Endtown by Aaron Neathery for July 04, 2013

Which is?

The elevator might be what he meansA token of resistance in these scenesHe lost the round of pulling Jacob’s triggerPerhaps he’s moving on to something biggerHe is an orator, if not compellingAnd he now has a story to be tellingWill he convince the crowd? And will he try?If Jacob thinks he might, Allgood must die.=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooVote for Endtown ClassicThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

oK now WE feel sorry for the poor, picked upon, misused, ostracized, panda who was just doing his good deeds for the Endtown with no value or reward for this. COW MANURE, ( actualy bull)Blessed Be

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

I’d have a feeling of satisfaction for seeing Allgood get his just desserts for bigotry… if I didn’t know Jackrabbit was even more evil and is going to return to the crowd’s adulation as a lying hero.

Knowing Mr Neathery’s skill as a story teller, there’s a fair bet that a couple of weeks from now, I’ll be completely on Jackrabbit’s side. He may prove to be a wise and benevolent dictator, a force for good, or he may be stabbed in the back or unfairly run down. Any of a number of unlikely things can happen in Endtown. The only certainty is uncertainty.

Reminds me of Matthias Erzberger…

Neatherly, who needs The Young And The Restless or Dallas when we’ve got your strip! ;-D Keep it coming! We love it!

Allgood: “Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.”

“Nope. No sympathy. Even less sympathetic now because he hasn’t done a thing to fix what he’s done.”Fix what? What’s he done?

Wabbit (from yesterday): “Why do you think Holly will not be released? DO you think all 3 will continue to be held in jail, or just Holly?”If Maude belongs to Jake’s group, then she’ll probably be released. But, if Jake wants to maximize the drama between him and “the insane, out of control, Allgood-led HC”, then there’ll probably be 1 or two “sacrifices”. Holly is one of the most-loved and respected people in the colony, so she’d be eligible for sainthood the fastest, once Jake gets things settled down again and people start erecting statues everywhere.

so wait, the rabbit isn’t a bad guy here?

I disagree, while the trial added a bit of fuel to the fire, I think the general destructive order of the rats caused the riot. If we go that deep in who caused what, you could place blame on Allgood’s mother for giving birth to him. He’s a bit bigoted, Jacob even moreso, but the difference is Jacob is willing to directly destroy those around him, Allgood never intended for things to spiral out of control, or for anyone to get hurt.

He may have done wrong, but got to say I’m disgusted at some of the comments here. If he just left silently people would definately think something was up, and even if he doesn’t know what would happen outside at least he takes any possible punishment like a man and accepts it. Also he isn’t so much of an ass that he abused the information before, remember …

“The trial is what caused the riot. Jackrabbit may have tricked him, but if he hadn’t been an intolerant self-centered egomaniac, the situation may not have gotten this far out of control.”Interesting. The only reason Allgood went forward with the trial is because he was told he had majority support within the colony. Without that support, without the lies and manipulation by Jake and Velda, Allgood would never have made the first move. It’s not his “intolerance” or “bigotry” that blinded him, it’s the people that chose to surround him that blinded him. I wrote before about Andy Grove’s “Only the Paranoid Survive” book. Leaders get isolated from the real world because the “yes men” at the top levels actively strive to keep them in the dark. The only thing Allgood could have done different leading up to the trial was to ditch all of his “followers”, put on a disguise and talk to people in the colony on his own. For a 6’-tall panda, that would be an interesting trick.And how would you propose he expose Jake’s trick? Jake controls the TV broadcasts. Allgood’s one option is to get out of the security floor and away from Jake’s followers. But as I wrote yesterday – who can he talk to now and who’s going to listen to him?

Putting aside the things Allgood has done (and in some cases, stepped back and let happen), I really do think that at least one contributing factor to not shooting Jacob is because he most likely came to the same conclusion that a lot of us did: that it had no live ammo. It wasn’t so much an act of cowardice as just being smart. I mean, really, what are the chances that Jacob would actually be willing to take the risk of being shot, even if he was almost entirely sure Allgood wouldn’t do it? Overzealous, corrupt, and vile he may be, but he doesn’t really strike me as being that foolish.

Allgood only tried to make people aware of this topic and make his view of things the valid one. He never intended to harm anyone, he just wanted to nail down the Rule, creating of a authoritative precedent to have a guide for this issue for orientation.Before this story I kept Jake just for a unsatisfied crabber, who’s more talk than deed, but now he shows to be an evil schemer with lusts for power. If he’s so into using mutants byproducts, why not make a stew out of him? >:→

Jacob is resembling Randolf Hearst more than Edward R. Murrow.

Assuming that Jacob lets Allgood leave, it will be interesting to see what happens when he hits Endtown. I’m guessing the elevators at the ground floor are being closely watched, if they haven’t in fact been barricaded (that’s what I would have done).

The TV feed cut out as the voice of the HC was shouting “KILL, KILL, KILL” like Arlo Guthrie in the shrink’s office. What is Allgood going to say when everybody in Endtown thinks the Milk 3 have either been or are about to be executed because of him?

Allgood didn’t shoot (or technically didn’t ATTEMPT to shoot) Jackrabbit. He didn’t have it in him to pull the trigger. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s not a failing of his personality. It means he’s normal. The holding back from blowing out his enemy’s brains. The holding back from exposing Linda as a former Topsider. I’m beginning to find a smidgeon of interest in Allgood. He may have inner qualities we haven’t seen yet.The bravest thing he could do now would be to forget about the trial and take the elevator back down to the town. To swallow his pride and his dignity and start living as one of the people, temper the outrage of his views, listen to others and be prepared for the fact he will be publically vilified, much more unfairly than he deserves. He will feel the weight of Jackrabbit’s PR machine. He has been badly done by. People in the street will hate him. They may beat him up. They may kill him. The real bravery will show in a decision such as this. It would be noble, reckless and unhelpful. But… But, it would only take someone listening to him, listening to the true story, straight from the heart, to start to put together a different version from the Jackrabbit Spin. Maybe he would go to the Endtown Examiner. There are other journalists. He may find one of then and pour it out. It would be good reading. Actually, the new ‘Generalissimo J’ may not go back to work there, if he’s the new leader. Or he may commandeer the whole press and have a total monopoly on speech. Bet we have Albert, who served on the council and found out how dysfunctional it was. Algood’s story would make some kind of sense to him.We have Mayor Walter Trimble, who I imagine has the power to rally the best qualities from a beaten soldier on his knees. The panda may be turned around into a loyal campaigner for freedom against tyranny.We have Wally Wallechinsky, who may hate Allgood for his persuection in the trial, but would hate Jackrabbit the instigator of the imprisonment of Holly, his beating at the hands of the rats and the townsfolk who died on the street and in his arms.Jackrabbit assumed Allgood would be too scared to return to Endtown, choosing exile instead. He’s betting his future on it. All we need is for Allgood to do the brave thing and face up to the mess he made, and the rabbit’s plans may start to unravel.

Allgood knew something was wrong. He knew the trial would have the wrong results if he didn’t have the backing of the colony. He knew. Couldn’t have that…

Velda: “You know how the press are.” (Thinks: “Jake’s part of the press, right?”)

Let’s not forget that Jacob is just as bigoted. He has a thing against mutants that aren’t anthro or identifiable.

Let’s remember that it was stated that he had an agenda earlier in the series.

This is a real itch that needs some serious scratchin’! The way it stands as I see it (presently)… Octavius Algood – moralistic government official with a conscience and good intentions corrupted by interoffice manipulations. Jacob Jackrabbit – the bigoted egomaniac that represents the media and his control over the populace for their own welfare. The populace would feel that with Jackrabbit they will sooner get what they want (but on Jackrabbit’s terms) but definitely the BIG EVIL. We haven’t heard from Professor Mallard throughout all of this. Wally is still our hero just waiting for his opportunity to save Holly and the others. Albert was somewhat upset about not having a say during his term on the HC. The Mayor (Walter?) is trying to get the population back under control. I still envision hope here for everyone except the unfortunate dead and Jackrabbit. Algood can go to Holly, apologize for his error of ways and final realization it was all a manipulated farce, and with compassion,she will stand for his popular support against Jacob’s manipulation. Wally and Albert will join to lead the population in it’s realization of being hoodwinked by the egomaniac bigotry of Jackrabbit had his “behind-the-scene” controls of the media.

HEY! It’s starting to sound a lot like the daily news!!!

And so Allgood walks the long walk. By their looks I think both Jacob and Velda are a bit surprised he chose that path.Bravery comes in many forms. You have to give him that much credit even if you don’t like him. Allgood may never make it to his house but at least he will go home.Happy Fourth everyone. I know its strictly American but who does not like Freedom?TSOJ. I see another break in time coming up. They wrap this up. Prisoners set free. Holly runs to Wally. They kiss. Scene closes. New scene. 3 or so months later. That’s how we got to this one. Later.

The trial didn’t cause the riot…the rats’ response to a fight between two females caused it.

And no way does Allgood live to walk out the door. He knows way too much PLUS he left the gun on the floor.

I am reminded of how Marc Antony was reviled by the crowd – until he made his famous speech. Shall Algood be soon saying ‘Friends, Endtowners, and Countrymen len me your hearing receptors’…

You got it there!!!!Want to guess? Mine is the walk to the elevator. The doors open. Allgood steps in. Turns and faces Velda and Jacob down a long empty hall. The doors close. DING the arrow pointing down. End scene.

Okay… Perhaps Allgood didn’t actually “bully” the Milk 3, but he did make Maude cry by insulting her and her relationship with her deceased husband.And he did not need to be manipulated by anyone else to do that.Now that he knows he’s been had, he’s going to try and salvage what little dignity he has left.My question is…When (or even IF) he does show his face to the public, what will he say for himself?

Aaron’s ability to create characters who are such mixed bags is one of the things that makes this strip so great. Allgood is a perfect case and point.He isn’t a bigot, like Jake, he’s a passionate moralist who just intended to show people what he considered the error of their ways and lead them to what he believes is a better way of life. Jacob, by comparison has definite issues regarding non anthro mutants, particularly those who don’t appear to have mutated (like Al). He was also ready to set up a riot with a massive body count in order to get his way. Nothing Octavius has done is that despicable.Still, I can’t help feeling that Octavius should have known better. There was NO EXCUSE for having Holly, Maude and Linda arrested, even if he believed they would be well taken care of. Arrests and trials are for people who have committed crimes, no amount of pressure from Velda and his “followers” can excuse that. Then there’s the prosecution itself. His treatment of Holly was troubling but his examination of Maude was totally reprehensible. I understand he was in the heat of the moment and that he felt that his beliefs were under attack but to insult the memory of a woman’s dead husband? I can’t help believing that he more than earned Linda’s single finger salute.Still, at least he had the decency to keep Linda’s secret and he is definitely going to get his just deserts and then some when he goes downstairs. I just hope that he somehow finds a way to make up for what he’s done.

“I’m curious though, I’ve voiced my opinion on how the Rats should respond to all this, how do you feel the Rats are going to move from this?”When there are too many unknowns, my MO is to list all of the possible outcomes and then highlight the 2 or 3 that I think are more likely depending on the kind of story Aaron wants to tell. My hit rate is as low as anyone else, although I do try to keep within the nature of Aaron’s storytelling. That said, Jake already has his own police force and rabid followers. Plus he’s setting the rats up as minions of the “out of control HC”. When he’s done with this, the rats will be as reviled as Allgood. So, the idea may be to jettison the entire old system, HC, rats and all, and replace it with his own people. When this is all over, the rats may be looking for new jobs. I don’t think they’ll be given the option of staying on the Security floor or the time to come up with their own form of government. However, since they’re not like the other mutants, they will be isolated in one corner of the colony and can develop their own form of society…But, your question is “How should they respond?” Trying to oppose Jake is just going to make them look worse than they already do. To avoid getting lynched, they need to either align themselves with him, or run away from Security and offer an alliance with Walter. Any attempt to impose order or create a new government with themselves on top is going to be seen as an affront to Jake, Endtown’s new savior.