Ah, the multiple zombie mothers. Probably still my personal favourite moment from chapter one. This element of the dream sequence was actually something I had sitting around somewhere in a notebook for quite a while before it finally found a home in Necessary Monsters. I’m quite glad I eventually got to tell a story where a guy being chased by a pack of zombies that all resembled his mother made perfect narrative sense.
↓ Transcript
Panel 1
Extreme close up on a stern old woman’s mouth. Slight signs of decay around the edges, suggest what we may be seeing is actually some kind of reanimated corpse.
Mother 1: You’re a bad boy, Joey.
Panel 2
Joey spins round to face his pursuers, frantic, backing up against the wall as far as he can go.
Joey: …oh no.
Panel 3
A shambling pack of zombies fill the mouth of the alleyway, advancing on Joey. We only see the zombies in silhouette in this panel so no detail of their faces, but the observant may note that they all have an identically shaped silhouette – that of an old woman.
Mother 1: We saw you in court on TV.
Mother 2: Our boy, accused of such terrible things.
Panel 4
Close on Joey as he pleads his case.
Joey: No Ma! They couldn’t prove anything.
Joey: You know I’d never-
Panel 5
Our reveal shot, we see that all the zombies are identical copies of Joey’s long dead mother.
Mother 3: Don’t lie to your mothers!
Extreme close up on a stern old woman’s mouth. Slight signs of decay around the edges, suggest what we may be seeing is actually some kind of reanimated corpse.
Mother 1: You’re a bad boy, Joey.
Panel 2
Joey spins round to face his pursuers, frantic, backing up against the wall as far as he can go.
Joey: …oh no.
Panel 3
A shambling pack of zombies fill the mouth of the alleyway, advancing on Joey. We only see the zombies in silhouette in this panel so no detail of their faces, but the observant may note that they all have an identically shaped silhouette – that of an old woman.
Mother 1: We saw you in court on TV.
Mother 2: Our boy, accused of such terrible things.
Panel 4
Close on Joey as he pleads his case.
Joey: No Ma! They couldn’t prove anything.
Joey: You know I’d never-
Panel 5
Our reveal shot, we see that all the zombies are identical copies of Joey’s long dead mother.
Mother 3: Don’t lie to your mothers!