Endtown by Aaron Neathery for August 21, 2019

NYC Subway???

Oops Arron goofed, the glove on Wally’s left hand disappeared in the panel 3 and was back again in panel 4.

Wish I could remember, too.

Mid-century modern wallpaper???

Looks Lucranian to me ;-)

I’m sure I saw it on the Lucranian ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald. I must go back and check.

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Lucranian? Maybe

Here is where Ravenscroft was drawing, in detail.

https://www.gocomics.com/endtown/2019/07/01

Here, in panel 2 is a glimpse of something similar (but with out the identifiers (numbers and letters) of Ravenscroft.

https://www.gocomics.com/endtown/2016/09/14

It’s a reality navigational chart used by the Lucranians. Wally first saw it on the bridge of the Opabinia Queen. However this map looks far more complete than what Wally saw on the Queen. This map may show the way out. Wally may soon be able to jump realities like Marx…….if he can get a working dimensionometer.

Since Holly didn’t die in Wally ’s arms, who did?

Artwork note: In Get Fuzzy, I remember the artist saying that Bucky ’s ears are always pinned back as a sign of agression. Wally ’s ears always seem pinned back.

I wonder what that means?

Looking back at the Edmund Fitzgerald episode, a few things stand out. The Lucranians were able to leave without the ship. Moreover, they supposedly constructed the ship from materials on the Endtown world, which meant they arrived on some other ship(s) or some other way. But they could not take the Fitzgerald without running afoul of “the law” or whatever.

But Holly took the Fitzgerald somewhere, I had more or less assumed that she became a trader, but perhaps not. She would still have the problem of the ship being constructed in a place where it should not have been.

And then there were the 800 or so “batteries.” Were they still alive when the Captain & crew bailed? Was there a life support function for them. Batteries need to be recharged, and these were not.

They were clearly (well, at least one of them) from the Endtown world. If it were a problem to have a ship constructed from Endtown world materials, how much more of a problem to have dead Endtown slaves on board when transiting? Or even live ones. So it seems inconsistent for the Lucranian Captain to have suddenly realized that he was on a world with survivors while having all those Endtown world folks on board. Unless the ship added them afterward…

And would the ship’s computer transit somewhere else with those 800+ dead “batteries” or eject them? Presumably the latter. Holly would not want them on board if she knew about them.

And then … were there “batteries” on the Opabina Queen? You’d think not, with Marx on board, but then he never found the Bridge, apparently. And that ship did demonstrate that it could provide food for Endtown people. And it was doing “illegal” collections of materials. (Of course Marx probably did not intend to trade, but the ship was collecting.) Perhaps the Lucranian who “lost the ship in a card game” did so deliberately, when he figured out that there were survivors.

Mysteries upon mysteries…

Wally: “Think, Wally, think. Where have I seen this map before? Why can’t I remember? How did I get here? What’s the average airspeed of an unladen swallow? I need to be alert, the world needs more lerts. Ok, where did I leave my car keys again?”

If my memory serves me well, I saw that design at the MOMA in NYC when I was 12.

As I suggested a number of strips back, I don’t believe that they ever left the Fitzgerald. The ship seems to use “dreams” to elicit emotional reactions from its victims (“batteries”) to power itself. Fitzgeralddddddddd…

Somewhere in the Sciencefiction Writers Codex it says that a writer can worldbuild with any sort of rules they want; but then they are bound by them, otherwise plot dilemmas are meaningless. In this Endtown reality, a portion of humanity has become random cartoon animals. And these Endtown Anthros know they are cartoons; Linda said as much back in 2012 (https://www.gocomics.com/endtown/2012/11/19 ). Duffy’s Cartoon book represents Endtown Anthros in an alternate reality where, like in the SpaceJam movie, your cartoon body is comically tolerant of violent injury. Endtown anthros also heal amazingly fast but still die…tragically not comically. Separate issue: Topsider goggles allowed topsiders to see each other as “Digital construct” humans ( https://www.gocomics.com/endtown/2012/08/28 ) so the comic book is a “digital construct” as well??Some of you may tell me to “relax, this is just a cartoon.” Yeah, in Endtown and Eden they probably tell each other that too: Relax, this is just a cartoon.

But can you get to there from here?

I wonder if the Ravenscroft’s map corresponds to the bevy of tunnels that are beneath Eden.

Looks like the memory/mind map from when Jacob had that girl fried…

The map reminds me of the computer “face” on the downed merchant ship where we lost Holly.

Here’s a late thought…..they are all still on the Fitzgerald. But cocooned and now linked with all the others captured by this ship. Their reality combined into one cocooned in the Fitzgerald……..Eden. The ship itself trapped between the realities, abandoned by her Captain or……the computer command took over kicking him into a parallel place……so…..naybe he’s trying to get back through but trapped like everyone else. A theory……it might have been that Captain who grabbed Duffy’s brother and tried for Chic. Trying to break out of his cocoon. It may have been why Ravenscroft needed that tape. If the folks trapped knew they were cocooned they might be able to resist and free themselves from this…….otherwise they all will live a lie then die. Holly preferred that which is why she stayed but others might resist IF they knew it was a lie. As purduephotog pointed out……remember that busted cocoon…..that dead thing looked similar to Ravenscroft. It may have been all that was left was his memory……which has now been……erased.Just a theory.

Looks like the readout display data from the Neuro-thingy in the Cannibal arc.

I’m liking the ‘still on the Fitzgerald’ idea, it explains why they can’t remember how they got there. But would Holly, as the captain approve of the dreams?