Zombies are now one of pop culture’s biggest all-consuming fads. As the lumbering husks of our friends and families it’s hard to see why the affinity has stood the test of time. Twice weekly this Zomblog will aim to discuss Zombies at large and what they mean to me, and hopefully what they mean to you.

This Zomblog was born out of collaboration. I’ve just joined the ranks of Double Take’s comic writing team. For the unfamiliar, Double Take is a brand new comic publisher out of New York city that us launching a fully shared universe centered around George A Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead. (They’ve got a Kickstater too.) 

I’ll be writing my own story set in the late hours of that first night, and while I can’t tell you much about it just yet – this blog should serve as a process piece for comic writing just as much as a discussion forum about Zombies.

They may now be a cultural phenomenon, but back in 1966 Zombies were this horrible reflection of our societies’ greatest fears. I’d argue that this reflection is something missing from current work in the genre (Cough, The Walking Dead, cough) but I think it boils down to what zombies actually mean to you, the viewer, reader, or participant in the story.

What do zombies mean to you? Isn’t a question that people ask often but it’s one that every horror lover has an answer to. For myself, zombies represent this horrible reflection of what it means to work together as a collective. When joining the horde the undead are given one purpose – to survive. The remnants of humanity are faced with the same stakes and ultimately fail to achieve anything other than self-destruction. This is something of a loose theory I cobbled together from my repeated viewings of Day of the Dead.

Day is bar none my favorite zombie movie for a variety of reasons. I first watched it when I was super young – I’d say eight years old. My older brother forced me to watch the scene where Rhode’s is ripped apart at the throat until I threw up. It stayed with me, plus the younger Zac believed Mr. Bean to be one of the stars.

But – I digress. The reason I love Day of the Dead more than any other is because it represents best why humanity is always doomed. We’re a selfish breed. Even in the most dire circumstances we’re unwilling to cooperate. This can be for a variety of reasons, be they ideological, philosophical, or practical but they all boil down to self-preservation.

Within the bunker setting of Day we’re treated to a group of survivors who couldn’t be more different. But, hell they’re making efforts to understand the outbreak, they’re well equipped, and well protected. But thanks to an inability to reconcile over a single cause – everything falls to shit, as it does.

Zombies prevail not because they have superior intellect, or better means to survive but because they work together for a single goal. They retain familiar elements of their personalities but they push through to eradicate everything in existence that isn’t like them.

Zombies show me what we could achieve if we united with a single purpose. Obviously we all need to go out tomorrow and become cannibals. So if you’re friend says he doesn’t like The Battery and you think it’s the best Zombie movie ever made (It’s incredible…) then eat him – for the greater good.

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This Zomblog will run every Monday and Friday until I run out of things to say about zombies. Next time – we tackle social commentary and the power of the media in Zombie movies.

Until then check out Double Take’s blog – Double Take Universe to keep up to date on the incredible comics that will be coming your way in September. And head over to their Kickstarter to secure yourself the full ten launch issues.