Zombie Roomie
is a comedy webcomic about unusual roommates by John Wigger.
John (the comic's John) was looking for someone to split the cost of rent but got more than he bargained for when George, a zombie, became his roommate. What follows are misadventures between the two and their friends, both human and supernatural.
Fair warning if your planning to follow this series, the update schedule is very erratic as Wigger usually takes breaks if his life gets too hectic to continue it, often stretching into months. So check his Facebook page to see if and when he'll add a new page.
In July 2021, after building up a buffer, Wigger revealed the comic is set to be rebooted after the following comics run their course. The reboot starts here.
This webcomic contains examples of:
- Abandoned Info Page: The about page is constantly in need up updating. Frequently the character portraits are at least two redesigns prior to their current version.
- Aborted Arc: Constantly, Wigger admits he rarely plans out a lot of the stories and most of them are just kicking plot ideas around and see what works. More often then not never really following through on many of them. For example, the class reunion arc and the vampire bar arc just stop without much payoff.
- Accidental Murder: Hunter the zombie hunter, accidentally shoots John and kills him.[1]
- Back from the Dead: He got better.[2]
- Both combined and inverted here and the next page. While trying to turn zombie Santa Claus back to normal, an AoE un-zombifying spell turns both Santa and George back to human.
- Both combined and inverted here
- Back from the Dead: He got better.[2]
- Art Evolution: In addition to gradual style changes there have been several major shifts during the course of the archive.
- Author Avatar: John Ericsson was originally designed for a different comic that the creator was going to do— That comic was to be about the creator and his real life friends. When Zombie Roomie was thought up he added his look/name to the Straight Man character to be a balance to the skinny and shorter George.
- Boy Meets Ghoul: Well, girl meets zombie... Zoey and George's unconventional relationship.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: On a few occasions the characters, typically John and George have referenced the fact that they're in a comic strip. Including a brief arc where they went on strike due to not wanting to do the joke for the day.[3][4][5]
- Color-Coded Characters: John's color is orange. George is grey and sometimes blue. Many of the monsters also have significant colors to them.
- Didn't Think This Through: When the deciding vote for who gets to be pack alpha is up in the air, it's generally considered wise not to threaten the voter with banishment if you win.
- Downer Ending: The original timeline ended with John and George shot dead by angry protesters (one of which was recurring antagonist Blanie) and a nuke about to go off in the city to contain the zombie spread going around. The only good thing is that Glenda uses a spell to transport Lizzy and her to different timeline where their friends are alive and this outcome doesn't happen.
- Fan Disservice: George and John are often shown sans-trousers.
- Gamer Chick: Lizzy Moretti, Zoey's roommate, is the token gamer chick in the comic. She has been seen wearing geek tee's and bikini tops.
- Halloween Cosplay: Each Halloween the characters have had several costumes (Elvis, Night of the Living Dead, The Lich King, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Skull the Troll from PvP).
- I'm a Humanitarian: Zombies need human flesh to survive, homunculi get parts periodically replaced, vampires need blood, and witches need to eat children to keep from being consumed by their magic. It's not clear to what extent werewolves live off humans, but all the monsters gamble with human organs.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: John and George appeared as guests on the television show, and comic of the same name, Woody After Hours. During the course of the crossover, John and the producer Isabel hit it off. There appeared to be hints at something happening between them romantically, but timing never worked out for the two.[6]
- Monster Mash: George's friends in the supporting cast make up a traditional Monster Mash. Including a vampire, Frankenstein's monster, a wolfman, a witch, a creature from the Black Lagoon. A ghost was added to the cast but he's not part of that group of friends.
- Monster Roommate: George Agnew, the titular zombie roomie.
- Odd Couple: John and George.
- Our Monsters Are Different: The majority of zombies seen in the comic are not mindless shamblers. They have distinct personalities that carry over from their former lives.
- Perky Goth: Zoey McGillicuddy.
- Remember the New Guy?: How Lyn is introduced. She just shows up without warning dating John. Eventually the backstory how the two got together was explored later.
- Super Hero: George adopted the persona of Zombie-man after the apartment was broken into. He had no powers above and beyond a normal zombie, but wore a Batman inspired utility belt and a cape!
- Transhuman Treachery:
- Zig-zagged with George. He's friendly but doesn't have any qualms with eating human flesh and originally attacked people to do so. Though at the least tried to keep it to bad people.
- One of the group's friends, Juicy, willingly let herself be turned into a vampire so she can work a better paid stripper club run by the group's vampire friend. Taking the whole undead thing rather nonchalantly.
