‘Bad Backup’ by Gabriel Craven and Mikayla Fawcett

Workplace Injury

‘Bad Backup’, by Gabriel Craven and Mikayla Fawcett, is a short story from Final Restoration, Gabriel and Mikayla’s series about the zombie-fighting blue-collar workers at a restoration company of the same name.

About its inspiration, they told us the story came about in 2016 as a series of strips poking fun at zombie-apocalypse escapism fantasies where the characters break out of their mundane lives and become post-apocalyptic badasses. They wondered what would happen if zombies attacked, and instead of the full-societal reset, most of us went back to business as usual.

Drawing from their experience working in the restoration industry, Gabriel and Mikayla figured zombies made a natural addition to the roster of jobsite hazards. Even with a life-threatening pandemic out there, they figured you’ve still got to make rent somehow.

Enjoy the opening pages of this short comic, excerpted here from Issue 44, Autumn 2024.

Bad Backup

by Gabriel Craven and Mikayla Fawcett

Find out what happens next, in Issue 44, Autumn 2024!

---

The 2025 Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest is Now Open!

For the contest guidelines, and to enter, check out this page.

---

Gabriel Craven is a comic artist and writer from Steveston, BC. His love of pulpy genre fiction runs hand in hand with his focus on small stories and everyday experiences.

Mikayla Fawcett is an interdisciplinary writer and artist. Before they finished typing this sentence, they went for a wetland wander, and then added three more buckets of yuck to the zombies featured in this comic.