I saw the headline, momentarily got Warren Ellis’ “Black Summer” and “Black Gas” confused and was afraid it was an adaptation of his semi-zombie story. I’m glad it isn’t, because that was deeply unpleasant.
I mean, it’s kind of Romero’s original zombie movie formula - it’s all about how awful people are to each other. Maybe with an emphasis on a particular element. I think this has made me realize that I’m all zombied out. I hit peak zombie a while back.
Honestly, I’m not sure how you do a zombie story, especially a series and bring something new to it. The zombie genre has been done (no pun intended) to death. It was narrowly defined at the beginning, and there have been some interesting offshoots (various British series, e.g. “In The Flesh” in particular), but those veins have been pretty well mined at this point, too.
That preview was so divorced from the tone of Z Nation, I was sure you were kidding. Apparently not - it’s even being made by the same people. Except they’ve explicitly said it’s before the apocalypse got “weird” and was “just scary.” So I’m guessing it’s not going to be goofy at all, just a standard zombie narrative.
I guess that’s why zombies narratives still have legs… People being nasty to each other is always relevant, and the culture is getting more apocalyptic these days.
I’ve felt it wasn’t a coincidence that zombies took off in the pop culture just after 9/11. Apocalyptic fears, the idea that previously innocuous neighbors might suddenly turn on you…
