Zoom In.

 Talking to my roommate one day, while wondering through the woods around town, the topic eventually came to the zombie apocalypse. We discussed potential tactics, and how the two of us would definitely be the exception and live, rising up above the rest of the unfortunate masses to lead the new world order. However, what he said after the usual fun chat stuck with me. He said he actually wanted to be in the zombie apocalypse. I of course objected. It would be really difficult, and a lot of people you love would probably die. He agreed, but said that the romance (in the traditional sense) and sudden change in everything would still be exceedingly interesting. There is some reason to want an apocalypse. There are plenty of easy methods to say modern day society is rotten to the core, plenty of reasons to be bored of modern comfortable life, and perhaps many ways to decry modern humanity's environmental impact even. So, why not just let it all collapse and live in a zombie apocalypse? Well, zoom in. 

There is a lot to take in within this panel. The first scene is zoomed out. The man is clearly dead, with the crow near him, but the surrounding of the panels is more interesting. The car, perhaps the one single largest symbol of modernity, is completely busted. The road infrastructure is crumbling. Somebody who wishes for decline could say that this is a complete victory! Nature has reclaimed its' place, humans now have that struggling romantic life, the oppressively modern systems have been dismantled. 

Zooming in with the second panel gives a different perspective. The details of the man grow more gruesome. The bird is shown to actually be tearing what little skin remains off of the skull. It definitely is an image that makes one queasy to look at. This really represents the downside of romanticizing collapse. It is easy to put it in an ideological sense, to try to tear down what we have now, but to really consider the implications of a massive collapse means thinking of massive loss of life, and in a quite gruesome way. Just as this guy is getting picked apart by a plant, if society collapses, most people are gonna end up dead and decaying within a few weeks. Not exactly what you may want to hear when you are bored in class or work, but life is pretty good. At least you are not food for a turkey vulture.