Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants: Possibilist Ecologies in ...

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Bingham 50 corpses. There are seventy-six panels between the page where Rick wakes up and the first time he encounters other living people. When this happens, he's greeted by violence: he's hit on the back of a head with a shovel by a child named Duane Jones. Duane's father Morgan supplies Rick with the first information he has about the current state of affairs. He propels the narrative forward by telling Rick how the media advocated for relocation to cities after the outbreak. This moment is humanizing. It revives Rick's hope for finding his missing wife and son, who he believes set out for Atlanta to stay with her parents. At this point in time, the audience has already been able to find familiarity through the story's setting and also in the development of empathy for Rick, who has been characterized as a worthy family man willing to sacrifice his own safety to protect others. Rick then takes his new-found friends to the Cynthia police station where he begins to stock up for his trip. Despite nearly being killed by walkers when escaping the hospital, Rick is incredibly trusting. Cavarero accounts for such confidence among victims in scenarios of horrorism by saying, “the human condition of vulnerability entails a constitutive relation to the other: an exposure to wounding but also the care that the other can supply” (38). In certain ways, Rick is indebted to Morgan and Duane. However, his decision to aid them both while preparing himself comes naturally and does not seem forced. While fulfilling a moral obligation by providing them with supplies, he is also attempting to give them a better chance at survival rather than just repaying them for saving his life. We are shown supporting evidence of his concern for others as he generously shares weapons and a vehicle with Morgan. Moreover, Rick's response to Morgan's admittance of the perceived immorality of occupying his neighbor’s home
Bingham 51 demonstrates that he is practical and just. Rick comes across as intelligent. He adapts to his circumstances and does not merely abide by the letter of the law without thought: “I'm not going to arrest you if that's what you mean...You don't have to justify anything to me. You're keeping your son safe. I'm worried sick about mine. I understand.” Even in this possible world categorized by death, familial ties take precedence. Concern for the safety of his loved ones becomes the motivating factor for survival, an attribute which is respected by readers. This identification is crucial in order for narrative to achieve the function of prompting readers to pose questions about how scenarios of isolation, epidemic, and violence relate to their own experience. Skipping ahead, Rick is reunited with his wife, son, and former partner Shane just outside of Atlanta (Figure 7). They've been camping near the city's border awaiting government or military rescue. Despite the magnitude of danger they've witnessed and failure of these institutions, there still seems to be a consensus that this situation is temporary. Including Rick, the group has fifteen members; four are children. Rick's son, Carl, is only seven. Ensuring the safety of these children is paramount and one of the primary reasons why the adults are pulling for the arrival of organized aid. Besides lacking the supplies and weaponry they need to be entirely self-sufficient, the group's peril is exacerbated by the fact that many of its members are not only unaccustomed to defending themselves but physically unable to. Especially for the group's youth, the danger of encountering a walker is life-threatening. When viewing the violence of this text through the lens of horrorism, the status the children have as defenseless beings is crucial: “This means that, as a creature totally consigned to a relationship, a child is the vulnerable being par excellence and constitutes the primary paradigm of any discourse on
Page 1 and 2: Walking Corpses & Conscious Plants:
Page 3 and 4: Bingham 3 I owe an extreme debt of
Page 5 and 6: Bingham 5 Introduction My project e
Page 7 and 8: Bingham 7 personal growth through t
Page 9 and 10: Bingham 9 beliefs. Seeing a possibl
Page 11 and 12: Bingham 11 zombie exceeds death as
Page 13 and 14: Bingham 13 the validity of singular
Page 15 and 16: Bingham 15 Chapter I: The History o
Page 17 and 18: Bingham 17 Swamp Thing. According t
Page 19 and 20: Bingham 19 instructional profession
Page 21 and 22: Bingham 21 Another artist who worke
Page 23 and 24: Bingham 23 action into panels (Cohn
Page 25 and 26: Bingham 25 sponsorship. He designed
Page 27 and 28: Bingham 27 Charles Moulton. Marston
Page 29 and 30: Bingham 29 Frederick Wertham prompt
Page 31 and 32: Bingham 31 “graphic novel” was
Page 33 and 34: Bingham 33 what is or isn't a graph
Page 35 and 36: Bingham 35 Works Cited Benton, Mike
Page 37 and 38: Bingham 37 Chapter II: Transfusion
Page 39 and 40: Bingham 39 conflict or war. This ex
Page 41 and 42: Bingham 41 and dismember other bodi
Page 43 and 44: Bingham 43 bodies to pieces. (Cavar
Page 45 and 46: Bingham 45 thus creating an affecti
Page 47 and 48: Bingham 47 margins. Unlike the four
Page 49: Bingham 49 implicates the role of o
Page 53 and 54: Bingham 53 Amy (Figure 10 & 11). Th
Page 55 and 56: Bingham 55 being who has done nothi
Page 57 and 58: Bingham 57 transgressions, this ima
Page 59 and 60: Bingham 59 Returning to the full pa
Page 61 and 62: Bingham 61 order” (200). The prem
Page 63 and 64: Bingham 63 possession, selling, ste
Page 65 and 66: Bingham 65 with yourself? Not me. I
Page 67 and 68: Bingham 67 immediate proximity of t
Page 69 and 70: Bingham 69 experience, or the human
Page 71 and 72: Bingham 71 sentences Thomas to hang
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Page 75 and 76: Bingham 74 Works Cited Berger, Arth
Page 77 and 78: Bingham 76 APPENDIX A Fig. 1. Openi
Page 79 and 80: Bingham 78 Fig. 7. Fig. 8.
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Bingham 101 Chapter III: Speaking o
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Bingham 103 preserved, yet not enti
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Bingham 105 increasingly more discu
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Bingham 107 Wrightson only drew the
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Bingham 109 by the inexorable progr
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Bingham 111 appeared. Though the tw
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Bingham 113 General Avery Carlton S
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Bingham 115 dismembered body which
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Bingham 117 sheltered from or not e
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Bingham 119 authority. This subtle,
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Bingham 121 the center of the page
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Bingham 123 affect. Apart from this
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Bingham 125 acts of fictional chara
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Bingham 127 resemblance, their comp
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Bingham 129 experience. The creator
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Bingham 131 justified. What follows
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Bingham 133 present to witness it t
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Bingham 135 If we read each charact
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Bingham 137 able to issue an urgent
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1 According to comics historian Rob
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Bingham 140 - Interview by David Ro
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