Endtown by Aaron Neathery for September 25, 2012

And crazy!Flask single-handedly takes down the entire Topsider base.

These are gruesome, provocative scenesThat she likes, now that she has the meansA profusion of HoxHas her out of the boxHaving fun with some pre-faded genesI’m surprised not to see a large padAt her tail — or the tail that she hadAmputation just doneIt’s still sore (and no fun)And would likely risk bleeding quite bad=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

Well,now we are getting illogical. How can a monster be formed with the greater volume than the original.( Aaron, regardless of the size Al’s girlfriend was, she could have been very fat.) Have they no memories of each other. What about the children? The monsters eat more than just each other it looks like. Would drive me nuts to know that even the smallest cut on my protective outfit could mean the end of my life….. or any one else’s.Here I am fussing abut logic when the whole thing is illogical. But damned good. So don’t mind me. Keep it up and be whopping crazy with your art. Love ya.Blessed Be

To be fair, the Toppsiders DID make her insane in the first place.

They say it’s unlucky if a black cat crosses your path.

This is very reminiscent of Flesh Garden, from Mad #11. You can easily see the nauseating, slime oozing, knife-toothed zork, the sickening, hairy, many clawed zorchton, and the horrible palpitating, limb-ripping zilchtron.

Whiskers on kittens, recently mutated,Annoying, twitching tail, self-amputated,Scalpels turning bastards into slavering THINGS,These are a few of my favorite things.

“Well,now we are getting illogical. How can a monster be formed with the greater volume than the original.”Aaron once alluded to a possible explanation for mutations becoming bigger than the original victim. He hasn’t said what that is, yet. If you allow that an unknown, undetectable mutagen is capable of instantly turning humans into anthros 1/2 or 1/3 their original size, there’s no reason to fixate on changes the other way round.

But butt bandage is a good question, though.

Ya think they might be mad enough to want to get her back somehow after she escapes?The anachronistic mass problem… has just made me rethink my viral DNA theory. Given the speed of the change as well, mayhaps instead of mutating, they’re exchanging bodies with creatures from other universes. Because the minds aren’t exchanging, unconsciousness may be required for a more orderly transition. Unconscious people are exchanging bodies with their counterparts from maybe the nearest compatible universe, which happened to be that of The Daily Grind. Conscious people, especially panicky people who are terrified of what’s happening to them, are exchanging with a more chaotic, less compatible universe, and their minds retreat, letting the monster ids take over.The exchange trigger may be low-level Amesworth radiation instead of a virus or nanos. Intense A-radiation from zero-guns and bombs may not have been disintegrating people, but instead sending them into other universes without a mass exchange. The world’s surface may not have been decimated, but sent elsewhere. Mass collisions elsewhere may still have destroyed everything, though.I wonder if the world of The Daily Grind found itself inundated with humans six years ago. I know where Flask’s body came from.

And either immunes like Al didn’t have anthro counterparts, or they exchanged with their counterparts in other human universes.

Pish! A real good job would have bulked it out to three or four verses, at least, but I was getting tired.Ain’t the first time I’ve spoofed My Favorite Things. I had one that started, "Nuns in high heels with black leather stockings…Still, I thank you for the compliment.

Mallard may have recognized the dimensionometer because he may have suspected Amesworth radiation was causing interdimensional exchanges and he was researching theoretical dimensional technology.

“Don’t Slay the Furry One” by JennerTo the tune of Don’t Pay the Ferryman, by Chris De BurghIt was late at on the open plainSolitary form on the run.A lifetime is a bad time for the turning.They are closer now, and the search is on,Scanning from the video lines.Yes, there’s the mutant rogueAnd the polluted deserter.And when they brought her down,They heard a wild cat howl.There were voices in the night, “Don’t do it!”Voices out of sight. “Don’t do it!”“Our god of science needs a whore!”Whatever you do:“Don’t slay the furry one!Don’t even risk her life!Don’t slay the furry one,Until we look inside her with a knife!”In the darkened tomb and the black and gloom,Sanity is slipping away.Each moment might uncloak the light and dissect her.Then she blinks her eyes in the cutting room.See her mutilated frameNow rising from the ashes like a specter.And then the furry one said“There is trouble ahead.So you must kill me now.” “Don’t do it!”“You must kill me now.” “Don’t do it!”And still that voice came from behind.Whatever you do“Don’t slay the furry one!Don’t even risk her life!Don’t slay the furry one,Until she’s coming at you with a knife!”

I would think that whatever changeover happened, it would take a lot of energy. The unconsious mutation would use the energy from its own body, thereby causing the smaller sized anthros. The consious mutations wouldn’t have that option for some unknown reason, even if it was a transdimensional changeover. Either way those creatures would be HUNGRY.Flask’s mutation was slight in comparison, so her immediate need for eating wouldn’t have been as intense.

Looks like Flask is doing more damage with that zero scalpel than Rambo running amok with an Uzi, and having an environment rife with mutagens adds to the excitement. I think some of those TSers would at least have quick enough reflexes to take a shot at our pyscho kitty, but seem to be having that ‘deer in the headlights’ moment before being mutated or becoming monster chow.

Can’t you just see the appreciation in their eyes?All of their eyes?

Hi, She is having fun! That might indicate what her personality was going to be like.I have had trouble getting here. I don’t know why, but today it asked for my password and wouldn’t accept it, so I got a temp. password and IT didn’t work either. So I’m here as a onlooker unknown.

wow!! more fun then a barrel of monkeys…….

but I am surprised that the TSers aren’t shooting more…..they can’t be afraid of puncturing the dome—the virus is already inside as the mutations show…. Curious….

Wow, monster party in progress! Flask was already a touch insane from all that had been done to her – what payback! Wonder if she meets up with Petey soon… or finds out what happened to him…

And I bet they never call her on Mother’s Day, either.

So far only monsters, no mutant animals (like her) with human personalities or humans immune to the mutagenic virus like Al.

Last panel: The monsters are feasting on the topsiders. Which tragically happen to Sparky’s family. His wife whenturn into a monster ate her daughter. He had no choice but to kill her.

“if you change while sleeping you turn into a friendly furry but, if you change while awake you turn into a hideous mindless monster. Is that assumption correct?”Yup, as far as we understand the rules to-date. Some monsters do retain some semblance of their former humanity (such as the little girl creature Holly and Wally found, AKA: “Sandy”). We don’t yet know why the monsters turn out mindless; it might be due to the removal of inhibitions, or it might be that the mutation is too much for a conscious brain to handle without warping as the body disfigures. So far, when Topsiders mutate while conscious, they’ve invariably become carnal, ravenous beasts.

@msowards – yes, if you mutate when sleeping, stunned or otherwise “out” you turn into something recognisable, not nightmare fuel.

I’m back.I said they should have run. Cougar now on warpath. With weapon. Makes you wonder who is she referring to as “ingrates” I don’t think it is the Topsiders.

To CoyotyA very valid point. That is what I has been thinking. I mean he faces a Topsider missile absorbing then inhaling the blast say “explody” and he said when he got with Flask at the crossroads. “I want to LEARN.” That makes me think he is not from around there. He finds everything curious. Runs around grabbing up folks in Endtown like they are collectible.I will go ahead and say it. He reminds me of Dr. Who but in an early more curious fun time in his life before it got too serious.

Her comment boldly lined “Liberator” “and they never ONCE had the courtesy to thank me. Ingrates” Two edged? The mutants she made never thanked her for freeing them? You think they would? She would think they would but did she expect it? How did the mutants handle her once they found out what she did? I sense she was not received with much love. Stand there with the carnage behind her expecting “Hey. Great Job mutilating and destroying men, women and children.” In her condition that could lead to much discontent. What she has done is took that Red door and painted it Black (You know the song). Combat shock has set in. Her morality line is crossed. The only time I could see she killed with remorse was the child with the bear. That she felt. The others? Glee, Glee, Glee. Relishing in the suffering and pain. Is that bad? Every soldier knows when the killing has to stop. You have to take the finger off the trigger and stop. Once that bloodlust is up. I can tell you it is hard to do. I really feel for her. She is going down a dark path as we can see leading to her own death. Highway to Hell and gaining speed till the end.

Now they’re fighting…

Liberator? Funny, Philomena never reminded me of a B-24.

This goes back to Flasks earlier observation of feeling confined EVERY MOMENT because of being confined to a biosuit. Flask is liberating all of the TSers she encounters from their biosuit prisons. Of course, Flask is quite unhinged by now—but also looking back at the unhinged time from outside of it. Hence, there is sarcasm from that point of view as well as her ironic take from within it—since the “liberation” she gives them is quite expensive to the liberatees.

Oddly enough, Flask’s activities are the stuff of daily fantasies for the faculty of most universities. I taught one year and Ran like Hell to do anything else.

“The mutations are larger because some of them combined.”I’ve been thinking about this. In order to gain extra mass, a body needs to do one of 3 things: absorb mass from the surrounding environment (i.e. – eating prey, inhaling dust from the air (lots of dust) or pulling it from nearby buildings and the ground), convert it from energy (e = mc^2), or travel near the speed of light. A fourth option would be to use the dark energy that’s suspected to exist in a vacuum, which could happen if the mutation happens fast enough to create vacuum micro-pockets (the opposite of micro black holes). So, if we invoke SCIENCE, people can mutate into bigger monsters if the mutation occurs near the speed of light to create vacuum micro-pockets that are filled with dust and lint. And if they eat someone.

Im guessing the mutagen works at a quantum level, taking mass from anything nearby, even air and incorporating it into the monster. Or vise versa for the smaller sizes.

Don’t get me wrong, I love End Town. It’s been a great ride so far, and by far, one of the most fresh and unique works in the comics field that would appear in a newspaper comics section that I’ve ever seen. But…. I must know. I must understand, Aaron. It’s because I love the series so that I nitpick. So here goes.

Even though RW Barton offered an explanation as to why the topsiders aren’t all mutated by now, due to what I noted as a lack of air filtration, using Dune as an example, I’m still vexed about it. If Aaron wouldn’t mind offering an explanation, I would greatly appreciate it.

I have read the Dune series, and they don’t really apply here, they’re not germane to the topic. Why? Because none of that sort of genetic manipulation has been inferred or talked about within the End Town world. When the term, ‘pure human’ was used, it was within the context of a human that had not been mutated, either into a monster or an anthro. Whenever you set up a world with magic, or science that doesn’t exist in ours, you’ve got to establish a set of rules for that world in order to remain consistent; to preserve the suspension of disbelief. Otherwise, anything goes, and nothing makes much sense anymore.

I’m sure Aaron has done exactly that. But since no one is perfect, it may be that he hadn’t considered the finer details of remaining human au’ natural, when it came to having all the humans within the topsider complex mutate, when they were exposed to the air. They’ve got to have a way to enter the world at birth without exposure, and get into a suit the same way. Maybe they can lock suits together, when conception is occurring, but that seems really awkward, not to mention having to give birth inside one of those things, then building an infant enviro suit and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, I love End Town. It’s been a great ride so far, and by far, one of the most fresh and unique work in the comics field that would appear in a newspaper comics section that I’ve ever seen. But…. I must know. I must understand, Aaron. It’s because I love the series so that I nitpick.