Endtown by Aaron Neathery for August 15, 2012

Wow. I just assumed Flask was somewhere safe (or dead), but Aaron Marx shed a tear over the question. This is Aaron friggin’ Marx. Whatever happened to her just now much be pretty tear jerking to jerk a tear out of him. Now I must knoooow!! (even more so than I did before).

Well, DOL says that flask had two good points. (one each at the end of her boobs) We don’t know what went on while Wally and Holly were converting with ghosts. AND we still don’t know who AM is. He and she could have had conversations before she took off to explore.well. I am going to relax for the next few days. Sit back and wait for the exciting surprise that Aaron is going to hit us with. I know it’s coming!!! Blessed Be

“Flask’s death cannot be why he was crying.”Remember what Marx told Wally when they first met? Yeah, that. Guess what Marx has been doing during Mallard’s interrogation?———————————————That’s just an oven mitt.

When Neathery writes, there’s always a surprise around the corner.

If AM did allow Flask to arm herself and take over… was it a test? Is Flask now facing the consequences of “Judgement”?Does AM have a good idea where Flask is?

Hmnnn,…it’s honestly hard to tell whether it’s a tear or a drip of sweat from his brow… If you look above his eye, it seems as if we’re seeing the drop having started there, and then run around his eye to drip from his cheek…

I suppose we might find out tomorrow…or not…

Maybe the cigar smoke is just stinging his eyes…

And Mallard, leave Marx be, or he will tell you what to do with that ditto ball ;-)

He’s crying? There’s no crying in this strip? LOL

The good thing is that this points to the fact that we aren’t done with Flask just yet regardless of where she ended up. The interesting thing is that panels 2 and 3 make up a huge arrow pointing straight to that seemingly most un-Marxlike tear in panel 4. When it comes to Endtown, one could rephrase Proverbs and say “To everything there is a reason”, and I am eagerly anticipating what the reason for that exquisitely placed emotional marker might be. The coolest thing to me about Aaron’s storytelling is how he weaves together multiple character’s storylines into a single narrative. They each advance at their own pace and direction, yet blend together so seamlessly that they give the impression of a single tale. Today’s strip seems to imply that we are headed off to advance some other character’s story, but at the same time it reminds us that Philomena’s story is still part of the whole and hasn’t reached it’s conclusion yet.;-)

I expect we’ll find Flask’s head has been harvested by the Topsiders.

Rereading my previous comment, I realize I oversimplify. Terry wasn’t in every day of Terry and the Pirates. The strip often showed what other characters involved in the current story arc were up to. And Endtown does the same. This isn’t called “Wally and Holly” or “Al and Gustine” or “The Aaron Marx Show”. (Or “Petey and His Pals” or “Philamena ‘The Dragon Lady’ Flask”) This is Endtown, and can go wherever the author wants it to go.

Answering by not answering? Or a feint to throw us off? Given the talented writing chops of Mr. Neathery I would assume that we’ll hear nothing further about Flask until such time it will benefit the story with a new shock or twist. The topic has been dealt with – Endtown moves forward.Damn, I love this place.On a side note – I’d love to hear (see? read?) Mallard’s uncensored dialog. One has to wonder what colorful expletive is being slung by one of his pedigree. In my head, I go for the most guttural: it just seems to fit the character. :3

I still think that Marx has her and she’s either recovering from bad wounds or dying from them. I think if/when we revisit Flask we will see at least some of her history in flashbacks while she is in bed. I also believe that Marx does test people and that the gun Flask found was such a test. Mr. Neathery is a professional artist and I really enjoy the his style. He controls every single line in every panel. If we see something (like a teardrop) it’s because he put it there and probably to advance or clarify.

and I meant to add that Marx’s tear could be for Flask, and the fact that she chose badly.

Don’t like the looks of that tear. Flask come back………!

I think that it’s a tear for Flask.

Remember the rocket carrying the satellite?

When AM opens a portal, people go places, usually not to their deaths.

It was Flask’s “suicide mission”, so I’m guessing that the portal that Flask fell through led to the rocket, giving her the opportunity to carry out her mission. Flask was ready to kill her own fellows in order to carry out the mission.

Maybe AM simply gave her the chance to do that without the needless deaths of the others (and himself.)

If I’m right, I wonder if Flask will have any regrets, like maybe Petey…

I didn’t even see the strip yesterday. A fairly close friend died. Unexpectedly, and the whole apt. complex just about was gathered on her porch waiting to find out then just co-miserating.. A funny thought from reading the comments is if she fell into the rocket, or missile, and then Marx ate the would be explosion, maybe he ate her too. just a dumb thought. It will interesting to get Linda’s story too. Probably would be a bunch of white supremists who are ruled by fear, every day of their lives, maybe trying to start building a new heirarchy and re-build to the “glory” of the old daysI hope that Linda’s boy is small and he can join her in Endtown That is if they treat her better and she assimilates. .

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself in this comic, but I think we’ve seen the last of Flask/Blackie.” -Josh.

Like fate has it with these cartoonists with tragic news events,I get an answer about what I said in yesterday’s posting aboutBlackie/Flask in today’s comic! Now how awesome is that?!

Maybe Marx wants Mallard to remember her as more noble than she was, and he’s crying because she tragically wasn’t.

“And I’m sure the EMR rats join me in saying Rest in Peace Harry Harrison”“We salute the stranger who is a rat. A rat of stainless steel. So now, in his memory, on this day of Rat, in the year of our Lord Rat, we of Rat City proclaim this day to be the Day of the Passing of Harry Harrison. But to keep simple, we’ll just shorten it to Rat Day. Let’s all sing to the memory of the stranger who is a rat.”——————————-Rats and rats and rats and rats and rats and rats and rats…

The tear might be for the fact that AM does not know where Flask is. Just like the old show “Sliders”, a portal is opened and sometimes you do not knw where it goes.