ZOMBIES: Recap - The Walking Dead 'Walk With Me' into town, Ep. 3, Season 3

by Bowie Ibarra

Welcome back to another recap from the boys and girls at ZombieBloodFights.com.

"I can't get no.... sat-is-fac-tion!"

Episode 3 opens with a Huey flying through the zombie infested sky.  Seems to suggest some military are holding out somewhere.  Too bad for them they get shot out of the sky and crash-land a few miles away from Michone and a still-sick Andrea.  And, naturally, Michone's pack mule zombies.

When they get to the crash site, a group of living roll up on them before they get a chance to investigate.  The crew kills the mortally wounded survivors, helps the only survivor, and disposes of zeds walking to the site.  Michone and Andrea are eventually exposed by the pack mule zombies, who somehow get agitated.  They are captured by an old friend of Andreas:  Daryl's brother, Merle, who now has a bayonet strapped to his stumpy hand.

The two are transported into this secure town, where they are both nursed back into health.  Merle joins them, telling his story of survival and how the people of the town picked him up.  Andrea also catches him up on the deaths since they last met, including Andrea's sister.

As tensions rise, that's when the mysterious man that led the initial team to the crash site appears, giving them the reason for killing the wounded survivors.  He offers them to stay, but says they can leave with assistance.

Instead of leaving, he introduces them to Woodbury, the secured town.  He leads them to a big makeshift barrier where guys with military equipment are defending the gates.  One of the defenders calls the man, 'Governor', and Andrea takes note of that description.  Then, Andrea and Michone are provided lodging.

Truth is, the concept of a city official securing a town was also explored in the ZombieBloodFights.com title, 'Down the Road: On the Last Day'.  You should check it out.

In the morning, they find the city lively and filled with people living life like nothing ever happened.  They are told they are defended by the townsfolk, and that the interior is safe and has been without incident for months.

The Governor is a busy man.  First, he goes to talk to the survivor from the chopper crash.  The survivor tells his story, then reveals the location of his buddies.

The Governor then goes to a research room in the city.  The researcher tells him that the pack mule zombies were docile since their arms were cut off and jaws knocked out.  He then realizes that the zeds served as camoflauge for Michone, where zombies would not bug her because she walked with the zombies.

The Governor and the researcher feel its best to have supper with the girls to get more intel.  They discover the pack mules were family members of Michone.  At the meal, Andrea gets sweet on the Governor.

The Governor leaves abruptly to join his strike team, who have found the National Guardsmen the pilot mentioned.  The Guardsmen get jumped and all their stuff is taken back to Woodbury, where the Governor plays it off like the Guardsmen died before they got there.  He then gives a budget dictator-style impassioned speech about how the Guardsmen died with honor, but implored the people to realize how lucky they were to have the walls, the city, and the safety.  The obvious subtext was that he was the one responsible for that.

As he leaves his makeshift pulpit, Andrea approaches him.  They share a moment, a spark of interest in each other, when Andrea asks his name.  He doesn't reveal it.

The Governor goes home to pics of his past life and some whiskey.  But there's something strange in the back room of his man-cave:  Pickled human heads, including the helicopter pilot and Michone's pack mule family members.  There are other heads as well, all still dead-alive.

WTF?

Until next week...

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES: Flesh from the Morgue: Zombie Combat 101: Learning from The Master Roger ...

Great interview courtesy of Jamal Luckett of the 'Flesh from the Morgue' blog.

Check it out, then follow his blog!

Flesh from the Morgue: Zombie Combat 101: Learning from The Master Roger ...:   http://youtu.be/IfkO3bj1xik After a day off for my Birthday we are returning with a "Sit Down" that brings none other than Roger Ma. Rog...

FIGHTS: ZombieBloodFights.com salutes Jeff Blatnick and Emanuel Steward

by Bowie Ibarra

ZombieBloodFights.com salutes two great contributors to the combat sport world.

Jeff Blatnick (July 26, 1957 – October 24, 2012) is known to the hardcore MMA fans as one of the early announcers for UFC during the SEG/Semaphore Art Davie era.  But it's important to remember he was more than that.  Jeff also won gold for the US as a Heavyweight Olympic wrestler during the '84 Olympics.

People try to discount that victory because the Russians were conspicuously absent for political Cold War reasons.  Those people can STFU because Jeff showed up to play after having had medical procedures on his spleen and appendix after being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma.  And he went in there and took the gold.

RIP Jeff Blatnick

Emanuel Steward was one of boxing's most notable trainers.  Moving from Virginia to Detroit, Steward eventually found his way to Kronk Gym after a successful run as an amateur boxer.  At the gym, he became a trainer, with one of his most notable proteges being Tommy Hearns.

Appropriately enough, Emanuel was one of the trainers of an early UFC fighter.  Canadian grappler Dave Benetau reached out to him for boxing training, which Steward gladly provided, giving Benatau two good runs in the UFC using pretty solid and crisp hand techniques for UFC at the time.  Ask Oleg Taktarov.

Thank you for your contributions to boxing, Emanuel.  Your legacy lives on through those you trained.

RIP.

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Bowie V. Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His combat sports themed book,Pit Fighters: Baptism by Fire , features a Scottish boxer who transitions to mixed martial arts competition.

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Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

You can network with Bowie and explore his other titles at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES: RECAP - The Walking Dead gets 'Sick', Ep. 2, Season 3

by Bowie Ibarra

The Hyundai Zombie Death Dealer can be yours

The WD crew face a big dilemma at the end of episode one, 'Seeds'.  Herschel gets bit by a zed, bringing Rick to action to stop the spread of infection (even though their infected already) by cutting off Herschel's leg below the knee where he was bit.  But its only moments after that when we find that they're not the only ones in the prison as episode 2, 'Sick', begins.

The WD crew hold off the five hidden prisoners, who were hiding in one of the prison's kitchens.  One of the dudes threatens to kill Herschel when he finds he was bit, but is put in check by T-Dawg and an always-ready Daryl.  Glenn finds some wraps to stop the bleeding and a rolling food table (no pun intended) to put Herschel on for transport.  As the scene ends, one of the great camera shots, which for me has been the hallmark of the series, takes us into the opening title sequence (see pic above).

The WD crew heads back to their Cell Block 3, only to find the curious new prisoners in pursuit.  Using the key to unlock CB 3, they bring Herschel back, who is immediately tended to by the WD crew.  Daryl goes back to hold off the prisoners.  T-Dogg joins, and tensions rise as the WD Crew tries to run off the prisoners.  Glenn sticks around to support his woman, Maggie, and little Carl secures the space while Rick goes off to provide a dose of reality to the prisoners, who have no idea how bad things have turned outside.

Alpha Male Tomas decides that he wants to run off the WD Crew, but Rick holds his ground.  Rick offers another option by clearing out another cell block for them in exchange for half the food available in the kitchen, but threatens to kill Tomas and his buddies if they come close to his people.

Meanwhile, the women tend to Herschel and Glenn supports Maggie, who realizes the challenge a crippled Herschel now presents to the team.  Maggie expects the worst while her little sister, Beth, hopes for the best by repairing Herschel's pant legs.

The WD Crew moves to the pantry.  Rick uses his sheriff senses to know not to trust any of the prisoner dudes, especially Tomas.  Rick opens an old freezer door and is grossed out by the smell.  What was in there was never revealed, but it stunk bad.  Reader Chuck Mutch believes the old room served as the latrine for the prisoners. 

After gathering some items, the team brings food to the others in cell block 3.

As the food arrives, Lori and Rick have a heart to heart, asking what threat the prisoners present.  Rick makes it clear he'll kill them, but Lori thinks he's bluffing.  Meanwhile, Herschel gets cuffed to the bed, and Maggie takes a moment with her dad to tell him she's ready if he wants to pass.  She doesn't want to see him suffer (or turn), and tells her unconscious father 'thank you'.

While the ladies and Glenn watch over Herschel, Carl made a run for supplies by himself.  Going alone got him an earful from his mom and the others, which upsets him.  Then Carol asks Glenn to come with her to the fenceline outside.  Anticipating Lori needing a C-Section, Carol wants to practice on a female body.  So she gets Glenn to help her find one outside near the spot where they first came in.  She drags in the dead zed and proceeds to practice.  But someone is watching her.

But back in cell block 3, Herschel stops breathing.  Thankfully, Lori provides some mouth to mouth and revives him.

The WD Crew of Rick, Daryl, and T-Dogg mobilize with the prisoners to secure a cell block.  The prisoners take to the mission like a prison riot, jumping the zombies and kicking them, wasting energy and skill.  In the frakas, Big Tiny gets cut by a wounded zombie.  Fearing infection, Tomas takes the initiative and strikes him down and then bashes his head into a bloody pulp to prove a point to Rick.

As they advance into the final cell block, Tomas ignores Rick's order to open just one double door and sets forth some chaos as the place is flooded.  The takes a swipe at Rick with his weapon before throwing a zed at him.  After securing the zed and the other threats, Rick and Tomas face off.  Pushed too far, out of nowhere, Rick gives Tomas the Lenny 'Machete Zombie' Lies treatment with a machete to the head.  When one of the prisoners tries to defend Tomas, he gets punked out and runs off, only to be trapped by Rick in a prison yard filled with zeds.  The two remaining prisoners are held at weaponpoint by T-Dawg and Daryl.

When Rick hits the scene, he demands answers on whether or not to spare Axel or Oscar.  Axel begs for his life while Oscar lets Rick decide for himself.  Sparing them, they move them into their cell, only to find all the prisoners murdered.  Axel knew a few of them and sympathizes.  Rick leaves the two there to fend for themselves.  Daryl empathizes with Axel, and T-Dawg tells them to burn the bodies in the cell block before they settle in.

When Rick returns, Herschel comes out of his coma. Rick uncuffs him before taking a moment to spend some time with Lori.

Out on a walkway, the two talk.  I'm not sure if it was intended or not, but the two are subliminally split by the bar in the shot, as if the bar represents two different sides of the WD Crew worlds, or even two different sides of Rick.  We've seen a colder, more brutal Rick this episode.  The same Rick Lori claimed wasn't a killer.  The shot here is curious because it shows Rick split by a pole.  They could have got the shot without that, but I think it meant something, especially when Rick seems to reach out from the divide to touch Lori and tell her thanks for saving Herschel before crossing back over again.
 

Again, great camera shots, great special effects from the Savini disciple Greg Nicotero, and just a move forward in the series.

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Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Follow Bowie on Twitter @wingback20

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

FIGHTS: Morales suffers terrible and swift loss to the undefeated Garcia

by Bowie Ibarra

It took 1:23 of Round 4 for the speed and youth of Danny 'Swift' Garcia (25-0, 15 KO) to topple Erik 'El Terrible' Morales (52-9, 36 KO) with a brutal left hook.  Morales could not get a measure of redemption on Garcia, who had beat Morales in Houston this past March.

Morales seemed slow in spite of his natural warrior's determination.  He answered the youthful Garcia with punches, but it was not enough to get the victory.

This might be the last big payday for the vaunted Tijuana warrior Morales, who had a storied career, including a win against Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera, and several boxing title reigns.  He hopes to have one more match in TJ sometime in the near future.

Danny Garcia is in line for another great fight.  His home promotion of Golden Boy is grooming him for stardom, but he will need another victory against other members of his weight class, including Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson.  Zab Judah would be a good matchup to continue his rise.

ZombieBloodFights.com salutes Erik Morales and looks forward to watching Danny Garcia's rise through the boxing ranks.

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Bowie V. Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His combat sports themed book,Pit Fighters: Baptism by Fire , features a Scottish boxer who transitions to mixed martial arts competition.

Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

You can network with Bowie and explore his other titles at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES: RECAP- The Walking Dead 'Seed' gets planted, Ep.1, Season 3

by Bowie V. Ibarra

So, here's the deal.

I moved to a new apartment.  It didn't have cable.  Not a big deal, all I need to be doing in this town is working and writing.  So it worked out.

But let's face it.  When those three little words all zpoc fanatics hear dance across their ears, you know its time to make it happen when you don't have cable.  And those three little words are 'The Walking Dead'.

Well, cable didn't get hooked up in time, so I had to find an alternative place to watch so my twenty-five noble blog followers could read about ZombieBloodFights.com's take on the show.  My first need was TV.  My second need was beer.

Lo and behold, the creator of the SATX sensation 'Bloodthirsty Thursday' works at a Black Eyed Pea just a few blocks form my current home.  I checked out the place moments before the world premiere of season three, and guess who was working the bar?  My horrorhound homie, Kelly Warren Hammond!

Is that not the perfect spontaneous picture ever

So without further ado, here's the ZombieBloodFights.com take on the season 3 opener of 'The Walking Dead' (complete with pics taken from my barstool).

The show opens with what will always be a tribute to the video game 'Resident Evil' to me.  The cliche 'zombie eye'

Naturally, its moments before the zed gets blasted by the WD crew, busting through the house like a SWAT team to loot the place.  Everyone gets a piece of the action, including that young rapscallion, Carl, who does his share of zombie blasting.  More on that curious development later.

They pillage the house, and Daryl even shots a big barn owl for food, which is an ominous start to the series, as owls are sometimes considered harbingers of death.  Not that the dead rising from the grave to attack the living isn't already a bad omen to the future of the living.

At any rate, when surrounding zeds catch wind of the WD crew, they bail and head to their vehicles, including the legendary Hyundai Zombie Death Dealer. 

They try to figure out their next move when they discover a prison nearby.  Rick decides it would be an amazing place to be safe if they can secure it.  Everyone decides they can do it, and they make a move to secure the prison.  It's a Monroeville Mall for a new generation.

So, one of the things that cracked me up is the fact that Carl apparently became a sharpshooter with a pistol.  This is the same kid that only one season ago shit his pants and couldn't pull the trigger when the zed was stuck in the mud in front of him.  Now, he's hitting headshots on zombies from 100 yards with pistol.  That's right.  A kid is hitting moving targets with a pistol like a military marksman.

Okay, and Rick has to use a scope to get the shot.  I get it.

Great fast start to the show with the mad dash ala Dawn '78 through the prison gates.

Even the preggos Lori gets her some.  And with a pistol at close range.

The show unsubtly sets up the couples, including Daryl and Carol doing their part to secure the yard together as a team.

So, after securing the yard, they settle in to relax.  Carol flirts with Daryl, and Herschel's girls sing an old family song.

The next morning, the WD crew decides they want to take the prison, so they move on it.  They take on dead prisoners and even dead riot guards still in their garb.  They knock one down and rip off their mask, revealing some great Greg Nicotero magic.

 They make their way into the prison, and like some kind of D&D game, they start picking up treasure, so to speak.  One of the biggest pieces of booty found is keys to prison cells on a dead security guard.  I believe this is going to be huge in the coming episodes.

Let's face it.  The keys seem innocuous at first.  But think about it:  whoever has those keys has the power to lock people up.  Those keys are going to be big power pieces as the show advances, I believe.

So they find a secure cell block and settle in, picking cells, apart from Daryl, who is fine with sleeping outside a cell.

Things then start to remind me of 'Women's Prison Massacre' for some reason.

Preggos Lori starts to get anxious about her impending birth, and is set right by Herschel.

Did I mention the mysterious 'Michion' and her jawless and armless pets dismantled some zombie goons with her Hanzo sword.  She's also caring for noted Walking Dead Women's Libber Andrea.  They are adventuring together.

So the WD crew decide to secure more of the cell blocks in the prison and make a move on the dark corridors of the prison.

Great camera shots once again with the lights split by the darkness.

Yikes!  As expected, walking dead prisoners.  But the team is overrun, and Herschel is bit.

Here's one of the bartenders posing for a shot as Herschel's daughter is weeping with fear at the bite on her father's leg.

And here's the zed that bit her dad.  You know those zombie bastards don't last long when they've started munching on friends.

Rick gives Herschel the 'Day of the Dead '84' Miguel treatment by cutting off his leg in the hope of stopping the infection from spreading.  We know how that played out.

Right when you think Herschel's death is the big finish to a grand start to the season, it gets even bigger with the revelation that there are actually prisoners that are still alive and have watched the whole thing play out.

"Holy Shit"

And that's the amazing finish to the fast start that was season 3 of 'The Walking Dead'.

Watch for the keys to play a big part in this season.  And will Hershel have a meltdown like Miguel did in 'Day..'84'?

Only time will tell.

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Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.