Characterization
JACK. Once upon a time, in a quiet, little town, there lived a farmer, and
he was a good farmer. It was all he knew, after all. And the farmer worked
his land from sunrise to sunset every single day. Tillin’ his fields,
feedin’ his chickens, and collectin’ his harvest right on time. He was a
good farmer, after all.
JACK. But my father wasn’t lying, not really. Not the cruel kinda lie,
anyway. No, to a man like him, what else was there? Just forests and farmland.
Dad’s long dead, now. Can’t say I grieved him. The man disowned me as a son, if
such’a thing’s possible, so I built my house upon his view and made it
mine. Then he left me his farm in his will on the other side o’the
world.
Outcasts
JACK. The town of Caverton was first settled by a black farmer and war
vet in 1822. Richard was given two years to clear the land, build a
road ’n’ house, or the government’d come and take it all back. “Too remote
and isolated,” they’d said, but I think that’s why Richard liked it. By
two years, he’d done it. Built it all. Even housed former slaves like
himself. Didn’t matter. Government came. Church did, too. Liked what Richard
did ’n’ took it all back.
LUKE. Well, I survived AIDS in the big city, and I barely survived every
single one of my friends dying ’til I couldn’t take it no more. So I
refuse to return to some closet cause this ain’t living, Jack!
‘Cause I’m beginning to think we had this baby just so you could busy me
and lock us away up here on the hill like Rapunzel, while you work all day
then drink all night with Liz.
MAGNOLIA. The problem everybody has is a problem of… significance. For
example, somebody might you and see everything that you were and, in
their minds… still are. Somebody like your farmer friend might even see
you as human, as the scrappy inventor with a heart of gold! But that’s
the funny thing about us humans. Our emotions getting all tangled up in
our realities. We just love to look for things that aren’t there, bring
ourselves to ’em, make the inhuman seem human.
Humanity in a Post-Apocalyptic World
SAM. Got home. Too late. Kids were eatin’ the family dog with mama convulsing on the floor like it was Sunday morning. Then they come running at me, their daddy. They come running like they always do when I come home, arms out long and reaching, wanting me to lift ’em up to the heavens, so I shoot ’em. Those aren’t my babies. Wife turns next, shoot her, too. Then I turn the gun on myself and pray to the Lord, not for forgiveness but for hell, as I pull that trigger and gun’s empty. Figure it’s for a reason. Figure this is my hell. So I got to work.
SAM. Listen, man. I don’t know how long you been out here on your own, but I
know it ain’t easy. Might even been awhile since you seen a livin’ breathin’
human. But I got a code that I take real serious… to help my
fellow man, those ones still livin’ and breathin’.
ZEKE. A walled city designed to protect the living, only now we’re
running out of food, space, whiskey, and every other substance we need
just to get through our pathetic days. We’re desperate enough to send
groups in every fucking direction as some kinda Hail Mary, but I don’t see
the point. ‘Cause when the dead won’t even die, how’re we supposed
to live? So yeah, I don’t give a fuck, man. Shoot me. Take me out of
this future.
COLETTE. We do not feed the dead, Jack Chandler. We starve them like
any contagion. We burn them out. We cut off their heads. We pray their souls
to heaven.
JACK. He knew now that life is meant for the living… and when it came
time for him to die, he’d do what any farmer would do. He’d collect his
harvest right on time. He was a good farmer, after all. Until then,
life goes on, sowing and reaping. The sun rises and the sun sets on
everything dead and dying.
References
- Everything Dead & Dying #1 (of 5). Tate Brombal; Jacob Phillips. imagecomics.com . Sep 3, 2025.
- Everything Dead & Dying #2 (of 5). Tate Brombal; Jacob Phillips. imagecomics.com . Oct 8, 2025.
- Everything Dead & Dying #3 (of 5). Tate Brombal; Jacob Phillips. imagecomics.com . Nov 19, 2025.
- Everything Dead & Dying #4 (of 5). Tate Brombal; Jacob Phillips. imagecomics.com . Dec 17, 2025.
- Everything Dead & Dying #5 (of 5). Tate Brombal; Jacob Phillips. imagecomics.com . Jan 21, 2026.