Endtown by Aaron Neathery for October 23, 2012

So it’s not Marx “Marx” it’s Marx from an alternative reality? Bummer!

Yeowch. Poor Marx lost Flask to, uh, himself? Well, at least he knows that he’s leaving Flask in good hands! It’s one case where “If you want it done right, do it yourself” kind of works here? Sort of? At least he gave himself in that dimension a happy ending, too.

So, who’s the voice asking him if he’s envious? The prophet of endtown? Or, just talking to himself…

That better not be caustic or poison!!!..I am going to be very angry. If Marx wants to live several lives, encourage him to find another life where SHE is. Yes?Blessed Be

Here’s a thought. If various realities are staggered, where the ones lying farther out are “earlier in their history” than the ones closer in (there was Golden-age science fiction book series based on this idea, with an “elevator” that traversed the parallel universes, and I wish I could remember the title) then “Reality 0” is where everything happened first. And, in Reality 0, the culmination of the mutant-Topsider conflict probably came and went a long time ago, relatively speaking. If the mutagen produced a series of “supra-naturals”, like the oracle, those supra-naturals in Reality 0 would have had a running start on evolving compared to, say, Reality 2^8 + 1. What if, for the sake of argument, something like the oracle were linked across realities? The ability to “see the future” would actually be the more mundane “you’ve been there, done that, here’s a picture of the t-shirt you bought yourself in reality n – 5, which is 6 months ahead of us time-wise”.

To mr_sherman (copied from yesterday):“The “Typhoid Mary’s”, not having been transformed could be carriers of the virus.”Anyone “exposed to the virus” is a typhoid Mary, Fuzzy Wuzzies as well as humanoids. It’s the act of being exposed that turns one into a typhoid Mary, so Flask is a “carrier” as well as Marx. That’s why the Topsiders want to wipe out ALL mutants. It’s just that Topsiders are more jealous of humanoids for being humanoid without a biosuit.Keep in mind, though, that no one in the Endtown universe has any idea of what the mutagen is, much less how it works. The Topsiders use the excuse of “a contagious virus” to justify their eugenics program. After all of the mutants are gone, and the mutagen keeps on doing its job, the Topsiders would need to come up with a new answer to explain it.Marx guaranteed that Flask would be reborn pre-shaped as a mutant, which probably means that she’s not “carrying” whatever had caused her to mutate. Even if there were a virus and that it is contagious, the virus wouldn’t have survived the “thoughts-that-think-themselves recycler”. Therefore, the simple act of being a mutant is not in and of itself contagious. (But, the mutagen probably isn’t a virus.)I just had a thought about one of Marx’s limitations. The mutagen is in the air, we can assume that much. Puncturing a biosuit exposes the victim to whatever is in the air. Marx would have difficulty preventing the contaminated air from traveling with him if he stepped into another reality that hadn’t had its big The End moment yet. There may be realities that he can’t, or refuses to, visit for fear of contaminating them…

The Oracle gently chides our boyThe water’s deep as his responseHe’s wistful at “him” full of joyBut seems resigned here, for the nonceBut is it him? Or could it beShe’s found her fellow now at lastIs possibly that “Petey-pre”Another Marx in Blackie’s past?We never saw his face beforeWe do not know that Petey’s himCan we be ever, really sureWith cleverness and artist’s whim?For Aaron Neathery has bothAnd so does his creation MarxTo limit him, I would be loathAnd I’m content to watch the sparks…=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

How many Marx brothers ARE there?

With the use of a subtle gradation of tone, the effect is that the pool is glowing. Gee, the artist is good!

Okay… so… Apparently when Marx tearfully left Mallard to take care of business in Endtown, that business was a visit to the Oracle. The events from then to now are scenes seen in the Oracle when he checked on Flask’s progress with his counterparts.

Were they in the oracle? Is that the watery base they were kneeling in, the depths up from which “new” Flask swam?

So, is it the past, an alternate realm in the past, an alternate realm in the present, an alternate alternate of an alternate past that’s so alternate that I have no clue what I’m say?But woo, at least someone got a happy ending.

So another long-not-seen character finally surfaces…

Hmmm…..I kinda envy him!

What a twist in this plot here.

Row Row Row your boatGently down the streamMerrily Merrily Merrily MerrilyLIFE IS BUT A DREAM.

I remember a past posting where some one called this a“Rabbit Hole”Eat me and grow tallDRINK me and grow small?

To TSOJI hope its tasty. If he upchucks that back at the Oracle it would really ruin the mood.

And how did this Marx know my college drinking toast?In college every time I took a shot of tequila at the local hippie hang out (yes tequila straight up only pansies use lime and salt) I would always say To the Greater Good. After a few shots it began to sound like “Ina Gadda da Vida”.I know I know back to my seat and hush.

Well anyway atleast we are back to ENDTOWN.

Damn, don’t you end Flask!

Ya gotta admit, no one can confuse us so wonderfully as our A.N. can. I wouldn’t change a thing. Reminds me of those 3-D pictures of old. Don’t see anything until you stare at it real close. Then it slowly comes through. Wonderful!

To V4VI feel the same way. I started to read TSOJ earlier post and just drifted off to the land of Jujubees.That is why I was singing songs and drinkin….er thinking about Tequila shots.Yea they let me out of my time out.Said to carry on. SO I am going to go carry on.Which will probably end up in another time out.I just love this story. Never ceases to amaze me.I sure hope the Security Rats get some one to salute. AND HOW MUCH TIME HAS PASSED FOR ALL THIS.Has Marx been watching Dynasty at the Oracle. So maybe an hour. He never left Prof Mallard he just headed over to the Oracle to watch the show?

To TSOJOr the whole thing never happened in the real. Just a never ending dream for Flask. Never to know she is now dead meat somewhere back at the settlement. She was dead. Upon death as in Shakespeare Hamlet it is said:“What dreams may come”She is left with a beautiful dream that has nothing to do with what is going on now.The question is…….What is Marx up to now?

So. . .I take it the our Endtown AM doesn’t expect a happy ending for himself? Sounds ominous……“Some find love…and others…well…we all have our duties….” He loses Flask and never finds another love? Makes AM a rather sad character. I feel sorry for him.

ummm… just passing through on occassion, at three thousand feet…. and I believe that might be Petey…. (?)

I’m guessing that the Aaron Marx at Endtown is sad because he was in love with Flask but had to let her pass on to somewhere he couldn’t go forcing him to leave her with another version of himself.

As far as Marx’s cup full of oracle is concerned, I don’t imagine it being for drinking but to take somewhere for some purpose, the same way a glass of oracle was brought to Al & Gustine’s trial. Still, given my track record of predicting these plot turns…down the hatch!

hello, all…I’ve been lurking for some weeks now… and WOW. Marvelous storytelling here of late. Curiosity about Marx’s character drove me to peruse Neathery’s other works that Marx has appeared in -and it looks like Master Marx is maturing in both looks and actions since his madcap days in the original Albert and DayCare strips. A character who was near and dear to Marx’s heart back then has yet to pop up in the endtown storyline, and nobody has alluded to her in the comments (well, someone did mention they thought Marx was married). SO…. with today’s strip, I am intensely curious as to where the story line leads next-and who else may pop up from Marx’s many realities… And I am awaiting with GLEE as to what may transpire if Marx should run into Albert and Gustine in the current storyline…

ooo… not sure what the lines are about. must be a tutorial somewhere on how to post correctly to the forum… apologies..

To TSOJWhat? Huhhh? Drifted off again to JuJubees land.Yummmm Butter.Oh and thanks for the small words. Saves wear and tear on my brain.In college drifted off during a lecture. Began to snore and would snort at the high lights of the lecture as he spoke. Woke up when it was over. What can I say? Continued to march. Act like nothing happened blame it on a sleep deprevation experiment we were conducting in Range Animal Science.I was not in Range Animal Science. Damn lecturer BORED me.

Oh Sheriff Monkey BluesThose Topsiders have Soviet SAM 6’s. Watch your butt. Keep it low and fast. The AIRCRAFT not your butt.

To Finder10030You too huh?She could clean my tonsils anytime. Raspy tongue or not. (You know a cats tongue is rather rough)I sensed that would be your choice.

Hey Stormwing (cool name by the way)How do we know Flask and Marx made it to the “Happy Ending”?I mean right now he is only “petting”. Can he figure out how to get “second base”?(Meat Loaf)Turning the corner headed for home….STOP RIGHT THERE. Do you love, will you marry me, remember how she carried on.Cmon you remember the song.He breaks down I will love you till the end of time!!!!!!!All together nowPraying for the end of time. God only knows what I could be doing right now. So I can end my time with you.(Basically)

Okay Okay Back to my time out.See you tomorrow kids.Got that newMOH Warfighter game last night.AWESOME!

I almost envy him. Being an aspie, the whole girlfriend thing is troublesome at best. As lovely as she is and as much as I’d like to see her happy, I just don’t think I could handle someone with Flask’s baggage.

If what I’ve seen applies to Endtown and “Endtown,” then Aaron Marx shouldn’t be worried about getting a girlfriend ‘cause he’s married.

But it’s anybody’s guess—-and certainly not mine—-as to whether that applies.

could be that the two Aaron Marx’s are clones and that there are a whole bunch of clones who are given control of each reality, so Aaron has sent Flask to his “brother”

However it goes, we should have noticed she wasn’t in the Endtown universe we know due to all the foliage present when she came up for air. Happy for her, Sad for him.He didn’t mean no happiness forever, just not the happiness he wants now. We all have felt that way after a break-up with someone. It’s how he’s feeling now. He’s too strong to go down for good.

..really great story arc…

“If what I’ve seen applies to Endtown and “Endtown,” then Aaron Marx shouldn’t be worried about getting a girlfriend ‘cause he’s married.”She didn’t survive The End.

That last phrase was a little disturbing. All sorts of horrors have been committed “for the greater good”

I think that’s the past, and so that means Flask must have died at some point along the way

I thought only dog mutants drank from the Oracle.