Endtown by Aaron Neathery for September 26, 2012

Just as a reminder, for anyone that wants to catch up on the story, that Endtown does have its own wiki.

So her lover is…still in the colony? If so, he will be paying for what Flask has done; as if he wasn’t in enough trouble. Was he not recaptured yet? The TSers will be scouring the vicinity to get Flask. The non TSers had it bad before. It’ll be worse now.

And there’s a youth-sized biosuit. Child born after disaster, or brought into colony with parents?

Hey!! I was anticipating at least three more days of rampage and interesting creatures. We didn’t get to see what the kid became. The mind of a child should be cleaner than adult, just maybe the child might not have become a monster. Hmmmm?Oh, well. Aaron keep it up. I really love it. Blessed Be

You’re a Mean One, Captain FlaskYou’re a mean one, Captain FlaskBut not a captain yetYou’re as vicious as a monsterAnd repaying quite a debtCaptain FlaskYou’re a nightmare version of a Topsider pet!You’re a killer, Captain FlaskYour mind’s been torn apartYou’ve been tortured, amputatedSeparated from your heartCaptain FlaskNo one can catch you with a39-and-a-half-yard startYou’re a wild one, Captain FlaskYou have vengance in your eyesYou have all the mad expressionOf the Lordlings of the FliesCaptain FlaskGiven the choice between Jacob and youI’d take my chance with the fliesYou’re deranged now, Captain FlaskYou’re a ravaged, savaged shellYour body bears the scarsYour Topside jailers crushed you wellThe three words they use to describe youAre as follows, and I quote:Grief!Death!Hell!=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

yeah, he mad. LOL!

So, when Flask shot and killed “Sandy” the tentacle monster, was she rubbing out the creature she herself had made, all those years ago? Hmmm.

And when she gets to Endtown, she tries to outdrink Ally and gets her nickname Flask.

“I see. Now, it was shortly after this time that you moved to Endtown and applied for the position of Captain of Security. Were there any issues arising during your entry interview?”

I HATE THAT SENTENCE…

On a sidenote – are the children bred in the suits?

lol! The Topsider who lead her out is like D: “I am disappoint!”

Remember to VOTE, VOTE, VOTE every chance you get, so with a lot of committed teamwork we can return Endtown 2.0 and Doc Rat to the top ten. It is not going to be easy, but with concentration and dedication we can put the votes up in these last four days to return Aaron and Jenner to their exalted positions by the end of Saturday. If you want to do something nice, maybe you could visit a senior center and show them the joys of Endtown 2.0 and Doc Rat, and bookmark the voting links to make it easier for them to vote properly

@Aaron Neathery

She’s firin’ her lazer

If you have not bookmarked the voting links on every machine you ever access, Level_Head usually provides the voting links(see above), as well as links to Aaron’s Endtown Underground, and cool links for merchandise.If you have not checked the calendar, Saturday is also a full moon, and they say committment to an objective like voting enough to do your effort causes one to be very, very attractive, absolutely magnetic to the object of your desire.So vote often, and enjoy the results of your efforts. Just don’t burn yourselves out too much, because Sunday 2:00AM CDT starts a new voting month. If you are on East Coast time, may you can play a KLF song a lock at 3:00 AM (Eternal)(They’re Justified and Ancient, And they an Ice Cream Van), and enter time dilation and vote thousands of times, while wandering how Tanya Tucker got signed to that recording gig.

Makes one wonder how she is going to be received by the other mutants and her lover. Heroine or Butcher. Her actions as mutant are similar to actions of Topsiders. The anger she holds for Topsiders goes beyond the norm. I get the feeling she is going to run into flak from her lover and other mutants. I base this on earlier panels. She is not going to get the acceptance she so desperately desires. Refer back to vol 2 after she fights off the two Topsiders. She has a thousand yard stare. Tells the robot (Prof Mallard) she hid her companions and fought them off. It is the next sentence she says “Arn’t you PROUD of me?” that raised my concern even before these current panels were presented. That told me then something happened horrible in her past and instead of being praised as a hero. She got the opposite. We old Nam vets asked the same questions so I could feel her pain there. Later when she showed Petey what she was going to do and he went on about how could she think he would accept this her look was “Oh no not you too.” That finally resolved her to finish it all. Acceptance or not. She was given a way with the ship Marx showed up with. Found weapon (defective she should have known) and the control room. Her actions now a final solution to her hurt and suffering. And now she is letting it all come out. I wonder what Marx is going to say? Heroine or Villian. Acceptance or condemnation? Interesting to see where this is going.

In her very first day of flashback (08/28/12) FLask refers to the biosuits as “individual prisons” that never come off. To her twisted/ironic perception, every biosuit she breached was a liberation from that individual prison.

To TSOJI think her ingrate comment was directed more at something else. Just to the mutated Topsiders? Nah. She does not give a damn about them. to richD. Her idea of “liberation” is something I will bet each one she “liberates” would rather remain in prison. At least knock them out but NOOO not her. She wants them to feel it all. The pain, suffering, angony. As a Topsider before her change she must have been developing some serious issues. She knew about the mutation changes and how they worked. Her path was destructive not constructive. She has some serious anger issues.

I used to think the TSers drove Flask crazy, but she was damaged goods even before she mutated. So her attempt at genocide with the rocket/airship was nothing original, but was actually a reprise. Since “Petey’s” head ended up in a transporter anyway, the only good thing we know of her ever doing came to naught. Seems to me it would have been better for everyone if she had simply done herself in according to her original plan. I sure hope we come up for air soon. The depression-inducement index of this current storyline is off the charts. Sparky’s story was bad, but this makes it look like a romp through the roses by comparison. I used to find Flask intriguing, now I just want her to go away.

When I originally wrote this (with apologies to the late Ronnie James Dio) I had no idea of what Flask endured in the pit. That makes it all the more appropriate-————————————————————————————————————————-When I see Hollyit always brings me downCause she’s free and I see that its mewho’s lost and never found.

I cry out for vengencesee it dancing in the nightbut its cold, I’ve lost my hold of what’s wrong and what’s right

There’s no sign of the morning comingI’ve been left all alone,like a big cat in the darkjust a big cat in the dark

Will my demons, will they ever let me goWell I’ve tried but they hide deep insidethey’re the only thing I know

we were just a picturejust an image left in timeWe’re a lie, he and Iwe’re words without a rhyme

there’s no sign of the morning comingI’ve been left all alonelike a big cat in the darkjust a big cat in the dark.

When I see HollyIt always brings me downcause’s she’s free and I see that its methat’s lost and never found

I cry out for vengencefeel it dancing in the nightBut its fear and they’ll feel that its nearI’m telling them beware.

there’s no sign of the morning comingI’ve been left all alonelike a big cat in the dark,just a big cat in the dark.

Personally I think, that for what she endured, this is justifiable homi-, er, monstri- cide.

Panel 1 reminds me of an old [1930s?] poster I’d seen: a gnarled, claw nailed hand reaches threateningly for a terrified woman clutching her child, protectively. She was supposed to represent Western civilization, and the menacing hand either the Yellow Peril, the Black Race, the Drug Menace, Foreigners or something equally xenphobic. Tried to find the poster to post here for similarities, but no luck.

To TSOJSo your idea would be in the situation is to be “LIBERATED” from the biosuit? You are a sick person. You would perfer to be a mutilated monster. Agony and Pain Just like the child with the bear. C’mon. They wander off to enjoy a life merrily lumping along as multi-eyed, sharp toothed monster!!!! Man stay in Japan. That is even sick to consider. Even as the vicious Topsiders they would not want this. This is what makes Flask the villian for now. She crossed the morality line. When you look at panel one. Do you see a sorry a**ed topsider or a terrified mother with a even more terrified child. I thought I was vicious mean s*b for what I did in Nam. You my friend take the cake. You are much more horrible than I could ever be to even consider that an option.

To the author.You definitely get the comments to run.I absolutely commend your work on Panel 1. I for one saw the Topsiders as very bad people. But that panel struck a nerve. I did not see the vicious dispictable Topsiders. I saw a terrified mother with a more terrified child facing a monster and there is no way out. Amazing work sir.

Whoa yourself. Run back to the 8 hour mark to TSOJ remark to my post. Read what he says He says the mutated Topsider monsters are REVELING in their new found from and will wander off once they get around. He says they are happy? Did the mother and child look happy? Do you think they will be happy? I am not supporting what Flask did. She is in serious moral trouble. It started even before she mutated. She had doubts about the path and living in suits and what they were doing to others. She has deluded herself into thinking she is doing a good thing! And I think she is even in for a bigger fall. Would you revel over the deaths of thousands to accomplish a simple escape? Have you ever stood in front of a woman and child with an assault rifle and see the absolute fear in their eyes after wading into their village taking out Viet Cong with guns running out of hooches and holes? I sir have done that. Viet Nam 72. And it is not grey. This is BLACK. Flask crossed the line of morality. She is now no better than the Topsiders she so hates.

Oh and Sapphire I still dream about them. I can only imagine what Flask’s dreams are like once she can see. No disrespect meant but he said REVEL. That means to enjoy. Being turned into a monster? I would prefer death and she denied them that.

The whole point of this story arc, as painful as it is, is that it shows us how Flask became the monster she was. Philomena started out as a decent person in a horrible situation. Her willingness to rescue a condemned man showed that she had some compassion and her willingness to accept mutation showed courage. Then she was captured and the things she endured ruined her. Looking at this I can see how she became the kind of security captain who executes her own subordinates at will, who could do so many other things.

This story arc also explains one strip from Endtown 1.0 that has always puzzled me. Mallard had just rescued Al from the mindrain and Flask is staring at a monitor watching him being reunited with Gustine. She turns away from the monitor and presses her right hand against her head The then clenches her fists and screams. It seems for a moment, she saw between her two prisoners something that she recognized in herself with Petey2b. The same could go for when Holly and Wally were walking behind her. Holly was feeling giddy and Flask looked back and had a sad weary look on her face. At times I find myself feeling for her, as monsterous as she had become.

As therapists say, the only way out of it is through it. What would be of concern is not what she felt then, but how she feels now in retelling the story to Aaron Marx.

Remember this is being told from the perspective of a lab rat.To a lab rat that is give cancer and then subjected to different treatments the scientist is a twisted wicked person. To the person with cancer the scientist that discovers a cure is a saint!

The topsiders have made great gains- ie they know just how fine of a filter is needed to eliminate the virus. Once they get rid of all the carriers, They will still need a wayto do a final cleansing. Hence the need of lab rats they can work with. Flask – the perfect lab rat.

There was a National Geographic article dealing with Ultra-violet vsion in birds and maybe insects. Seemingly it enabled them to see patterns in flowers, and such, that we’d have no idea were there. This could prove to be a definite advantage in hunting and related occupations.What I’m curious about is what that would actually look like if a human eye could see it. For instance, would we still only be able to see in the familiar seven colors, with the Ultra-violet just making certain things stand out [rather like white fluorescing under the UV light], or would it be an entirely different color, not violet, but something entirely beyond violet?Imagine not being able to see beyond orange. Orange is all you’d know. But there was a color entirely beyond orange. Somebody could try to describe red, but you would have no conception of what that would actually be like.Being able to see an unknown color [if it really would be a color] just fascinates me.

I was just thinking that, too, although Endtown isn’t a “comic strip” the way brain candy like Luann is a “comic strip.” The character development in Endtown almost matches the artwork. Nothing like it anywhere else.