Hot dogs are the new brains – June 18, 2009

from the Lincoln Journal Star

haymarket park zombies harry caray live organ player seppuku

To give you a little insight into what cartoonists go through to get an idea into the newspaper, the original sketch of this cartoon included the zombie organist demanding more brains — not hot dogs — in his bucket. My editor was concerned that the average reader was not as big of a dork as I am, and would thus not understand why the zombie wanted brains in a bucket. I swore that people would understand, using the SAT analogy that brains are to zombies as blood is to vampires. He was not convinced of the pop culture permeation of this sci-fi / horror dietary staple, so I was confident enough to declare that a newsroom survey would prove my theory.

I told him to ask Brian Christopherson — a Journal Star sports reporter, former pop culture reporter, clever man and cool guy, and normal enough to pass as a representative of “regular people” — what zombies eat. He had no idea. The second person shook her head no before the question could even be uttered. The third person didn’t fail me, giving both “brains” and “people” as answers (I argued that “brains” was a subset of “people” when you’re talking about food). Knowing I was down 1-2, I tried to put all my chips on L. Kent Wolgamott, but he was sadly out of the office at the time. So I lost, and the cartoon says “hot dogs” as a result.

9 Responses to Hot dogs are the new brains – June 18, 2009

  1. Jim says:

    That’s a great story! Of course zombies eat brains! I can’t believe people didn’t know that!

    I like the behind-the-scenes story. I also like zombies. But I think some recent zombiesque movies have corrupted peoples’ concept of zombies. 28 Days Later, for example. Those weren’t zombies!

  2. joe says:

    This looks a lot better in color.
    To be honest, with out the color (or the brains) it was a bit confusing at first (i.e. It took a while to realize it was a zombie).

  3. Walker says:

    A few things.
    1. You’d be surprised how much brain meat is in your typical hotdog.
    2. Hot dogs is still funny.
    3. Why does the zombie have a sword?
    4. Sorry Neal, that looks more like an unwrapped mummy than a zombie to me.
    5. Great comic!

  4. Jim says:

    That’s a good question. Why does he have a sword? And if he’s in a place where he has a right to be, does he have the right to use the sword to slay the hot-dog courier without exposing himself to civil liability?

  5. theotherneill says:

    Great Comic, Neal. Do you think Brian Christopherson has been spending too much time in the Husker beat room? BTW, his Husker stuff is really good, too. I read his and Sipple’s stuff regularly.

  6. neal says:

    I was attempting to refer to some 5-year-old nealo cartoon universe continuity.

  7. Lab Supplies says:

    i love zombies!!! zombies dont eat hot dogs this cartoonist needs to stick to his original sketch and if nothing else inform people that it is brains not hot dogs they eat.

  8. sammy says:

    it doesnt make sense

    sammy replied:

    not at alll

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