734: Outbreak

|< < Prev Comic #734 (April 30,2010) Next > >|

Outbreak

Title text: Let's get dinner after we promptly destroy all the X-7 we've manufactured.

Explanation

Patient Zero is the usual terminology for the first patient tested or infected with an outbreak-style infection.

Also, it seems every zombie movie is rife with terrible mistakes which allow the slowly lurching zombies (or outbreak) to escape and spread. For example, the nurse will look at the chart and not look at the patient and then walk away. The security guard will cross the hall 2 seconds after the zombie has left the doorway.

This sounds more realistic...blast the zombie, destroy the toxin and then go on a date.

Transcript

 add a comment! ⋅  add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅  refresh comments!

Discussion

A romantic comedy in which the couple tries to hide evidence of the battered corpse while making out. Would pay to watch. Davidy²²[talk] 13:22, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

cueball and megan? the text clearly name the characters as ryan and laura 189.135.111.140 18:48, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

1. Cueball and Megan are acting in a movie.
2. In the transcript, Randall specifically names them as Cueball and Megan. :-) Saibot84 (talk) 02:38, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

Note that "Cueball" and "Megan" are merely the Explain xkcd names. The official transcript refers to them only as "Man" and "Woman". (Anon) 13 August 2013 24.142.134.100 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Randall did also use the name Megan, while Cueball is just an invention by interpreters not only here. The names "Ryan and Laura" are just characters in a movie.--Dgbrt (talk) 07:33, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

I love how Ryan is covering his face when he holds the door open. 76.106.251.87 23:27, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

I saw it as trying to plug his ear. Shotguns are loud, especially indoors.Tryc (talk) 14:24, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Indeed. Z1mp0st0rz (talk) 15:25, 11 April 2024 (UTC)

I've always considered this a bait and switch. Men would take their reluctant girlfriends on movie dates, somehow manage to get a movie they wanted, and soon find they were had. It is ever so much sweeter this way. Black Hat Productions, in collaboration with Danish Movies, should make this. Anonymous 03:00, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

The patient might overwhelm the man and escape before the woman returns. X-7 might still be communicable after death. Errors. 108.162.250.155 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Honestly, what better plan was there? The door didn't have a lock (for whatever reason), and most people (or at least most scientists) don't usually keep a gun in their truck, much less in the lab itself. Also, the title text takes care of the toxin issue. Presumably, they'll follow proper protocols when destroying the body as well. And disinfecting Laura. Shotguns spray. Anonymous 15:03, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

This explanation desperately needs some cleanup. It's currently shockingly short, and gives almost no explanation of anything. 199.27.133.50 21:57, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

That at least have been fixed now ;-) --Kynde (talk) 09:56, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Question: Are there any reason for the names Laura and Ryan, like are they used in a zombie movie of outbreak style movie? Or are they just randomly chosen so they can be introduced in the film? --Kynde (talk) 10:50, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

The whole idea from thi comic really looks like something Russian filmmakers would try to spend state issued budget on

Isn't Patient 0 from Among Us?Z1mp0st0rz (talk) 15:25, 11 April 2024 (UTC)

The "Patient 0" from Among Us is (I would presume, not having see it) from the pre-existing and longstanding general concept of "Patient 0" (or, better, "Index case" in epidemiology/etc.

Regardless, this comic is from 2010. Years ahead of the game, or the subsequent manga/animation adaptations, if that's what you're thinking of. 172.70.85.239 16:35, 11 April 2024 (UTC)