Endtown by Aaron Neathery for April 25, 2018

The deed is done, and now Jacob needs to figure out what he’s going to do next in his leadership of Endtown. Or reclaim leadership of Endtown, since he’s no longer calling the shots.

The booze won’t really help, but can blunt the pain short-term. (Assuming there’s alcohol in that bottle — it could be grape soda for all I know.)

Looks like he’s tied up at the moment.

Residents got their show and “closure”.

Is Jacob thinking “What have I done?” or “Am I next?”?

With a drop that long, he should have been decapitated.

He got off with a suspension.

State murder, how can anyone think it is civilized? Its barbaric. At least in the waste he would have had a small chance.

So dark, Endtown is “almost” moving into DC universe territory.

Once upon a time in Endtown, the rats were mostly comic relief with almost a “Keystone Cops” feeling. Lord, how I miss those good old days….

All Jacob can think is “This bean vodka just isn’t cutting it…”

1. Jacob now knows who’s really in charge.2. The Rats KNOW they’re in charge.3. The Citizens think Jacob’s in charge.4. Philo went out with a whisper, not a scream.5. As for the Truth… YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH (a la Jack Nicholson)

So yeah, no deus ex machina. What a twist?

Jake: “How in the hell did it come to this? And how am I going to put the genie back into the bottle?”

Again with the video surveillance. Where are the cameras? How many are there? I thought about it when they deployed the fire suppressant. Jacob was watching it with…the rats. Who has access and is probably always monitoring the cameras? The rats. Who might have been watching Philo’s meetings with Cooper? The rats. Then the rats could have bumped off Cooper and set up Philo.

Stick around folks for the postgame show with Fran Tarkenton we promise we won’t leave you hanging!

“and now a word from our sponsors…”

As much as this disturbs us as readers…how must the Endtowners feel? As an example of why one doesn’t commit the same crime…it’s pretty powerful. Exiling or disappearing Philo wouldn’t have the deterrent value as this does. Even If it stirs resentment among the population, few are likely to do anything about it, with the image of Philo on a rope in their mind.

Was for an intervention. Kinda liked Philo.

Looks like poor resolution on the monitor. Does that mean there’ll be poor resolution of this matter?

When Walter Trimble was declared Mayor, it wasn’t even for having any sound political views. He killed some Topsiders, saving everyone there from being killed. It wasn’t until the Milk Trial that he became more like a politician.

Then came a new election, and Jacob became Mayor because of his role in The Milk Trial, saving three people who knew how to produce food without having to forage Topside and risk getting killed. Jacob put an end to mutant eggs and milk being taboo, and now Endtown has become more self-sufficient.

Here’s the thing… When Walter was mayor, the rats had no respect for his ‘authority’. He was barely able to make an appointment to the (ahem!) High Council to discuss the fate of the Milk Trial defendants. As far as the rats were concerned, the position of mayor was nothing more than an empty title. Now that Jacob is the mayor, despite the changes he made for the good of Endtown, he’s realizing now that his position is still an empty title in the eyes of Freeman and the rats.

Now, he has just witnessed watching Foxworthy, someone he used to know, hang for everyone to see. And while Foxworthy did have a small role in the unrest that went on, deep down Jacob knew he was not the mastermind of it all. Jacob didn’t want him to die; he was going to have him exiled. At least he would have still lived.

But with the empty title of Mayor, all he can do now is sit in his office and try to drown his sorrows. Unless, perhaps, Walter can give him some advice on how he dealt with it.

Who is on the High Council? Does it even exist anymore?

Surprise, surprise.

Hmm… Could the rats have “faked” the hanging? Used a harness and knocked him out. A public hanging is used to control the population by instilling fear. They might have faked the hanging and then send him into exile on the surface. Also, considering the clock was “bonging” when the sentence was announced, no one really knows why he was hanged.

There are two problems here. One, the wolves rebelled, rioted. And second, some group is killing people for food. The rats solved the wolf issue (maybe), but nothing has been shown to solve the murders.

Jacob knocked heads with Philo on more than one occasion but this hurts Jacob…..butt hole that he is…….he knows this ain’t right.

It’s simple, a statement was made. Do the crime and you WILL pay the price. WIth the recent uprising over the supposed food shortages, something needed be done and with such a figurehead dangling like that. I dare say there will be very many more neigh-sayers or trouble-rousers.

Jeezis they actually did it.

Makes you wonder how Walter, Portia, Dottie and the rest of the Examiner staff are reacting to the event.

The phrase “bread and circuses” come to mind. Ok, it’s beans and hangings, but it sure draws the crowds. And, what kind of people like to watch a public hanging anyway? I thought civilized people had given that up a couple of hundred years ago. It’s like those public stonings in Afghanistan.

This really raises the question: does Aaron have an objective or a goal with this strip, and thus we’re being taken to a planned end, or have the characters taken control of the plot?

But if this is faked——why? They are in a very tight knit community. Hard to hide or introduce a “new” person.

Ehat worries him more? The rats doing this, or him getting the blame in the end?

Okay, this is all what it is, but we still don’t know who is at the heart of the whole “porking” operation.

Yeah no, I know the guy is allowed to tell his story but this has gotten to the point that’s it’s hard to actually care about any character, seeing as this is a total crapsack world and anyone you get attached to will most likely die horribly.

The rats appear to be followers of the Utilitarianism School of Philosophy…

A stray thought that just struck me: If Jacob has no real authority, why are the shadowy manipulators who set this whole mess into motion going through so much trouble to get him removed? All the deaths, all the cover ups – what is the real prize here? Hasenpfeffer?

Since the whole mutation thing is a crap shoot (with even children not necessarily turning out the same as their parents), is there a predisposition for those who turned into rats to become these power-hungry demons? Or are the rats just trying to make Endtown into another Unity?

I enjoy the effect that Arron has made in the first 3 panels. It took extra time to create the identical width horizontal lines, making the effect of viewing this through a monitor. I’m sure that Jake sees this as a failure on his part. Yes, he needed to exact punishment for the sedition, but he did not forsee the rats enforcing capital punishment.

What will happen to such a people? Now the right to a fair trial will be taken away from everyone in the town. They have collectively forfeited their right to a fair trial.

How long does it take for a corpse to rot off a noose? A week?