In case you’re still catching up with “The Walking Dead” this is what might be called a “spoiler”. If you’re happily working through the past seasons and wondering how things work out with that nice old man on the farm… sorry.

He gets his head cut off with a sword by a megalomaniac.

Herschel’s decapitation is one of the most poignant moments in the entire series. It was also a bit of a reminder, if the Governor’s fish-tanks weren’t enough, that have to destroy the brain – not just remove it from the body – to truly put down the walking dead.

We approach a new and radical expansion of our ever loosening definition of “Zombie” today, but it’s just impossible to pass up making a Day of the Dead reference on the Day of the Dead. So, today, we induct La Calavera Catrina into the illustrious halls of the Zombie of the Week.

Catrina was created in the early 1900’s by famed illustrator José Guadalupe Posada. Originally intended as social satire of Mexican natives who were eager to adopt European styles and traditions in the pre-revolutionary era. The character, called the “Dapper Skeleton”, was essentially lost until the 1930’s when Posada’s work was reissued posthumously.

Artist Diego Rivera used the character in his 1948 work “Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central” (Dream of a Sunday afternoon along Central Alameda), a mural and historic landmark in Mexico City. The character’s popularity exploded after this and she is now the de facto mascot for The Day of the Dead.

You can see more of Rivera’s amazing collection of  work, and explore similar artists, at Artsy’s Diego Rivera Page (thanks to Anthony for the reference).

At the last minute we put together a team of my son’s friends to champion Extra-Life 2014. The charity organizes a massive 24 hour gaming marathon to support hundreds of Children’s Hospitals. This year the effort raised over 5 Million dollars. Our team, the Vidiots (feel free to donate), raised about $150 of that (the best, coolest part of it, of course).

The team didn’t quite make the 24 hour mark, but was able to do most of it. They played a lot of games, had a lot of fun but hit a wall around the 18th hour after which, yup, they were as good as zombies. After a few hours sleep they did get better… you think that actual zombies could just need a nap?

We feel the need to make an admission here, but first: Awkward Zombie is an excellent web comic. Funny, insightful and full of video-game geek humor. The author seems like an awesome person that we’d truly enjoy sharing a meal with. Really, however you may get introduced to it; it’s well worth spending some time with this comic.

Now the admission: we’re only telling you about it because it has the word “Zombie” in the title. That’s literally the only reason. It’s sad, but true. We’ve been trying to come up with clever, interesting zombies and zombie-related things once a week for almost two years. It’s hard, people! Damn hard!