The week keeps going with the favorite monsters of our writers! Today, James shares his choice, and he liked them before it was cool to do so!
The Monster
The time has come Biters to talk favorite monsters. I can hear you now. “That’s easy. You said it’s the Graboids from Tremors!”
Or you call yourself GBM’s Skeleton in the Closet, so it has to be skeletons. But you’d be surprised. It’s actually zombies.
That’s My Favorite Brain
Not being the most significant history buff among the Gothic Bite Magazine writers, I can’t really speak about these monsters’ origins.
I’m most familiar with what has been called the modern zombie. For once, I’m in the same boat as you all when the zombie outbreak happens. Just like you, I’ll be doing my damnedest to not get scratched or bit. Because I like my brain right where it is.
I don’t want to leave you Biters hanging for some real-world facts on my favorite monster. However, here are a few small facts that I came across.
There is a drug or toxin out there which seems to cause paralysis known as Zombie Powder. The explanation can be found written by Alexa Wayne. She did a deep dive way back when we did zombie month.
Interestingly enough, I discovered there is an actual zombie virus out there. Who knew? According to the web, it was found in northern Russia frozen for 30,000 years, dubbed pithovirus sibericum. We humans can rest at ease since this virus hungers for amoebas, not us.
Barbwire Your Louisville
Okay, enough facts. Let’s talk about fiction! Z Nation, The Walking Dead, Zombieland, and my personal favorite, iZombie.
I can’t really speak on Z Nation other that I’ve seen the commercials, and it has Russell Hodgkinson. It just kind of seemed like it was only another take on The Walking Dead. Speaking of which, this is another one I don’t watch. But The Walking Dead has such a following that I picked up some stuff along the way.
I’m a regular comic con attendee. As expected, you can’t turn around without seeing a fifty or so Deadpool and Harley Quinn. I met the one duo to give these two a run for there money. They were a leather-clad zombie-killing badass and his barbed wire bat Lucille. That’s right, it’s Negan.
From what I understand, The Walking Dead‘s ratings were dropping, and they pulled him in from the comics to give the show a boost.
All I can say, Biters, is that it must have worked. After all, I couldn’t go anywhere on the con floor without seeing both guys and girls decked out with bats and leather jackets.
James Of The Dead
Zombieland and iZombie are more my speed. Long time readers may have noticed I tend to stay on the lighter side of the goth spectrum. Zombieland is more of a buddy road trip with the undead, and iZombie is a police procedural with the undead.
I just love how these two franchises turn this monster on its head by pairing it with another sub-genre.
Sure, I guess Zombieland is still your standard fair, but there is something, so damn amusing about Woody Harrelson going toe to toe with hoards of mindless killer corpses just to get a Twinkie.
Now I did a whole review raving about why I think iZombie is excellent, and most of it comes down to the show’s star Rose McIver. Biters, I’ll admit I was crushing on her character Liv and my favoritism for zombies over any other monster just grew from there.
The other aspect this show added to the zombie lore that I wouldn’t mind about now is there ability to pick up skills of whoever’s brain they ate.
Having made the jump from a monthly writer at GBM to a weekly what I wouldn’t give for some Pulitzer winning journalist brain.
Honorable Brain Eaters
There are two honorable mentions to bring up when talking zombies. Those mentions include the ghouls of the Fallout video game franchise and everyone’s favorite hockey mask-wearing slasher killer, Jason Voorhees.
Some may not view Jason as a zombie, but this horror icon is a reanimated corpse. He is damn near impossible to stop short of an injury to the head. Also, at times he isn’t brilliant when being tricked by not only Freddy but also the very teens he’s trying to kill.
I don’t know about you, Biters, but that sure sounds like a zombie to me. The Fallout ghouls are a little different. They are more sci-fi then part of the goth culture.
After the all-out nuclear war, these unlucky humans somehow didn’t die. But they soaked up enough radiation to live for hundreds of years.
The radiation immunity was at the cost of a Freddy Krueger makeover. At some point, their minds do degrade. It entirely turns them into the classic monsters that I’m sure inspired them.
So…
I think I’m about ready to grab my barbwire bat and box of Twinkie so I can “enjoy the little things.” Right now, like my beloved zombies, my brain is fried. So, till next time Biters!
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