Endtown by Aaron Neathery for February 09, 2025

I almost feel sorry for the security rats. Almost. Knowing how officious, cruel and unfair they have been in the past, it’s hard to sympathise with them if they don’t show insight and contrition for past wrongs.

“to sleep, perchance to dream…” Ask Wally about dreams… you might not want any.

If Joe is lucky, death is the final stop. But I’m afraid they will put his body in a machine, push a button and he will back good as new. Or as good as someone who was murdered and not allowed to die quietly can be.

Perchance to dream…

“Perchance to get a game reset.”

Consider the alternative.

Reminds me of Roy Batty’s soliloquy from Blade Runner… “…like tears in rain… time to die.”

Seems like they are working on a bigger picture and the pieces don’t want to work together.Not inherently bad but can lead to trouble.

Time to End. Town.

His face in panel 3 – brilliant artwork. The anguish and fatigue and hopelessness.

I feel the same way, but for slightly different reasons.

I’m guessing the point of this arc is like that “are we the baddies?” realization of the Nazi guy from that one movie…

Time to see a doctor. Probably a mad doctor. Possibly Mallard.

Possibly this may be the arc where we find out about the rats, where they came from, and why they have the job they have.

Question: I see the ambulance arriving just as Ben & Joe are pulling out in a military service vehicle (at a non-emergency pace). Is Joe being taken to the hospital or a Rat-recycling center?

To sleep- perchance to dream! Aye, there’s the rub!

“For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”But it’s “Saviour of ’is country,” when the guns begin to shoot." ~ excerpted from R. Kipling

…like tears lost in the rain…

The job of Peacekeeping is the hardest job you’ll ever do. The dog guards his sheep. But the sheep hate the dog because the dog keeps them in line and resembles the wolf. The wolves hate the dog because while like them the dog defends the sheep. The dog continues to do the job unloved by both sides. These rats know that all too well by now.

Hmmm … This profound exchange among the uniforms leads to think that, screwed up as it is, “End Town” will keep on spinning, just like the world we live in, eh? …