Penned and drawn by Simon Hanselmann, Crisis Zone is an Alternate Continuity take on his Megg, Mogg and Owl series. Written in real time, the story follows the leads as they deal with the COVID-19 Pandemic, American elections, civil unrest, and everything else 2020 has to offer. The story was posted in daily updates on Hanselmann's Instagram
, running from March to December of 2020.
When the pandemic hits, the gang and their friends (and Mike's mom) are forced to stay home. Everyone's eccentricities get the better of them, leading to conflict, death, drama, marriage, cheating, and more death. One major plotpoint is Werewolf Jones getting his own Netflix show, Anus King, which becomes the forefront of the story and a major source of conflict.
Unlike the main comics and spin-offs, Crisis Zone has a large focus on continuity and features serialized storytelling. Since the narrative and characters continually escalate and evolve, this makes Crisis Zone much more surreal and chaotic.
Not to be confused with the 1999 video game of the same name.
Tropes
- Adaptational Badass: In the main continuity, Owl is more easy-going and takes a lot of abuse before leaving. Here, he puts his foot down early and takes charge of the situation.
- Ascended Extra: Dracula Jr, Mike, Jaxon and Diesel get more spotlight and development here than they ever have before.
- Artistic License – Film Production: Anus King is a Netflix show, which are normally hosted on the platform online. Here, it's shown to be filmed for television and is being released in tandem with filming, much like Big Brother.
- Bittersweet Ending: The pandemic is still going on, and everyone is unsure how the future will turn out. Werewolf Jones is also dead. But on the other hand, Booger is in a stable relationship, the characters have enough money to buy their property, and the rest of the characters get their shit together to give Jones' sons a much better life.
- Coming-Out Story: Mike comes out as a trans woman and identifies as Jen. Diesel also comes out as a trans girl and calls himself Desi, but Mike and Booger are pretty sure he's faking it.
- More Popular Spin Off: Anus Queen eclipses its parent show in the ratings.
- Take That!: Mogg is an unflattering caricature of YouTuber Tim Pool, now being portrayed as a panicking fear-mongerer. Aside from wearing Pool's signature beanie, developing a sudden interest in skateboarding, and is seen watching Tim Pool on YouTube.
- The large amount of trans characters on Anus King is criticized by in-universe fans as being "forced pandering." The police we do see are unnecessarily violent and cruel, and characters express distaste in the alt-right movement.
- On the flip side, the "purity teens" of Twitter are portrayed as politically correct, over-sensitive and hostile. Racial protesters quickly turn hostile on everyone regardless of who wins the election.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Diesel is a nightmare in this series. He lets 38 people die in a hotel fire and tries to kill Owl with a broken bottle.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: When Mogg returns to the home, everyone is pissed at him for selling their secrets to the tabloids. They keep him in the house, but lock him up in a cage and only feed him ham slices.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: When given the chance, Werewolf Jones becomes obsessed with trying to create a nuclear family between him, his sons and Dracula Jr. He doesn't care about what they want, or how messed up the situation is; as long as they can be a happy and healthy family (in his eyes), things are good.
