It seems some newer neurological research actually supports the idea that people might see their life flashing before their eyes when they die – but even long before there was any evidence for it, it was a cherished stereotype in fiction.

Particularly cherished, naturally, in B-movies – since it justifies recycling a huge amount of old footage for the sequence. B-movies don’t actually require a justification to do that, but having one makes it a tiny bit more socially acceptable.

And, naturally, I devoutly and gratefully copy the pattern here. As for the only two “new” panels in this strip, I think the most noteworthy thing is that it’s the first time I use the censorship bar to censor gore instead of genitals…and there was so much of it that it actually took two bars. I’m actually not sure why I did it, because I’ve never held back on depicting gore before – after all it’s not exactly inappropriate for a B-movie. Perhaps I’m just getting old, or perhaps I felt it wouldn’t fit the mood of this particular sequence…although in that latter case I’m not sure how I could have felt that the chibi past!Gregory in front of the censorship bars didn’t spoil the mood even worse. >_>

In any case, Arnold seems to have pretty good aim. One might speculate that his football-shaped head plays into that, like it does for a hammerhead shark…but his eyes don’t actually seem to be any further apart than normal, unlike his ears. So he wouldn’t have superior visual depth perception, but a heightened ability to locate the origin of sounds. ._. Talk about a strange super-power.

His crack shooting has one advantage, of course: By hitting Gregory in the head, he elegantly side-steps all of the issues connected with Gregory’s ambiguous status with regard to zombiism.

More on Thursday.