Endtown by Aaron Neathery for August 29, 2016

For someone with such a messed-up psychological past history, Wally’s holding together very well in this current challenge. I wonder if it will help him relate better to Holly and her needs after her own traumas. What I love about the story of Endtown is that there’s no story like it anywhere, at least now from what I’ve found. It’s a tale of a desperate and dangerous world full of people all with their own personal scars, who are fighting with their enemies and friends to survive, and in the meantime are still trying to do whatever it takes to stay human. Neathery has nailed it.

Very good assessment, Jenner. I rank this comic as one of my top 5 favorites!

Wow, this entity is being a real D**k. I’m with Wally on this, he has had enough. Given all he has seen and done it has only made him tougher and less likely to put up with such crap.

Here’s a weird thought. What if the Dittos are a particularly messed-up mutation? One being split into trillions, with a common mind? This could be the tormented memories of a former human.

Wally: “Whoops, no floor…”

What does he have that it wants?

Maybe the plasticized brain buried in the powder?

And many of those dittos weren’t his original ones. He picked up a bunch from the Unity colony.

So then it wasn’t Holly in the mouth of—-whatever the hell those things are the mouth(s) of…

How long is this going to go on?!?

The more dittos Wally has, the more power he has. He appears to be getting a lot more power. Could the shoe thief be Wally, and his Kid Marx dream be a warning to beware the power?

I didn’t see Irving calling for help…probably doesn’t need any…

Step right up for the Magical Mystery Tour.

Wally not only wants his dignity back, but his integrity. He can’t help his friends without it. More than that, he’s rediscovered and is reclaiming his source of faith. To he-double hockey sticks with helplessness. The dittos are playing the role of a trickster god or force of nature. I’d call this a religious conversion experience.

Wally was getting reeeeaal tired of the dittos BS.

Perhaps a ditto parachute would be in order? Dead on target as usual Jenner. A true masterpiece. ;-)

Ditto! Return to your pokeball!

Hearts, but not of glass.

I may have guessed right some strips ago. I think Wally is dealing with Holly’s husband. It could be that the monstrosities retain some intelligence and emotions when they transform. Not sure but I think all the instances where someone looked at Wally, Kirbee, and Chic; it was Lyn. The thing that he want’s back is Holly’s love.

Theory: the dittoes on the ship are tryng to assimilate the dittoes from Wally’s group and, like the scientist in Unity, they are having problems doing so because the dittos LIKE Wally. That’s what all the scowls and muttering was about while they reviewed Holly’s past. Now HIS dittos are returning to him, resulting in a loss of …. mass? hence the disintergration of the Lyn illusion.

BTW, loved Farscape

Farscape, and the SciFi Networks second most popular show of the time, The Invisible Man, (Farscape of course was the most popular) were cancelled for the most utterly ridiculous of reasons – Bonnie Hammer, who became the boss of the network, hated science fiction. That’s also why it became the network of ghosts and horror.

Nothing’s gonna Wally in the 2nd panel, he’s so done with this garbage. lol

Small point, but I made a typo. " at least now from what I’ve found"should read:" at least not from what I’ve found"

This ones/had me completely confused.1. What was being said2 Wally’s hands gesture and expression in panel 23. What was happening in panel 3, I thought he was biting the end of the monster.Amazing to me how you all got figured out what you did.So that dark stuff at the end is dittoes, not blood? Then the voice is Wally’s telling the monster to give back his dittos? I would have never figured that out.

I don’t watch much TV, but what I think they cancelled too soon was “the Dresden Files”. Dresden is a wizard living in Chicago I’ve followed it by book both before it got on the air, and after it was ended.By that time the books became just too far out for me.

1) “Its no use…you have something that belongs to me…and I want it back.” Is Wally’s mental message to the entity that is running this illusion.2) The gesture is Wally opening up his hands to collect his dittos, his face is showing concentration to call them back to him.3) The dittoes used to make up the monster are flowing into Wally’s hand.This is where Wally must be careful. Victory may be sweet, but it can also be intoxicating, power can corrupt. This could be a dangerous time for Wally. He may become something that most of the strips fans hate.

That is the same gesture Wally made when he called the Unity dittos to himself, leaving the rest of the lizards exposed.Plus the Lyn monster is clearly losing power/disintegrating from panel 4 to panel 3. It’s shrinking, the tongues are growing smaller and pieces are falling off/vanishing.

Not sure about the “belongs to me, though” THe dittos liked him, and did what they could to help, but seemed less like ownership than friendship.

Wally is now effectively the Green Lantern of Hillside.

@Diat60I’m with you. Thank you for voicing that to counter my dark comparisons of how brutal the human condition can be. That Aaron can elicit that in my head… I needed an antidote. Thanks for providing that. (I was lately wondering if I’d have to stop looking.)

If we’re listing favorites…well, I go through about a hundred a day…but on GoComics, among relatively active comics (I read many reprints), and in no particular order, it’s “Endtown,” “Skin Horse,” “Heart of the City,” “Baldo,” and “Stone Soup”…and also “Pibgorn” when it’s actually “Pibgorn” and not “Wahoo Terminal.” Probably leaving off something important that’s right there…Further off, there’s “The Monster Under the Bed,” “Bunz and Kats,” “Puck,” “I Dream of a Jeanie Bottle,” “Girl Genius,” “Modest Medusa,” “Randie and Ryan (Squid Row,)” “Waspi Square,” “Retail,” and “Skin Horse” again ‘cause I’m pretty active on their site.But again I’m sure I’m leaving something out…A couple have been mentioned, that I follow elsewhere, that I didn’t even know were available on GoComics…

Behold the ditto lord.

I tell you, this has been one surreal nightmare I’ve following since the Holly back story.

My Favorite Comics Are:Gasoline AlleyDick TracyBrewster RockitAdam@HomeShoeGarfieldHeathcliffThe Buckets

My Lesser Favorite Comics:

Daddy’s HomeFrog ApplauseAlley Oop

There are more, I’ll post them later.

Top Five Net Comics not on Go Comics: Freefall, Stand Still Stay Silent, Monster’s Garden, Meagan Kerney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Moontown by Steve Ogdan.Great comments, people really stretching to find meaning because we believe Aaron’s gotten hidden in there someplace. I would say that a consistent theme of Aaron’s is the use and misuse of power. He hasn’t played the jealousy card before, so I’m guessing Lyn is foil for a darker power that would much rather have Wally’s will broken than intact. Perhaps that’s the only way it can hold Wally’s ditto’s is to break Wally first.

On Go Comics, also check out the long-running Australian classic: Ginger Meggs, currently created by Australian New Yorker Jason Chatfield. Also (not on Go Comics) Swamp by Gary Clark.