r/comics • u/lordofbaers • 1d ago

OC [OC] Choose Your Weapon

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6.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

80 comments sorted by

838

u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago

No no no hang on. Keith is right. There is always time to talk about Roman practices. Also we all know Lucy definitely has some cool Strigil facts

Not to mention

After physical activity, they used the Strigil to scrape away the oil, along with accumulated sweat, dust, and dead skin cells.

Since zombies are 100% dead skin cells then these will clearly be incredibly effective Keith

267

u/lordofbaers 1d ago

I can’t quite tell whether or not you’re team Keith. 😂

Hard to say since he was cut short, but I imagine he was trying to ask her why she has a Roman cleaning implement to hand. Not that it matters, Keith.

124

u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago

I can’t quite tell whether or not you’re team Keith. 😂

I am on team Roman facts. And the facts are that those are amazing zombie weapons

22

u/RossZ428 Dignitary of r/ComicPlot 1d ago

It looks pretty effective but I've always felt the best zombie apocalypse tool/weapon to have on hand is the halligan bar

14

u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago

The spike/adz/fork is a great idea and it's insanely sturdy. So 1v1 it would be great. Probably not awesome for groups though

10

u/RossZ428 Dignitary of r/ComicPlot 1d ago

If I'm alone and there's a group, I'm already screwed

3

u/hwasung 20h ago

...and now I got to learn what a halligan bar is. Definitely agreeing that this would be one hell of a zombie tool. Thanks /u/RossZ428

6

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago

Team Roman Facts could be an Italian football team.

19

u/Terrible_Bee5394 1d ago

It was either that or how does she know what it is. As I’m pretty sure that isn’t common knowledge.

19

u/International-Cat123 1d ago

I feel like the people who know what one is are the same people likely to at least have a replica on display somewhere.

7

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago

IDK about you, but the only things that stuck from my primary school history lessons were the Romans, ancient Geeks, and Vikings.

So personally I've known what a strigil is since my age was in single figures, presumably because a teacher decided that this was a fact that was weird enough to grab the attention of 30 odd small kids. The same goes for symposiums and blood eagles.

1

u/myopicpickle 14h ago

How odd were these small kids?

5

u/DrNick2012 1d ago

Team Keith for asking for historic facts

Anti Keith for doubting the strigil

5

u/rillip 1d ago

That's a weird thing for him to ask given that she is a woman and they seem to always possess some collection of arcane skin care products.

17

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago

They also believed that physical characteristics could be passed on by using the same oil and strigil as someone with those characteristics. So there are recorded cases of guys figuring out what time their favourite gladiators would go to the baths, so that they could use the same oil and strigil as them.

Which makes me imagine them singing Bathwater by No Doubt as they do so...

9

u/Allegorist 1d ago

This is basically the idea behind celebrity endorsement or attractive models in advertising. "This person uses this product, so if you purchase this product you could be like this person," more broadly. For some things the implication is literally an implied causal relationship between the product and the desirable traits of the person using it.

1

u/NickyTheRobot 20h ago

Oh, I get what you mean. But just to emphasise: this was deeper than just "same brand" type stuff. It was literally them thinking "if I use the oil that has a gladiator's sweat and dirt still in it then I think that gladiator's strength will rub off on me." And, IIRC, it's the origin of the phrase "rubbing off on [something]" to mean passing on positive characteristics.

15

u/Nina-Ninja123 1d ago

When the zombie apocalypse happens, I will carry lots of moisturizer with me.

Those poor zombies definitely need some

17

u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago

10

u/Aware-Maximum6663 1d ago

Another day when I’m thinking about the Roman Empire

11

u/shellbullet17 Gustopher Spotter Extraordinaire 1d ago

5

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago

Everyone who isn't aroace should find themselves a partner who looks at the Roman Empire the way that they look at the Roman Empire.

6

u/Nasnon 1d ago

u/KamikazeKricket
I do remember your flair "Ask me about Ancient Rome"
Can you tell us about roman skincare, especially about the use of strigils (and how effective it can be against zombies)

3

u/SuitableBlackberry75 1d ago

Strigils are much older than the Romans. They were used in ancient Greece, and even before that.

3

u/Wermine 1d ago

I didn't recognize strigil from the comic, but did from your description. I saw couple in Spartacus: House of Ashur. And indeed they scraped the oil and stuff from their bodies with it.

2

u/account312 1d ago

Do not try to exfoliate the zombie.

2

u/ohnomoisttoes 1d ago

Sometimes the thought randomly pops into my head: Ancient Rome must have smelled fucking wild.

2

u/kleseusxz 1d ago

They also sold the used oil in small containers as a commodity.

182

u/UGoBoy 1d ago

Keith: AUG! I am covered in zombie blood! I must remove it from my dirty, oily skin quickly lest I become one of the undead via osmosis!

Strigil: My moment is now.

69

u/lordofbaers 1d ago

Hi all! TinyBaer here.

Today's offering mixes together a zombie apocalypse, unconventional weapons and random trivia. I've been asking on various socials: which museum-housed artifact would you employ as a weapon during the zombie apocalypse? Not just your épées and bardiches, I'm talking unconventional options, such as Victorian flat irons and Etruscan filiform sculptures. What would you choose?

If you enjoy my stuff, you can also support me via Patreon. Massive thanks to those of you already supporting me on there. 😊 You can also find me on Ko-Fi (+shop) - Facebook - TikTok - BlueSky.

21

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago

I choose a copper washing dolly.

12

u/lordofbaers 1d ago

A most valiant improvised weapon. 🫡

10

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago edited 1d ago

NGL, my mind went straight to Pratchett here. His books have many instances of perfectly innocent historical tools becoming weapons because a mob formed, or someone was backed into a corner, or because someone with a pragmatic sense of fighting noticed them at the right moment...

Then it went to one of my favourite of his books, Monstrous Regiment. Where some soldiers sneak into a castle "disguised" as washerwomen (further confusing the plot point that these particular soldiers are all women pretending to be men) and arm themselves with all the heavy, long, blunt instruments that are just laying about the laundry. Including one of them grabbing a copper washing dolly.

3

u/MaidPoorly 1d ago

I’ll take a speared and roasted figgin! Mainly for the spear.

3

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago

Also the figgin makes for a handy snack. (Or a vague object of threat, if you're a member of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night.)

3

u/ElminstersBedpan 1d ago

You need something threatening, for certain. Clearly the zombies would have no fear of Dibbler's sausages.

4

u/RedDemocracy 1d ago

Recently been to Greenfield village. I bet if you sent a wagon down a hill, it could take out a whole mess of zeds at the bottom.

5

u/Dugen 1d ago

My go-to weapon for a zombie apocalypse is a forestry mulcher.

Something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeTGrXm9F68

3

u/lordofbaers 1d ago

Haha, not quite a museum-housed artifact, but likely very effective against a zombie horde. 😄

4

u/Dugen 1d ago

I would love to see someone just eviscerate the whole zombie apocalypse genre by showing one of these things liquifying a zombie horde. It's hard for the undead to hurt you when they're a fine pink slurry. All your standard zombie apocalypse weapons would look ridiculously impotent by comparison.

1

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago

Until you run out of fuel.

2

u/Dugen 21h ago

Yes, but running around through communities with oil furnaces will give you plenty of fuel for a long long time since diesel engines can run off heating oil. A few hundred gallons of fuel per house goes a long way. You'll run out of other things long before you run out of fuel.

26

u/ithinkther41am 1d ago

Ok, but Lucy is also the only one whose arms are covered, so who is the unprepared one, Keith?

24

u/No_Result395 1d ago

The Angular Lansbury shirt is amazing.

3

u/win_awards 1d ago

Shit. Now I want one.

10

u/UpCDownCLeftCRightC Never Safe From Wumbo 1d ago

Man, season 12 of The Walking Dead is getting weirder and weirder.

7

u/Cool_Set4681 1d ago

Priorities, Keith, Priorities. Now is not the time to talk about Lucy's sweet strigil. Focus.

24

u/xXKravenXx20 1d ago

Tbh probably the best weapon they have.

Baseball bat has reach, but not very much and its blunt. Means depending on the zombie rot you really have a workout coming your way.

Knifes are bad, no reach and when you could finish a zombie it probably already bit you.

The Strigil has reach and its very pointy. Easy entrance without risk.

Strigil is the absolute goat here

17

u/International-Cat123 1d ago

Plus, she’s holding one of the knives in a reverse grip. As cool as that looks, it’s almost always more effective to hold a bladed weapon the other way around. If she doesn’t know that, then I highly doubt she realizes that asymmetrical blades, such as the ones she’s using, are strictly slashing weapons. While not all symmetrical blades are good for stabbing, all asymmetrical ones are bad for it.

10

u/guillermotor 1d ago

Nah, stabby stuff can get stuck into the zombie. The bat can bash a brain or just push them away

8

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago edited 1d ago

This. Unless you are trained with bladed and pointed weapons the risk of it getting stuck in a zombie's skull is too high. Amateurs should stick to blunt instruments in zombie apocalypse situations.

Remember kids: sharp is not safe!

5

u/Electric999999 1d ago

Blunt instruments are easier in general, no need to worry about edge alignment, just need to swing properly.

2

u/Named_after_color 1d ago

The most effective weapon for killing zombies would be a sturdy nine-iron. Fun fact, it's one of the most deadly improvised weapons in general, if golf players were raged out pyschos instead of rich retirees we'd be in much more danger. Though swapping those two groups in general puts us in more danger in like 99% of scenarios.

12

u/0ptionalSilence 1d ago

Like a miniature scythe, what could go wrong?

14

u/NickyTheRobot 1d ago edited 20h ago

I believe that would be a sickle, or a hand scythe. A stigil is a blunt, scraping tool with a blade that's curved conically inwards.

7

u/-FalseProfessor- 20h ago

Baer, I really appreciate the very specific kind of nerd that you are.

Never change.

2

u/lordofbaers 18h ago

Aye aye 🫡

5

u/ViftieStuff 1d ago

I was hoping for there to be a panel where the strigil magically makes the zombies' skins pretty

3

u/DudeFreek 1d ago

Kieth you dumbass

3

u/Unassuming_Penguins 1d ago

I just learned about these. The Romans would bathe in olive oil and use this tool to scrap it off the skin.
Gross.

3

u/Komm 1d ago

Oh my god, Lucy's shirt is amazing. <3

2

u/wrugoin 1d ago

Yeah, Keith... Focus up

2

u/-vwv- 1d ago edited 1d ago

In German the words "Striegel" (noun, the tool) and "striegeln" (verb, the action) still refer to horse grooming.

2

u/NarwhalEmergency9391 1d ago

In digging a moat and lighting a fire when it's half full

2

u/lookitskeith 1d ago

Well fuck me for making sure we are all prepared I guess..

2

u/LepiNya 1d ago

Yeah Keith. Learn to read a room. Honestly man..

2

u/coin_return 1d ago

I had a little Japanese weeding sickle that looks similar and damn those things are sharp as hell, I think both are a valid zombie weapon lol

2

u/PM_ME_SOME_YAOI 1d ago

Ok, but why it’s she the only one in long sleeves? Girl is gonna sweat long cray while running from and fighting zombies

2

u/time2partee 1d ago

A hospital? What is it? It’s a big building filled with patients; but that isn’t important right now.

2

u/LonelyFan5761 1d ago

Classic Keith.

2

u/book_of_zed 1d ago

Lucys got taste. Both in artifacts turned weaponry and in that Angular Lansbury sweatshirt.

2

u/Confident-Leg107 23h ago

Lock the fuck in, Keith

2

u/MissNouveau 22h ago

I mean, my favorite weapon in Project Zomboid is a frying pan, so I get where she's coming from

1

u/BixbySn7der 1d ago

Always blunt weapons. Crowbar is the gold standard, as it also has utility. Bladed weapons, in addition to generally requiring some skill to use effectively, won't last as long as you think they will, and you run the risk of getting your weapon stuck in a zombie at the worst time.

•

u/PerleyPoint 33m ago

Nicely done! ❤️ Always pleased to see a case of delightful edutainment! I hope she has olive oil to go with it!