Dead Sea

Dead sea was first conceptualized as a short comic, since then the story grew and is no longer short, yet it might still one day will become a comic.

Meanwhile, let me tell you about the concept, and about my dear characters.

The story follow Riaan, a workaholic that his routine is everything to him, as one day on the way to work, to his horror, the zombie apocalypse happens. Thrown outside of his schedule he need to figure out what to do now and how to live like this.

After a while he meets Cooper, a zombie that somehow (I got a in world reason for that but it's mostly an excuse for me to make a zombie character not gonna lie) still acts human that used to be a carefree ~~commitment averse~~ guy who got zombified in the first day of the outbreak and had been just kinda lonely since.

After a brief freaking out session from the side of Riaan they form a little team that makes their way through the ruined city with the goal of reaching a safe zone they keep hearing about on the radio. They bond, they influence each other, and they help each other work though things that happen in the before world.

Will they reach the safe zone? Will Riaan ever figure out they will never let a zombie in the safe zone? Is Cooper immortal now or is he just slowly rotting? I have the answer to all because the only part of their story I actually wrote down is the end of it.

Riaan (he/him)

Background

The only thing on his mind is doing good at work, working under an over demanding boss with a cutting "the company is your family" smile. Rising up at office is how he plans to make his father proud and even if it doesn't seem like that, his consistent hard work will surely be rewarded eventually,, right?

Each day is almost the same, the only change being what absurd thing his boss will ask him to do under an impossible deadline, and roadworks that keep interrupting his morning commute.

Not that it matters, as one day he comes to the office to find it a mess and his boss is demanding something he can not give, his brain. Dealing with it is messy, and it sends Riaan unable to keep going the same as the days before.

It isn't easy, and he is not sure what to do. maybe all he needs is a new routine, something to do till the world returns to normal. surely it will return to normal.

One day there is a message on the radio, a group announcing a safe zone, promising protection, food, water, and community for all that will come. To get there will not be an easy task, it's far, and the outside is full of danger. In order to do it he will have to break his new routine, but perhaps it is what he must do to return to normalcy.

Trivia

He has a secret passion in photography

He never had a pet but would feed street cats when he could

I imagine his morning routine with 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton playing in the background.

Cooper (he/they)

Background

Cooper doesn't really stay in one place/job/relationship for too long, and as they are restocking shelves they realize their current job is starting to get to them. just yesterday he went to a party one of his coworkers invited him to. Some annual thing she hosts based on some inside joke he doesn't get, and during small talk she mentioned about a thing they can do differently next year.

Next year, he can't possibly do this for the next year, he will go mad. He needs to plan- what can he do instead, where he can go next.

Maybe, they would have quit the same day, but zombies don't care about bureaucracy or the fact you're about to leave anyway.

They care for flesh and minds, and in an act what is somehow worse when any black friday he ever had to endure, he dies still wearing that stupid vest with the stupid store logo on the back.

When they awake, they don't feel a desire to rip people apart, or a hunger for brains. considering all the bruises and bite marks they see littering their body they should at least feel pain. All they feel is kinda sore.

Leaving the store he discovers the state of the world, and quickly realizes and while he looks like all the zombies and will be met with hostility or fear by all humans. He can do whatever he wants (as long as he stays away from people with weapons) yet the dead make for bad conversation partners, and the whole thing is starting to lose its novelty.

Perhaps if he find a human that can't hit or run for enough time to convince them he isn't a threat he might gain a temporary companion?

The boys, Riaan (left) and Copper (right).

Some intimacy, you know.

A very sappy comic.
lyrics from the song "dead sea" by the Lumineers (which is where I got the name for the project originally).

Canonically Cooper is the best dressed, and he doesn't usually wear skirts but this was fun to draw.