Zombie strip

Zombie strip ( Russian Edition of a zombie or a strip of zombies ) - in English, this is a comic book series that continues to be published despite the fact that its creator or one of the creators died ^{[1] [2]} . In most cases, they belong to the author’s relatives and are often criticized for the lack of spark, since the creator can no longer continue the successful script ^[1] . Often an ordinary series turns into a zombie because of the desire to maintain a profitable business, as this can bring a lot of money to the creator’s relatives and the publisher ^[1] . At the dawn of the development of the comics industry, this was commonplace and did not cause any contradictions. One of the first known authors to abandon this tradition was George Herriman , who insisted that his series Krazy Kat should never be continued after his death ^[3] .

The practice of zombie publications is usually criticized by the current generation of authors, such as Will Waterson and Stephen Pastis ^{[4] [5]} . Pastis also reflected a similar idea in his 2005 Pearls Before Swine comic book ^[6] .

Many readers urge: “Open the door to new blood,” since these publications have long been dead creatively. But anyway, the “eighty-year-old” character of Blondie found, it seems, an ink fountain of youth and the publication looks like the most alive of the dead, despite the death of the creator in 1973. Washington Post . September 16, 2009

The main argument of criticism of this phenomenon is that often after the death of the author, the publication already loses its original spark and author's inspiration, as the publishers simply continue to repeat the main gags and storylines of the work ^[7] , and the drawing style is noticeably different from the traditional ^[1] . However, such claims are often presented to those works where the author retired or transferred the rights to other authors ^[4] . Another argument is that the zombie series turns the comic book industry into a business and fills the place that could be given to new and promising publications ^{[8] [1] [7]} .

Blondie , Dennis the Torturer , BC , The Wizard of Id , Frank and Ernest , Hi and Lois , Hägar the Horrible , The Family Circus , belong to the zombie series. Barney Google and Snuffy Smith ”, and“ Ginger Meggs ” ^[1] . He also called the already non-existent series Terry and the Pirates , Little Orphan Annie , and Brenda Starr .