Paul Cantor’s full series from Mises Daily is now available online: Part One: Zombie Apocalypse in a ‘DC’ Comic
Part Two: The Walking Dead and a Refuge from the Modern State
Part Three: The Economics of Apocalypse: A Tale of Two C.D.C.’s
Writes Cantor in Part Three:
The reason why The Walking Dead is more dramatic thanZombie Pandemic is that it dwells obsessively on the hard choices people have to make in times of crisis. It deals more realistically with what a zombie apocalypse would be like. People might very well not have the luxury of waiting to be rescued by government forces. They would likely be on their own and have to struggle — and fight — to survive. I want to stress one last difference between Zombie Pandemic and The Walking Dead, their contrasting visions of humanity as either passive or active. The C.D.C. comic book portrays a passive population — people do just what the government tells them to, and allow themselves to be herded into what the government calls “safe zones.” By contrast, in The Walking Dead the main characters become heroes and heroines precisely because they refuse to accept a passive role in response to the crisis. They lead a terrifying existence, but at least they take responsibility for their own fate and grow in stature as a result.
