Newspaper Zombie


 * For the version in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, see Newspaper Zombie (Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare).

Newspaper Zombie is a low-health zombie reading an upside-down newspaper and the sixth zombie encountered in Adventure Mode. The newspaper acts as a shield for this Zombie. When it loses its newspaper, it gets angry and faster. It appears to be an elderly person with glasses and heart-patterned boxers. When the player's plants destroy the newspaper, it pauses, a question mark appears above his head, and then it will make an angry sound and then it quickly charges forward at the player's plants in a rage. Melon-pults, Winter Melons, Fume-shrooms, Gloom-shrooms, and Flaming Peas damage both the zombie and the newspaper at the same time.

Suburban Almanac Entry
 NEWSPAPER ZOMBIE 

His newspaper provides limited defense.

Toughness: low

Newspaper Toughness: low

Speed: normal, then fast (after losing newspaper)

Newspaper Zombie was *this* close to finishing his Sudoku puzzle. No wonder he's freaking out.

Overview
The Newspaper Zombie absorbs 17 normal damage shots and its appearance changes upon an absorption of 3, 6, 8 (when the newspaper is destroyed), and 13 before dying at 17 normal damage shots. When the newspaper is destroyed, this zombie will start to run faster due to his destroyed newspaper.

Appearances

 * Adventure Mode: 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-4, 3-5 (DS, DSi), 5-10
 * Mini-games: Wall-nut Bowling, It's Raining Seeds, Beghouled, Beghouled Twist, Last Stand, Wall-nut Bowling 2, Dr. Zomboss's Revenge, Buttered Popcorn, BOMB All Together!
 * Puzzle Mode: Last Stand: Night, Last Stand: Fog, Last Stand: Endless
 * Survival Mode: all levels
 * Co-op Mode: all levels except Co-op Day and Co-op Bowling
 * Others: Versus Mode

Strategies
The newspaper is useless against the lobbed-shot plants, instant kills, the Fume-shroom, and the Gloom-shroom. In Wall-nut Bowling and Wall-nut Bowling 2, the zombie loses the newspaper after being hit by one Wall-nut, and dies after a second hit, like the Conehead Zombie. The Newspaper Zombie pauses and charges very quickly towards the end of the row after the player's plants destroy the newspaper, the player will need to be fast in order to kill it. The Snow Pea, Winter Melon, or Ice-shroom are effective against this, as they can slow his movement, leaving plenty of time to kill it. If the player is facing multiple Newspaper Zombies, Ice-shrooms and Peashooters can be used effectively to paralyze and kill them, or the player could just use lobbed shot plants (preferably Melon-pult or Winter Melon).

Trivia

 * The Newspaper Zombie has the second lowest physical health out of all the zombies in the first game (only the Imps in I, Zombie are weaker, since they only take three normal damage shots). He himself has nine health points and his newspaper also has eight health points, making his total amount of hit points seventeen.
 * Although it only makes an appearance in the original Plants vs. Zombies, in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, the Zombie Chicken is now the weakest zombie, having 0.25 normal damage points.
 * The Newspaper Zombie glasses are available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 80 Microsoft Points.
 * When Newspaper Zombie's head falls off, it is a regular zombie's, not his own. He shares this with Jack-in-the-Box Zombie.
 * If the Newspaper Zombie bites a Garlic and loses its newspaper right after, it will bite the Garlic a second time before switching lanes.
 * If the Newspaper Zombie bites a Garlic after losing its newspaper, he will switch lanes as usual and will keep moving fast, but will not have the angry expression.
 * When the game is paused, the Newspaper Zombie will appear above the "Resume Game" tab, even before the player reaches level 2-1.
 * The newspaper Newspaper Zombie is holding is upside down.
 * Even though the Suburban Almanac states that the Newspaper Zombie is close to finishing a Sudoku puzzle, he is not holding any writing material at all, although it could be because he was just looking at the answers of the puzzle instead of solving it (this could be why he is holding the newspaper upside-down, or he is too dumb to notice; he could also be using the newspaper to conceal his boxers, which would explain why he gets mad when the newspaper is destroyed.)
 * If a Newspaper Zombie gets hit by a lawn mower or a Giant Wall-nut, a question mark will appear for a brief moment, as the newspaper gets destroyed before the zombie itself.
 * The title of the newspaper is "ZOMBIE", and there is also a picture of a head on it.
 * There is a glitch on the DS version that sometimes when the Newspaper Zombie loses its newspaper, it will suddenly run on a spot instead of looking down with a question mark.
 * There is also a glitch on the online version that even if it has not lost its newspaper, it will still have angry eyes when eating; this might be because he has to eat instead of "read" his paper.
 * The Newspaper Zombie is one of only two zombies that can get a question mark above its head, with the other being the Digger Zombie after its pickaxe is stolen by a Magnet-shroom.
 * Newspaper Zombie is officially and technically considered a shield zombie because he holds the newspaper up in front of him, it protects him from damage, and it has all the traits of a standard shield. However, there is one small exception to his shield capabilities. His newspaper will protect him from frozen peas, but will not cancel the splash effect of flaming peas. This is understandable because it is made of paper and will burn.
 * In Plants vs. Zombies Adventures, the Barrel Zombie is identical in movement characteristics to the Newspaper Zombie, in the sense both move faster after their shield object is destroyed.
 * Newspaper Zombie (after the newspaper is destroyed) and Football Zombie are the only Zombies which are looking straight to the players house.