The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aka, the CDC, has already made its preference for the trend of a potential zombie apocalypse known earlier this summer when it released a survival guide, one that subsequently crashed the CDC’s blog.

Now that they’ve apparently addressed whatever server overload issues that plagued that attempt, the CDC is back on the zombie bandwagon, just in time for Halloween. This time, instead of relying on a generic survival guide — hey, the CDC is not above shilling for pageviews — they’ve released an impressively-drawn web comic that plays on popularity of zombies. The comic is presented in the standard PDF format, and, truth be told, after skimming it, the comic is essentially a reminder for people to make an emergency kit, one that prepares people for potential disasters, whether it’s in the form of an all-out zombie attack or, well, bad weather.

Here are a couple of screenshots from the comic, which, regardless of the CDC’s motivation, isn’t that bad:

The CDC also posted a statement, explaining their motivation for the publication:

CDC has a fun new way of teaching the importance of emergency preparedness. Our new graphic novel, “Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic” demonstrates the importance of being prepared in an entertaining way that people of all ages will enjoy. Readers follow Todd, Julie, and their dog Max as a strange new disease begins spreading, turning ordinary people into zombies. Stick around to the end for a surprising twist that will drive home the importance of being prepared for any emergency. Included in the novel is a Preparedness Checklist so that readers can get their family, workplace, or school ready before disaster strikes.

So yeah, the CDC is deftly using zombies as a way to remind others to be prepared. Granted, if a true zombie apocalypse broke out, I’m not sure how much good a CDC-approved disaster preparedness kit would do, unless it was filled with unlimited food, water, and ammo.

Again, you can read the entire web comic in its PDF form here.

If you’re wondering just how effective the CDC would be in the face of a worldwide zombie outbreak, the fantastic television show, The Walking Dead covered that subject rather well during the season one finale, which is the resource of the lead image. AMC, the channel responsible for the show, has a “webisode” of how the CDC would fare:

That’s not very encouraging, considering only one of the CDC’s researchers survived. Meanwhile, outside of the building looked something like this:

Image courtesy.

In other words, if a worldwide zombie outbreak actually does hit, we’re all pretty much screwed. Sure, some would survive, but most of us would either wind up as one of the walking dead or we would get eaten. Who knows? Maybe the disaster kit would give you a few more days worth of survival, so there’s that.