Undead Labs

Happy holidays, everyone! It’s been an amazing year here at the Lab, and much of this stems from the love and support of our families, friends, and fans. To show our appreciation for the special folks that continue to cheer us on, we created a limited-edition set of 250 signed holiday cards.

Of course, Doug immediately jumped on creating some custom art for the cause. The rest of us expected a cool zombie Santa or something like that, but no…

He freaking nailed it in the most unexpectedly awesome way possible.

As a long time Calvin and Hobbes fan and childhood creator of multi-headed, partially dismembered, and otherwise monstrous snowmen, I especially loved where Doug went with the card. I talked to him about his inspiration, and it turns out that he was influenced by Calvin and Hobbes, too. With a huge grin, he admitted that he was practically Calvin growing up. His relatives would read the weekly strips and laugh about him pulling the same stunts. He also admitted to having a stuffed cougar named “Cougie”, who he carried around with him all the way from kindergarten to second grade.

For those of you who have already speculated about whether Calvin and Hobbes was an inspiration for Doug’s awesome holiday art, consider your suspicions confirmed.

While getting Doug’s cover art was a huge part of the process, there were a surprising number of other things that needed to be done before the cards were ready to mail off.

It was a team effort. Brant tackled the overall layout of the card, even taking the time to lovingly craft the blood splatters you see on the inside left panel. Our awesome office manager, Lisa, handled the logistics of printing and tracking addresses. All of us took about an hour to hand-sign all 250 cards. (I stole the red marker, mwahaha). Last but not least, each card was stuffed, stamped, and sealed by me, Jeff, and a special guest (hostage) who happened to be in the Lab that day — Mark Rahner, the creator and author of one of my favorite zombie comics, Rotten.

If you’re wondering about the sealing part, no, we didn’t lick them all. That would have been gross, and we couldn’t find any volunteers that wanted to get papercuts in their mouths.

Creating these cards was a lot of fun for us, and we’ve been really thrilled with how much you guys have enjoyed them.

While we would have loved to get physical cards out there for all of you, there was just no logistically sane way to do it. To show our sincere appreciation for everyone who follows us and continues to support our efforts, here’s a batch of wallpapers made from Doug’s kick ass snowmen. We hope that they’ll bring some cheer to your desktops over the holiday!

To give us a chance to spend time with our families, friends, critters, and the video games that love us, Jeff is closing the Lab until the new year. For those of you that camp the site, this means that it will be a little quiet around here until we get back.

On behalf of the entire team, I’d like to extend our wishes for a safe and secure holiday for you and yours.

Here’s to another amazing year, Zed Heads. We’ll see you in January!