcause have to hold off all the zommies with his little army until they find a ship and get on board.. hmm..”
Confused on many levels. Francis is lying on the floor dead, and you spelled it “zommies” twice, so I’m guessing it wasn’t a typo. Anyway, you scare me.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:59 am
DUN DUN DUNNNN! To both the illustrator and the author, awesome stuff, keep it up.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
“The zommies might be able to smell, run, climb and float, but can they swim and crawl up the side of a steelplated tankership?”
As Bobby just stated, zombies, in fact, can swim. And there are hundreds of other reasons why that plan wouldn’t work. Ships need fuel. They would have to get to a port every now and then, which would be extremely dangerous. It’s not a good longterm option at all. You can’t just have all of humanity going around the world on a ship forever. Millions of things are bound to go wrong. Where would they get food? Does anyone among them even know exactly how a ship like that works? Big ships like that usually have huge crews that are specifically trained to operate the ship, fix it if need be etc. - it’s doubtful that the group of vampires and zombies could even get a tanker out of any port they would come across.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:13 am
Still here… just no commenting for a while.
So you decided zombies to be able to evolve in order to be able to keep the story going. Smart move.
I don’t think Sofia is going to be the next best villain, that doesn’t make sense.
With her army and her skills she can outnumber Sullivan’s zombies easily. It is also easy for her to then kill all the humans. Se doesn’t need to kill the vampires, they’ll turn into schaemiacs as soon as there are no humans left.
Unless she decides to destroy every intelligent human-like being including herself.
But something like this can hardly happen.
You already said the human race would survive and Mac would live on for another 20-25 years or so…
There are 24 humans and a few dozen vampires left now. Only a part of the vampires can be turned into humans. That does not leave much room for exciting bloodshed, at least not among humans.
This makes me curious on how you are going to keep the story interesting.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 am
“There are 24 humans and a few dozen vampires left now.”
The story hasn’t specified how many vampires there are. As many as can pack themselves into that plane is possible. My thinking at the moment is that there’s at least 50, possibly over 100.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:28 am
Ohz Noz…..
There’s a lot of zombies heading their way.
Although really, Davis was able to take out a sizable portion using his hand-picked ones. Of course, The amount of bullets killing that many would take….eesh.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 am
Nice page today! Well, yesterday -_-
I like Sullivan’s confused/smirking face in the second pannel, Owen, you rock.
I hope Francis was a really bad vampire, so the zombies won’t get any greater powers x_x
Also, who turned Rage? I donno if it’s been asked before, I googled it and didn’t find it O.o
Lots of love, can’t wait for more! ^_^
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:43 am
Bobby wrote:
“The story hasn’t specified how many vampires there are. As many as can pack themselves into that plane is possible. My thinking at the moment is that there’s at least 50, possibly over 100.”
Addison’s case only contains a few bottles. One for each vampire that wants to turn back into a human.
Are we going to see vampires secretely killing other vampires to gain a greater chance to get one of these bottles?
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 am
“Addison’s case only contains a few bottles. One for each vampire that wants to turn back into a human.”
One MOUTHFUL each is all that’s required, as Addison’s note says. There’s plenty.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 am
Whoa that… could suck…
February 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 am
It seems to me that they are actually in a very good place right now. YES there are 100,000,000 zombies around that can smell them, but just how quickly can those zombies get there. It would take months, possibly even years for zombies to arrive. In addition to that, some of them are quarantined behind the Rockies. Things aren’t so bad for the survivors when you think about it.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 am
What a coincidence that Francis came out of the water 32 days ago…which is the exact acclimation period! What are the odds?!?!
Heh. Lovin’ the mysteries. This time I ain’t readin’ no spoilahs. :-D.
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 am
I like how this is developing… it would be nice if the surviving humans and vampires have to face another huge wave of zombies.
That would make a nice second pile of zombies
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
I seem to recall you saying at some point that abilities are weakened a bit with each transfer. For example, if Devian were to turn someone, rather than fly they’d be able to probably do super jumps.
So my question is this, are they really in that much danger? Even if Francis passed on an ability to do ’super smell,’ wouldn’t each zombie-to-zombie transfer weaken it a bit each time? Otherwise, Francis would have had to do a lot o’ biting.
Even if it weakened substantially, I could still see a lot of danger for them. Just being in a hundred mile radius of smell could bring hordes of Zombies and hordes of good comic glory.
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 am
“The zommies might be able to smell, run, climb and float, but can they swim and crawl up the side of a steelplated tankership?”
Well, zombies should float by themselves because they are corpses, and if they can smell blood they’ll go for it. Imagine them, trying to run will they float, moving clumsily towards your boat, not one, but a horde of zillions splashing their way to your brains… I’m guessing the tanker isn’t a safe place.
But hey, no worries! Old Sully here doesn’t need to eat, drink, sleep, and he’s got 3000 “zommies” at his orders. Go Sully!
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:50 am
Bobby wrote:
“One MOUTHFUL each is all that’s required, as Addison’s note says. There’s plenty.”
Damn… how could I have missed that… I am usually good at noticing such details on-the-fly when reading comics.
It leaves me with another question though.
There are so many details in this story… that may work in this comic, but a comic consists of still pictures. As a comic reader one has plenty of time to study the frames, searching for small but important details. But a movie will be different in that way. A viewer has far less time to come to understand everything that is shown.
I wonder wether the kind of detail in this comic would nicely fit in within a movie.
Also, a lot of people will consider Last Blood as just another epic action movie and might not expect so much detail before they see it and therefore not pay any attention to it at all.
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Even with the transfer rule weakening senses for the vast majority of the zombies, pack mentality would still get them to all run. And even if they weren’t all turned on the same day, that just means that they will be coming in waves for 32 days. That’s a lot of fighting. Hopefully Rage will be out of his chains by then (can’t wait for the next page!) and kill the “zommies.”
And Owen. The color. You are now a god. Thank you for blessing us.
I am looking forward to Math, a now ex-vampire, training Sullivan in the vampire ways. From what I have gathered, Math could qualify as smartest person in this group (Sofia I think is the smartest in the world right now, lived longest, knows more. Math doesn’t even know about her, so that’s something.) I really like how this is developing.
And the smell power exchange. That was wonderful. Thanks Bobby.
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:52 am
Ooh, great idea with the smell thing! I was actually thinking that if the zombies were just going to stumble around mindlessly and kind of shuffle towards blood if they happened to see it, the action part of the story was pretty much dead. Awesome development, and can’t wait to see what else we find out about them!
Also, I’m waaay looking forwards to seeing Sullivan meet his grandaughter!
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Rage is gonna be pissed when they finally untie him.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Why would he be pissed, he still has several Billion zombies to kill.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I’m an old fan of Last Blood, been reading it for ages. The colour does look awesome and really brings some life (hehe) to the story. Good work Owen and Bobby, really great work.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Very good job on the story so far Bobby, and excellent artwork Owen.
I have two questions about the story that I have not seen previously in the comments. First, when a vampire changes back into a human, do they automatically create their own ~10 pints of human blood in the body, or do they require around that much blood before they drink the cure?
And my other question is, are the vampires going to have to start taking blood from the humans soon to drink, and will many of them change to humans soon? If the vampires are going to continue to be actively defending the humans, they would probably need to start drinking blood soon to keep their strength up. I know they came into town nearly full strength, but after the battle with all those zombies, i would expect them to be running low. I just see a problem coming up in the near future of there not being enough people to support the vampires.
From a little searching on the internet, 1 human adult has approximately 10 pints of blood. It takes about 4 weeks for the red blood cells to regenerate after donating about 1 pint of blood, and about 7 to 8 weeks to replace the lost iron. From earlier in the story, it was mentioned that vampires only needed a little bit of blood to stave off turning into a Schaemiac. From the FAQ, the volume was listed as a tablespoon per day, or 1/32nd of a pint per day. I will assume even a lower amount of blood needed to stay “healthy” of 1/100th of a pint per day. With each of the 24 humans donating every 7 weeks, they would be able to support at most 48 vampires, 1 pint / (7weeks*7 days/week) = 1/49th pint per day, or roughly 2 vampires per person. This is assuming all 24 people are adult humans over 110 pounds, while there are at least a couple kids in this group that couldn’t donate.
It seems that shortly many vampires will have to choose to turn into humans to avoid a shortage of blood.
Sorry for such long questions, but just trying to point out an upcoming problem (which Bobby has probably already thought out, but I wouldn’t know about it.)
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
They need far less than a tablespoon per day to stave off the schaemiac process. More like one teaspoon every two weeks. One tablespoon per day would keep them pretty healthy, maybe at 70% of full power.
And yes, they automatically make their own blood — Addison’s potion is magic.
“It seems to me that they are actually in a very good place right now. YES there are 100,000,000 zombies around that can smell them, but just how quickly can those zombies get there. It would take months, possibly even years for zombies to arrive. In addition to that, some of them are quarantined behind the Rockies. Things aren’t so bad for the survivors when you think about it.”
None of those 100 million are behind the Rockies. There’s ANOTHER 100 mllion out behind them. And the zombies can get there very quickly, since they can run at full speed and never need rest. Almost all of them can go at least 15 miles an hour, so even the ones 720 miles away would get there within two days, not months or years. Also, there essentially aren’t any safe places in the world, since the whole world is infested with zombies. They’re screwed. (But not!)
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Wow.. Zombies will have Franic’s good smelling? damn.. now it got very very creepy indeed. O_O
But i am sure of that they will find out how to defend the humans and vampires as well. Even Zombies don’t eat vampires.. it doesn’t mean they won’t attack them. I just love this comic. ^_^
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Can’t Sullivan just control any of the Zombies that come within range of him?
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Well here I am doing my part in showing that I absolutely love this comic, I don’t comment that often although I read quite a lot of the comments. But since some people are concerned about the amount of fans that Last Blood still has. I thought I just as well let u guys know that I have been a reader cine page 20 or something and I will be till the ends
I just think a lot of people just read it an enjoy it but don’t post any comments.
Cheers,
And whatever happens keep going, cause I need too know the hole story
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Paralda,
No, Sullivan can only control the ones he created.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
“Zombies will have Franic’s good smelling?”
Yes. And his name is FRANCIS.
“Can’t Sullivan just control any of the Zombies that come within range of him?”
No, he can’t. He can only control the zombies he made, the zombies those made, and so on.
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I can see it now, zombie gets a great sense of smell:
“awwwww man I stink”
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
“And yes, they automatically make their own blood — Addison’s potion is magic.”
Oh god just what we need the comic with vampires and zombies now containing magic (sarcasm)YAY(/endsarcasm).
“Can’t Sullivan just control any of the Zombies that come within range of him?”
In the future maybe he could because Bobby was talking about trying to get him and Sofia to be able to control no owner zombies.
But even if Bobby decides to do that he won’t be able to right now because frankly hes crap at most of the schaemic stuff simply from lack of time to try it all out.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
“You can’t just have all of humanity going around the world on a ship forever.”
Well you have obviously never watched `Waterworld’.
If only I could say the same.
Great comic, as always. Looking forward to reading more.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
My question is somewhat answered, but I’ll ask it anyway. What happened to Sullivans zombies? He is obvious not controlling them right now. He was able to make a brief statement and keep them under control, but actionless before. I am assuming that this page is maybe a few hours after the battle, since Math makes it clear it’s still the same day, and it must be somewhere between 5-10 miles to the human settlement. I do not believe Sullivan possess the necessary telepathic might to control them at this distance and with this level of distraction.
So, my question is, what happened? Did he have them kill each other all already? Or his he simply much more powerful that I had thought he is?
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
“Did he have them kill each other all already? Or his he simply much more powerful that I had thought he is?”
Neither. There’s simply no need to do anything with them at the moment. They’ve averted disaster for now and they’ve pushed back the bad zombies so there aren’t any for many miles all around the humans, and I think none of the vampires can even smell any bad zombies at the moment, or at least they couldn’t like 30 minutes ago when Sullivan decided to leave his troops and check out his three old dead “friends” in his old school and decide what to do next. It would be the stupidest thing in history to kill his zombies — obviously never gonna do that. Also, he probably could concentrate enough to have them simply STOP and not do anything from this distance, but it’s unnecessary — without any control they’d simply be wandering around and not doing any harm anyway.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Thank you for that clarification. Just having them mill around somewhere didn’t occur to me until right before I read your post. And that’s why you write it, and I adore it. I agree that having killed his zombies would be idiotic, which is why I was concerned. May I ask if, at least until Sofia shows up, will Math be tutoring Sullivan? It is obvious that, due do his lack of experience around vampires, he doesn’t know all that much. He was turned by Payne, but you have said intellect was not his gift (obvious in Sullivan right about now) but I’m looking forward to seeing what that gift that Sullivan, and now all his zombies, has.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
““And yes, they automatically make their own blood — Addison’s potion is magic.”
Oh god just what we need the comic with vampires and zombies now containing magic (sarcasm)YAY(/endsarcasm).”
Um… So? It’s a comic about VAMPIRES and ZOMBIES that are controlled through the minds of half-freaking-skeleton vampires.
Why WOULDN’T there be magic allowed?
Because everything up to now was so realistic?
And I’m also pretty sure Bobby was joking about it being Magic. It’s just a way of saying “Crap happens.”
It might be explained in the comic later, who knows.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Kitey - I truly don’t get it.
There are so many incredible breaks of physical laws in any story about zombies and vampires.
The great smell, the lack of heart-beat, the need for only blood for ‘food’, the inability to be killed by a bullet trough the heart (but not a blunt pencil), the quick turning from human to vampire (or even the fact that it’s possible at all!), the zombies not decomposing.. I bet I could go on for a couple of pages more
There is not any single explanation that makes sense bar “it’s magic”, which co-coincidently is able to explain it all.
And for the latest couple of comics. The color looks nice, even though I’m also quite fond of the black&hite style.
And Maths latest thought is very worrying
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
“I’m looking forward to seeing what that gift that Sullivan, and now all his zombies, has.”
I don’t think he has any special gift, but maybe. Not all vampires do, and I think those special “gifts” might only be related to the five senses — other than Devian’s, that is. Haven’t decided yet, though. At least one vampire will have incredible sight, which will play a role later.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Extraordinary strength, maybe? He made a remark about April inheriting it, so it is a possibility. Unfortunately, there is a Rage already and physical strength is not the most important attribute to have right now.
Well except for his zombies beating other zombies in hand-to-hand. But then again, they would prefer to shoot them to bits anyway.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
But Sullivan’s strength isn’t a vampire given gift — he just worked out a ton. He was basically joking about her inheriting his strength.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Well, if the zombie have gotten anything from francis…this story is going to be interesting…
Too bad i missed out on the update =p
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Oil Rig! Thats where I’d go. Besides maintenence it would be pretty self sufficient.
Anyhoo… Great page, yet again! Really looking forward to the next page, and the next and the rest of the GN.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
“Why WOULDN’T there be magic allowed?
Because everything up to now was so realistic?
And I’m also pretty sure Bobby was joking about it being Magic. It’s just a way of saying “Crap happens.”
It might be explained in the comic later, who knows.”
Well, from now on, every little thing that bugs the readers, every question, will have a quick answer. It was magic.
“Why Sullys zombies arent eating the survivors”
Magic
“Why the comic is now colored?”
Magic
“Why the older pages arent?”
Black magic.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
PS: Despite the blatant sarcasm in my previous comment, I believe that a reasonable amount of magic- not as a miracoulus thing to solve plot issues, but rather as a natural force like gravity- could explain things about the origin of vampires and their powers (OMG, DEVIAN CAN FLY, NOW IT MAKES SENSE, HER MAGIC USES BLOOD TO FLY) etc etc
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
The comments are much more interesting when you start at the bottom of the page and work up, you get the answers to the stupid questions before they are asked, almost like being omniscient.
I like the current being color, and I am interested to know more of the history of AFP and such.
Keep it up, I keep checking for updates, so you must be doing something right.
Ken C.
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Why do you have to take him so literally?
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Krasno, I must say you cracked me up.
- “Why the comic is now colored?” Magic
“Why the older pages arent?” Black magic. -
Classic. So classic. And just to comment, I have been watching LB for a bit now, and I haven’t gone away. I’m just not that much of a commentator, unless I have a question.
And Mr. Crosby, thank you so much for bringing the idea of my worst fear into a comic. Super sense zombies. *shudder*
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
OK, magic and science shouldn’t be mutually exclusive in any universe AFP inhabits. This is not to say that we should expect Tolkien’s elves to pop out of Candyland wielding the mystical Sword Of Tired Fantasy Cliches, though. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Addison might tell us that “magic,” however wacky its effects may appear (zombies?) nevertheless follows discoverable and explainable rules. Magic is natural science that we just haven’t fully figured out yet (science FTW!).
For example, the vampires don’t really have a continent-spanning sense of smell. It’s physically impossible. Odor is a perception in the brain - it’s the result of the neural activity caused when human chemical sensory equipment (noses!) comes into contact with dispersed chemical particles. You can crank up the “human” part of the equation all the way to “superhuman” (also known as “eleven”), but you can’t make the chemical particles travel any farther than they normally would. Greater sensitivity to smell (like dogs smelling more keenly than humans) comes from finer-grained chemoreceptors - they can accurately detect smaller concentrations of particles. If we’re 10 miles away, the dispersal is great, but not totally implausible if the wind is right. If we’re 800 miles away, I’m not buying it. So if they’re “smelling” from a great distance, they are NOT really smelling.
Plus, they’re not smelling blood from that far - blood is within the body, not (at least, not on a GOOD day) being sprayed into the air. The outside of a human smells like salt, BO bacteria, sweat, pheromones, detergent, fabric softener, shampoo, their lunch, whatever they stepped in this morning. But it doesn’t smell like blood unless the human’s having a bad day.
The olfaction system in humans basically takes chemical particles from chemoreceptors and turns that data into a neural impulse that goes to the human brain for processing. Without the chemical particles actually hitting the chemoreceptors, there is no neural activity - no smells to be smelt. So what’s really going on with the super-smelling vampires?
Much in the way that real-life clairvoyants don’t actually “see” the object of their visions as reflected light entering their eyes, and people who hear voices aren’t picking up on soundwaves in the air, perhaps our vampires aren’t really “smelling” their smells. They’re simply so durn sensitive to…. something…. that they can pick it up from another time zone. So if humans are using chemoreceptors to turn chemicals into odor, the vampires are using a different receiver faculty to pick up on information about their world, in super-human manner and capacity. But the brain, while no longer human, is still characteristically lazy - why make new neural pathways to accommodate a new sense, when the old familiar (and human) pathways work just fine?
So instead of chemoreceptors picking up chemical bits, maybe vampires have something-receptors picking up on that je-ne-sais-quois (I bet 10 bucks and a bottle of vodka that AFP knows exactly what it is) and their brains are economically transducing it into a familiar sensory experience.
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
“Well, if the zombie have gotten anything from francis…this story is going to be interesting…
Too bad i missed out on the update =p”
I dunno, I think I’d wanna commit suicide as one of the surviving humans if all of the zombies received Francis’ whiney-ness…
Can you just imagine? Six billion emotional zombies. Heaven help us all.
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
It’d be like living with six billion women in small building with a single bathroom.
Since I’m a woman myself, I totally feel comfortable saying that. Haha.
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
“Also, there essentially aren’t any safe places in the world, since the whole world is infested with zombies. They’re screwed. (But not!)”
Antarctica. There’s at most about 10 thousand researchers etc on the continent at any one time, plenty few enough to survive, and more than 1000 miles of ocean separating Antarctica from Australia and Africa. Just stay away from the Antarctic Peninsula to ward off Chilean/Argentinian zombies, and you’re set!
Oh, except for food. I hear penguins taste like chicken?
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:52 pm
“blah blah big science stuff”
This is fiction. Its a comic/movie script. If I wanted reality, I would go outside. I want to enjoy a thrilling story, so stop trying to force reality on something that is already great.
Not everything has to be OMG 100% REALISTIC
Come on. This has Zombies and Vampires, and Halfzombie vampires. Stop fucking complaining about realism and how ‘they wouldnt be able to smell blood’
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I have two questions:
1. Why does Sullivan Davis’s eye glow?
2. Why don’t his wounds heal like other vampires? Cuz from what I can tell he’s missing significant chunks of flesh.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I gotta say, Math is cuter with normal eyes.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:45 am
jhon i think he was explaining that “magic” may not be magic at all. kind of like the futurama episode were fry asks the professor how something works and the professor replies with a long rambling explanation and fries reply is “magic gotcha”
Natalie Says:
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I have two questions:
1. Why does Sullivan Davis’s eye glow?
2. Why don’t his wounds heal like other vampires? Cuz from what I can tell he’s missing significant chunks of flesh.
1. he is a schematic, a blood starved vampire.
2. schematics wounds never heal.
i know i proly spelled schematic wrong sue me
February 4th, 2008 at 3:15 am
You’d think that the vampires would know whether or not zombies get their powers, since they already knew a blood-starved vampire would become a schemiac (or however its spelled) and make zombies that they can control instead of vampires. Then again, that is only true unless the vampires couldn’t stop a zombie outbreak in it’s entirety by day 32 (or maybe longer).
Anyways, since they have AFP’s recipe to make vampires human again, and they still have some vampires, you’d think they syntheticly reproduce the serum, turn the rest of the humans into vampires, destroy the remaining unorganized zombies, and turn everyone into humans to try and repopulate the earth. Thats what I’d do anyway. Rage can stay a vampire though. He is the Chuck Norris of vampires.
February 4th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Well I dont think there is anyone smart enough left to create the serum, let alone sythesise it
February 4th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Well, shit. (not much more to be said about the storyline) ATWIDFMIIA makes an excellent point about the range of vampiric olfactory abilities, though I’m not going to worry about it in the slightest and just continue to enjoy the comic.
This be Claen’tor, signing off.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:12 am
His eye glow because it was a cool idea for him to have a vamp eye and a zombie eye. All zombie eyes glow (if the zombie is alive). Wounds caused by blood hunger pains don’t heal.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:29 am
This. Was. Awesome.
I love the full color. Just for the record, I want to make it known that I stared at the first panel for about 5 minutes drroling like an idiot.
More soon please!
February 4th, 2008 at 7:29 am
This. Was. Awesome.
I love the full color. Just for the record, I want to make it known that I stared at the first panel for about 5 minutes drroling like an idiot.
More soon please!
February 4th, 2008 at 7:38 am
“After zombies take over the Earth, vampires must protect the last surviving humans so they can live off their blood. ”
That moniker oughta be changed >_>
February 4th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I just wondered about one thing..
1.
Will Zombies turn more smarter yet older they get?
1. If vampires and zombies exist in this.. does it mean zombies did eat ALL the supernatural creatures like werewolves? O.o
February 4th, 2008 at 7:53 am
… and the new plots are amazing already!
I love this comic, in my top 5 comics for a while now.
I’d hope that the passing of gifts would disminished with each generation of zombies as the gifts of vamps seems to do. That way, it’s unlikely than more than a small group would have the VERY big smelling range, altough the long range would still probably be very bad.
As for powers, how about fun ones like sensing the truth (sweat, pulse, eyes movements, muscle contractions, etc.), pheromones control, shape-shifting (to an extent? The old vampire to bat might be a lot too much, but how about having hair and claws grow like the teeth? Might give a good idea what werewolves myth were about ^^ ) or others the like.
Now come my scary concern: If gifts randomly appear in vamps and vamps were very limited in numbers, yet still managed to have enough gifted appear so that they could figure out how it worked, what about the zombies. Is it possible one or some develop random powers? If so, let’s get scared shitless of it, because with a couple billions of them being created at once, the odds are good that some have nasty powers.
Anyway, always a fan ^^
February 4th, 2008 at 8:24 am
O, I just had a thought. We know of at least four schaemiacs, and we know who three of them are. I would personally love it right now if the fourth one was an ancestor of Devian. That’s right. Flying zombies. How cool would that be. See Sofia march in with her massive army as she gathers new zombies to her horde, and then have some take to the air. How awesome would that be?!
February 4th, 2008 at 8:30 am
“You’d think that the vampires would know whether or not zombies get their powers, since they already knew a blood-starved vampire would become a schemiac (or however its spelled) and make zombies that they can control instead of vampires.”
Actually, it would be smart not to think that - if you recall, Devian was explaining about how this was a children’s story that she listened to as she grew up. I think it’s safe to assume the majority of vampires doubted the very existence of schaemiacs. The ones that were born vampires heard this as a bedtime story, the ones who were turned probably never even heard about schaemiacs, and even if they did they probably wouldn’t have believed it.
“You’d think they syntheticly reproduce the serum, turn the rest of the humans into vampires, destroy the remaining unorganized zombies, and turn everyone into humans to try and repopulate the earth.”
Even if synthetically reproducing the serum was possible, that plan still has several major flaws. Where would they get enough blood to turn everyone and then survive as vampires for as long as it would take to destroy all the remaining zombies? How the hell would they actually destroy six billion of them? Impossible, if you ask me.
“That moniker oughta be changed >_>”
Why? The zombies have taken over the world and the vampires still are protecting the remaining humans to live off their blood.
“Will Zombies turn more smarter yet older they get?”
I’d say it’s safe to assume that they won’t.
“If vampires and zombies exist in this.. does it mean zombies did eat ALL the supernatural creatures like werewolves?”
No. Werewolves don’t exist in the universe of Last Blood, and even if they did, I doubt that zombies would eat them.
“Flying zombies. How cool would that be. See Sofia march in with her massive army as she gathers new zombies to her horde, and then have some take to the air. How awesome would that be?!”
I highly doubt that would happen, since any zombies created by the fourth schaemiac are probably long gone or locked away in some godforsaken place - it would be very unlikely that they would just be roaming the streets along with Francis’s zombies. Remember, that schaemiac was around more than two thousand years ago.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:34 am
I love, Love, LOVE Sully’s smirk in Panel 2. Kinda like, “aw, shucks, I don’t wanna toot my own horn, but…”
I’m also glad that the flashbacks and “current day” comics are in black/white and color respectively. I can sometimes have a hard time following timelines when they jump back and forth, but the color’s a nice visual aid ^.^
February 4th, 2008 at 9:53 am
This is a really good page. I think one of the better ones.
February 4th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Wait…..uh…..Crap I might be having a sully moment.
I might have horrible memory or whatever but I think zombies not picking up those abilities was mentioned but I guess that was changed. Then there was that whole “No way in hell he can ever control them” (not exact quote) but I guess that changed too.
I guess the only reason I need is because BC said so. (I was gonna go with BFC but he has stated his own dislike for AFP)
February 4th, 2008 at 11:30 am
“I highly doubt that would happen, since any zombies created by the fourth schaemiac are probably long gone or locked away in some godforsaken place”
Um…fourth? Mis-speak or story slip?
February 4th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Bobby/ Owen- I gotta say, I love the direction of the sequal so far. It doesn’t feel like it’s ‘forced’ at all, the way a lot do after the intitial story has success. And it addresses what happens after with problems that were obvious- it doesn’t just say “Francis is dead! Yay! Everyone is happy now!”. Anyway, it rocks.
And Owen, the color just makes your art that much cooler.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
cool…
February 4th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Gotta agree with Rith26–what’s really good about this is that it’s not just an OMG NEW VILLAIN HOLY CRAP kind of sequel; it’s a natural progression that answers questions that the last GN didn’t.
I think it’s safe to say that no zombie outbreak has lasted long enough for zombies to assume any powers, since otherwise the world would have been zombified long ago (even allowing extra time and difficulty due to the fact that any previous outbreak would have occurred at a time when transportation was considerably slower). Note that I say “outbreak,” as in an actual attack/epidemic. Sofia’s undead legion might have picked stuff up by now, but they’re in…uh…storage.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Anko Said:
“As Bobby just stated, zombies, in fact, can swim. And there are hundreds of other reasons why that plan wouldn’t work. Ships need fuel. They would have to get to a port every now and then, which would be extremely dangerous. It’s not a good longterm option at all. You can’t just have all of humanity going around the world on a ship forever. Millions of things are bound to go wrong. Where would they get food? Does anyone among them even know exactly how a ship like that works? Big ships like that usually have huge crews that are specifically trained to operate the ship, fix it if need be etc. - it’s doubtful that the group of vampires and zombies could even get a tanker out of any port they would come across.”
Actually, a modern day supertanker only needs a crew of 20, and it’s all computer controlled, so if you find a manual, your set. They can even dock and get underway themselves. A tanker would be ideal, you could flush out a tank and use it for fresh water, and the nice flat tops can be planted for food or even build a coral for steaks, I mean cows. Just have to keep moving slow, anchor a bid in an area, move to another. If you move based on the seasons, you can avoid hurricanes and the like.
It’s still not a very safe way to avoid the zombies, as they would be swimming/ floating after you all the time. And you would be just one major breakdown or storm from death. But if you had a tanker, hospital ship, and an old Navy supply ship, and just convoyed everywhere, it would be feasible. Modern tankers hold 42 MILLION gallons of fuel. A Navy supply ship holds several million as well. They also have huge store rooms and freezers for food, and are set up to replenish other ships while they are moving at sea. The hospital ship would do for living space, also makes huge amounts of fresh water, and you could treat almost any ailment with the equipment on board.
But it would still be hard to do, and computers can’t replace the human element completely in sailing skills. Plus, they still have to travel that 1,000 or so miles to a port that would/could contain such ships.
Could it be done? probably. Recommended for this group? Nope.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Oh, forgot to mention that I like the color and am excited that the next installment is rolling right along. Keep up the excellent work Bobby and Owen!
February 4th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Acclimation? Ruh roh!
February 4th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Know what’s fun? Defending that place against mindless meat that essentially throws itself on you. I mean, no brains, no teamwork, no nothing, every mindless zombie for him, her or itself.
“Ready your weapons! ….Wait, no, scratch that. Throw yourselves in front of them! They won’t attack you without a command!”
That’s how I see it anyway. A wall of meat. And Rage.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Well, from all the comments, nice stuff.
Love the direction this one is going so far, keep up the good work!
As for perfectly safe places… there are some, but they ain’t feasible in any way, shape or form, given situation and even basic tech level. Basically, for perfect safety, its gotta be either an airbase of some sort, or orbit. Yay… Neither is feasible at all, end of statement. (Supplies & Time)
Partial safety would probably require acquisition of hardware and location. Meaning additional military hardware and a tactically superior position.
Neither of which is very feasible (Transportation) either, so… I’m really looking forward to how Bobby is gonna get them outta this mess.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
This might or might not be used in the coming issues..but since its been 32 days since Francis came out of the ocean and Marissa was the first he bit..she is going to be the first one with his nose (if its passed anyway)..perhaps seeing a zombified Marissa show up first to devour the humans? Might be a fun little detail :-p
February 4th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
One or two questions I mistakenly left out in my other post.
Why is it all the schematic’s have at least 1 glowing eye…yet Sofia..has two vampiric eyes?
Where did people pickup an idea that there has been 4 schematics? I mean Sofia (the original one who caused the Bulgarian outbreak), Francis (aka WLB), and Davis…did I just misread something?
February 4th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
“Why is it all the schematic’s have at least 1 glowing eye…yet Sofia..has two vampiric eyes?”
How tough is it to take two seconds and check to see how to spell a word? It’s schaemiac. The answer to your question is based on the experience they had during the 65 year transformation.
“Where did people pickup an idea that there has been 4 schematics?”
It’s been discussed many times recently in the comments that Addison knew of the cure because of a previous super smart vampire who made it 2,000 years ago, and I’m pretty sure I said that a schaemiac was involved at the time. There’s probably been dozens of schaemiacs throughout history.
February 4th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Yea, sorry about the spelling I scrolled up and picked the first one I saw that looked right. But anyway, Thanks for the clarification and keep up the good work.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
So I was bored earlier and stumbled across a website for another comic I read (I voted for) and saw the banner for this comic and it sounded really good. Well I have just read it from start to this point and I have to say it far surpassed what I thought it would be look.
Amazing stuff and I love the detailed work that goes into this. I’ll be checking back here regularly to read all the new pages ^^
February 4th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Dozens of schaemiacs? Man, it hurts just to think about 65 x a lot of 12s’years of torture.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
In my mind the image is about one million zombies suddenly smelling the humans, and in the first 5 seconds about 200,000 of them breaking their brittle legs as they run and trip towards the smell.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
@Jhon:
you’re right in that it WAS a lot of words, but I wouldn’t call that “big science.” It’s all gettable from 5 minutes on Wikipedia (which is the extent of my neuroscience experience, incidentally). Basically the sense of smell thing was bugging me and getting in the way of me appreciating the story, so I wanted a way for it to make sense so I could go back to enjoying the zombie madness. I’m really enjoying this comic on a “Pro Wrestling” level. NWO, baby.
@jon: “Like putting too much AIR in a BALLOON!”
@engineer:
what happens when the supertanker runs out of fuel? Reminds me of The Raft from Snow Crash! Dirty religious fanatics are a little LIKE zombies, at least that holds true in my hometown.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash#Condensed_narrative
http://igargoyle.com/archives/2006/02/the_raft_snow_crash.html
February 4th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Wow all these questions facing mechanics of things, and realism are too much. This is a work of fiction, so get over it. Somethings in “Last Blood” can be explained, some can’t. Vampires can smell blood from crazy far distances, how? Can’t really be explained unless Bobby has something to say about most the time. It’s not like Bobby’s posing random crap like “And the humans bake cookies for the zombies and the zombies all die! THE END!” Just wanted to put my word in edgewise.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
So is AFP’s super intelligence another bite-inherited trait like flight or blood smelling? Or is it just a side effect of being really old?
February 4th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Neither. He just happens to be super smart — same answer for practically all super smart people.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Too bad that AFP can’t pass is super brains, because then Sully would be a hell lot more useful.
For the people bitching about the sense of smell, try to notice that many animals including dogs can smell blood inside a body, for example, adrenaline, thus knowing when someone is scared.
And vampires can only smell blood (that’s why they can’t smell Schaemiacs), so if they had a “real” super smell they should smell anything. Ergo, it is magic. Issue solved, next please…
February 4th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I never really saw the problem with the vamps being able to smell the blood. even if a group of people were to get into some underground sealed bunker, the trail of them heading down there would be around for days. bloodhounds can pick up a trail days old, and sharks can detect blood in one part per million of seawater. so I’m going to guess super smelling vamps will have no problem following them anywhere.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
@ Any Technology which is distingahhi’mtiredoftypingallthat:
“Basically the sense of smell thing was bugging me and getting in the way of me appreciating the story”
Then why don’t you use google and look at where this was discussed for like 2 pages in the last GN rather than bug us with it here? Besides, wanting a scientific explanation for the super sense of smell is almost dumber than wanting a scientific explanation for vampirism in general.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
If anyone has read I Am Legend, you know that a large portion of the book is specifically dedicated to Neville FINDING the scientific explanation for Vampires, and he seemed to have come pretty close by the end of the story.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
That must be why that book was so damn boring. I mention it a few times in an interview I did today –
http://www.brokenfrontier.com/lowdown/details.php?id=1176
February 5th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Just read your interview, Bobby.
I too find it interesting that so few people have connected zombies and vampires. The creatures of the vampire crazes of the 1720’s in England were a great deal more similar to our modern conception of zombies than to the sleek, powerful, alluring vampires usually portrayed today.
Strange that the interviewer thought the whole vampire thing might be passe. Vampires have been in style since before Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, and they’re not about to go out any time soon, though their portrayal is certainly shifting over time. I think it’s really neat that you’re bringing them back to their zombie-like roots in the English tradition, however unplanned that may have been. (Sorry, took a course on the history of vampires in film and literature last semester, and now find it difficult not to ramble…)
I’d also just like to say that I admire your confidence in the face of criticisms and warnings. I think this is a great story you have here, and can’t wait to see it on screen despite my general dislike for the horror genre in film. Love your artwork too, Owen. I think you guys are a good fit.
Anyway, that’s my two cents… Love the comic, definitely love the colour in the sequel, and can’t wait to see how the story develops!
February 5th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Jeezus, I just read a bunch of comments to get here and I can say some people here really talk a load of it. At any rate, I have a question or two to ask.
1: Francis was better at controling the undead than Sullivan, yeah? I assume because Francis could have millions heading for one spot, a bunch chaining up vamps and be a whiny little bitch all at once, while Sullivan had to have them stop shooting just to give orders. So am I right to assume?
2: The vampires with the best smell passed it on to Francis and thus to his Zombie army. The Vampire ‘family’ passed on the ability to fly to Devian. So will we be seeing any other abilities aside from the super sight one? Also, is there any ability that is passed on genetically, but not through bite?
3: Last one. this is a statement, not a question. Everyone who reads the damn story, stop suggesting your infeasable rubbish when you and probably Bobby have already covered that it doesn’t matter! Ship convoy?forget it. Bitching about smells? Shut up and enjoy the story. Also, brainless doesn’t necessarily matter, anyone who knows jack shit about zombies know that they have at least the needed motor function to hunt and eat, so giving them super smell just adds to the ‘Unstoppable Murder Engine’ problem that all zombie stories have. Tireless, merciless and as fr as I know dont feel pain. Let’s see some WLB argue with that logic in this story?!
February 5th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Forgot to say. Anyone who even tries to hit me with the logic Zombies eat therefore they need energy to function, or that they must feel pain cause their brains function to keep moving. Zombies are impossible by any and all standards to begin with. Shambling undead people, their faces are rotting off and they dont feel it. Without someone controling them they work off the basic principle one needs to survive (obviously not clever enough to know they’re dead) EAT!
February 5th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Sorry for the tirade Bobby, I just want to get on with the story. Nice work once again.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:38 am
“Francis was better at controling the undead than Sullivan, yeah?”
Maybe a little. He had a few weeks more with them than Sullivan.
“Also, is there any ability that is passed on genetically, but not through bite?”
All of them are passed genetically, even stronger than through bites.
“So will we be seeing any other abilities aside from the super sight one?”
Yes.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:21 am
pardon me,
this may have been asked already, and if so i have for sure missed it.
but anyways, if WLB started making the zombies and they went out and made more zombies would the ability to smell humans from a very long distance not get nulified a little bit.
or am I jsut on drugs and have no idea what i am talking abot?
February 5th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Let’s see, we have the mass gathering of zombies from one direction by Francis, butchered down to a certain extent by the vamps and Sullivan’s zombies. This would give a potential temporary clear zone in some area (depending on how Francis gathered them, from one side or concentrated them on one side from all around) that could be reached. Vamps do the scouting and move the humans around with Sullivan’s zombies able to screen off any milling groups that come close. It could work that way, would be a nice epic bit of the story too.
February 5th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Math is a genius, instead of letting rage out, math is gonna let him sit there chained up getting more pissed by the second. When the acclimated zombie horde shows up, Then you set him free…….
okay so maybe they just forgot about him, but thats what i would do heh
February 5th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Heh, he said “living vampires”. What a hoot! (Not questioning it, just find it funny)
February 5th, 2008 at 8:38 am
My guess is they have about 10 days to find a solution before the enhanced zombies will start to pose a problem. Many of the early ones would have been send across the world, and few will be within range. But as the days pass, more and more e-zombies will emerge, and they will all migrate towards the humans.
I doubt they will be running though… they have all the time in the world, and the only schaemiac that could make them run is dead. Probably…
Unless ofcourse, not all e-zombies are created equal… new vampire powers emerge from time to time (super smell, flight, etc), so some zombies will likely exhibit strange new powers as well. Seeing as all but a small group of humans is turned into zombies, I’m expecting some serious nasty shit to emerge
Flying zombies, ’smart’ zombies (regaining some sense of awareness), hivemind-zombies that can control the zombies they created themselves, etc… (Worse case scenario: 6 billion Francis zombie-clones, 30 days from now 
It’s going to be fun watching the story unfold
February 5th, 2008 at 9:35 am
““Also, is there any ability that is passed on genetically, but not through bite?”
All of them are passed genetically, even stronger than through bites.”
That means that should Murdo have a vampire kid, the kid would inherit the full power of Val’s nose probably. Neat.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Not full power, because Val bite Murdo, though the kid would have all of Murdo’s nose, which is likely to be comparable to Math in strength, eventually. If, and I stress the if, zombies begin to manifest other vampiric powers through mutation, has anyone considered how dangerous a super-strength zombie could be? I remember Bobby had said that we weren’t going to have multiple vampires turn a human, thus they would only get one power each, but the same is not true for zombies. They bite en mass. We could get a “super-zombie” form this. That is, IF random powers manifest.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
“My guess is they have about 10 days to find a solution before the enhanced zombies will start to pose a problem. Many of the early ones would have been send across the world, and few will be within range”
You grossly underestimate the situation. After two weeks, the number of survivors worldwide was in the hundreds of thousands TOPS. Over 90% of the world population was probably zombified within the first week.
“I doubt they will be running though… they have all the time in the world, and the only schaemiac that could make them run is dead. Probably…”
Listen to Math, he knows what he’s talking about. Zombies don’t need a schaemiac controlling them for simple things like running after food. If they smell it, they’ll run for it.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I know this has been said 1000 times so far by everyone, but DAMN do I like the coloration. Very evocative of the mood of the comic.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Lance: What’s wrong with analyzing things? I never got the impression that the guy whose name I don’t feel like looking up was actually nitpicking about sense of smell, but rather offering some insight as to why the smell thing didn’t bother him. This comment section is for general discussion about the comic. If someone has a problem, they can just skip over any comment they like or not read the comments at all. The wonderful thing about the printed word is that it doesn’t waste anyone’s time who isn’t willing to let it do so.
February 5th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I agree with Jesse.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
So “inheriting” powers through genetics yields stronger powers than bites…
so I agree with the “family” idea. It’s kind of like breeding horses, but you know crazy vamp powers. Seems odd that these powers would not exist anymore.
I mean, if the average (or whatever) smell sense is 30 miles and Val’s was 1000, that means that there was a whole bunch of selective breeding going on. So quick question: How old is Val?
Then there is Devian, while she stated she wasn’t as strong, she can still fly. A valuable ability, or so Nathan Petrelli would say, but she’s the only one. So what, was there a violent battle between “common” vamps and “uber” vamps in the past?
Or is alot of it just random?
February 5th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
i just have to say this gets better by the day.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:58 am
since WLB didn’t personally bite and create all the zombies himself, will the effect (super smell) get weaker as the zombies pass it along? does this mean that there are different classes of zombies then?
February 6th, 2008 at 1:20 am
something completely different:
creepy thought: couldn’t the children donate blood(3 children 1/2l each) and then every adult is turned
they drink the blood to sustain themselves-fight against the zombies
then drink the cure
and in the given situation ZombieSurvivalGuide recommends a Blip ; )
February 6th, 2008 at 1:55 am
“couldn’t the children donate blood(3 children 1/2l each) and then every adult is turned
they drink the blood to sustain themselves-fight against the zombies
then drink the cure”
No.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Sorry Jesse, I guess you’re right. I just hate the way people claim to be fans yet insist on poking holes in the story that Bobby as worked on to bring us every few days.
Sorry again Jesse and Bobby.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I said:
“You’d think that the vampires would know whether or not zombies get their powers, since they already knew a blood-starved vampire would become a schemiac (or however its spelled) and make zombies that they can control instead of vampires.”
Anko replied:
“Actually, it would be smart not to think that - if you recall, Devian was explaining about how this was a children’s story that she listened to as she grew up. I think it’s safe to assume the majority of vampires doubted the very existence of schaemiacs. The ones that were born vampires heard this as a bedtime story, the ones who were turned probably never even heard about schaemiacs, and even if they did they probably wouldn’t have believed it.”
Bobby later said:
“It’s been discussed many times recently in the comments that Addison knew of the cure because of a previous super smart vampire who made it 2,000 years ago, and I’m pretty sure I said that a schaemiac was involved at the time. There’s probably been dozens of schaemiacs throughout history.”
So this is directed at Anko:
If theres been dozens of shaemiacs throughout history, why would it be a children’s story to vampires? Also, judging from the reactions of AFP, it should safely be assumable that he already knew schaemiacs existed. Isn’t it then safe to take it one stretch further and assume all vampires knew they existed? Some of these vampires are really really old, over time I’m sure at least one or 2 of the old ones (not including AFP who knew they existed based on the flashback with Sofia) have met and possibly even fought against some of the past schaemiacs.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
disclaimer: everything is neat, I like this comic
small suggestion: having the acclimation phase ALWAYS be EXACTLY 32 days seems kinda fake, like saying pregnancy is ALWAYS EXACTLY 40 weeks… nothing physical is ever quite that precise, AFAIK. I’d say “approximately 32 days to acclimatize.” you know. in future movie(s).
no big thing though. Just something that struck me as “too rule to be real.”
February 7th, 2008 at 8:47 am
“since WLB didn’t personally bite and create all the zombies himself, will the effect (super smell) get weaker as the zombies pass it along? does this mean that there are different classes of zombies then?”
No, that would mean that the zombie bit by a zombie bit (25 times) bit by TFZ would be less of a zombie and that TFZ’s control over it would be weak.
“If theres been dozens of shaemiacs throughout history, why would it be a children’s story to vampires?”
Anko, I want to answer this. Think Swag. Dozens throughout history. Do you know how many years that things has? Ancient Egypt was 5500 years BC, and now we are in the year 2008. That is almost 8000 years.
If there were 50 schaemiacs (wild guess), that would mean that there was one every 160 years. In the ancient world, were travel was difficult, it would mean that probably most of them appeared in those ancient times since they couldn’t travel fast enough to get blood when they didn’t have some near (and think that they couldn’t preserve it like today, it needed to be fresh blood!). Hey, maybe some mummies were actually schaemiacs (wow, this gets better and better) that were mummified during hunger pains (for those who claim that they would rip their hearts during the process, remember that they only did that to VIP’s) then some guy finds it and gets zombified (the curse of Tutankamon?XD).
And travel being that difficult, stories often get changed and transformed into legends (the manticore was based on tigers, the chimera on lions, etc) and then into bedtime stories. And remember, AFP wasn’t around in ancient egypt (unless Bobby says so).
I got carried away, please ignore all the shit I said.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
“No, that would mean that the zombie bit by a zombie bit (25 times) bit by TFZ would be less of a zombie and that TFZ’s control over it would be weak.”
Uh, no, that’s wrong. I’ve never said anything like that whatsoever, so it’s strange that you’d state that as a fact. Anyway, he controls all the zombies equally that were involved in the chain reaction he started (as opposed to Sullivan or Sofia or any other schaemiacs’ zombies). Also, my position is that there was no further deterioration of the sense of smell among the generations of zombies. The reason for that is something to do with the difference between zombies and vampires. The zombies have the advantage of not losing any of the power of the biter’s senses.
February 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Loving this comic still guys. Keep it up.
And to all those comments “poking holes in Bobby’s story”, “nit picking” and over analyzing:
STOP! Its a FICTIONAL STORY - enjoy it as such. The beauty of fiction is that it does not require 100% realism. Who cares how it works in story versus how things work in reality.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Sorry Bobby, I was trying to say that implying that the abilities passed on the zombies weaken as they are passed, that would mean that the link to TFZ should be equally weakened, which is impossible. I didn’t explain myself correctly, my bad.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
@Lance,
Oh, I wasn’t nitpicking. I was merely stating some facts and a different scenario, possibilities only. Nothing at all wrong with Bobby’s story. I love it to death (get it?) I just love the way the story gets my survivor mind racing, what would I do? what thoughts and plans would pop into my head if I was there with them? I know most would be impossible or improbable, but I still enjoy the ideas and hashing them out. I also enjoy sharing my ideas with others.
@Any Technology which is distingahhi’mtiredoftypingallthat:
That’s why it isn’t such a good idea. But it would be decades before your burned up all that fuel, even if you sped around all the time. (if you could ’speed around’ in a ship) I was the oil king on my ship when I was in the Navy, so all I did was calculate usage and requirements. If you were already sitting in a port with all the components, ships, and the personnel in place, and it was a ‘normal’ zombie infestation, then you could maybe make my plan work. But not in this story. and that’s just fine with me, because I LOVE this story.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Cerevisi: Making the story more realistic (i.e. not-real bits fitting well with/complementing actual real-world bits) helps a reader/viewer suspend disbelief. That’s always a benefit. You can get more into the story if it all seems logical/makes sense.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:48 am
“Uh, he (Sullivan) can smell blood too, of course. He’s been going after the human blood scent at full speed for a while now.”
I read the above after reading this page, and it seems kind of difficult to use a 10 miles range to find humans when they are so scattered. Unless it only covers the run towards the school, but that’s when I begin to wonder why he didn’t seem to have established a modern communication link with AFP, given that they seem to be such good pals and everything. Seems more likely that AFP, who certainly seemed to know where to land his plane, would’ve been able to simply tell Sullivan to head for the school. Which would make the ability to smell the humans unnecessary.
If they were concerned with signals from Sullivan being tracked/noticed by Francis, perhaps a beacon could’ve been used to at least let Sullivan keep track of AFP whenever AFP so choose? Though, then again, perhaps AFP didn’t want to risk Francis noticing the beacon’s signal and getting the idea that there might be someone out there who’s meant to receive that signal? Someone he should prepare for.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
Hah. I thought it was sullivan who came out of the ocean…
and is that a cagey ragey I see..?
June 11th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I’d still rather have Math be a vampire