Endtown by Aaron Neathery for January 09, 2021

Aaaaargh!!! Son of a @#%$&

Benny, there without the jets, might be looking for Redpencil Jack.

What is the trope for this? It goes back at least to that Greek Myth (forget name) where a bereaved lover gets to bring his fiance out of Hades if he doesn’t look at her…but he looks.

A too-brief reunion for Duffy and Benny. Curious that Benny didn’t speak to Duffy, but bolted and ran. Also curious that Benny had no qualms about leaping over the railing and vanishing into the vortex. So was Benny really there? A projection, perhaps? Or Benny didn’t understand what he was seeing and fled in an unheeding panic.

Thanks to the quick actions of Alan and Wally, Duffy doesn’t vault over the railing after his brother. Whether Duffy would have succeeded in vanishing into the vortex or would have fallen to his death we don’t know.

Benny saw a ghost. He definitely was not in phase with Tuffy’s reality.

How you gonna keep ‘em down in Endtown after they’ve seen Eden…

Ok…so Benny might recognize Duffy, and would answer to the name “Benny”—but he still could have panicked and ran. But Skeeter would not answer to “Benny”, and would be more likely to panic and run. Come to think of it…how are things on the Cardoodle end of this grexing thing? Are folks in Cardoodle world aware of any kind of blending? Are people there disappearing? Was there war there?

Oh man. That’s heart breaking!

I guess someone didn’t want to be reunited.

Hmm, so “Benny” (or is it Skeeter?) distills from the secondary singularity above the umm catwalk, and then runs toward the primary singularity, running on air more or less. That, plus how he appeared, would argue that he was a simulacrum. Except that the simulacrum sees something he is afraid of. As suggested above, he might not be seeing Duffy as Duffy. And if he saw the Topsider, running would make sense for Benny.

Looking forward to some explanation from the Topsiders, who clearly were expecting something.

Imagine if Nearthery had been writing for “The Twilight Zone” …

Whoa. In the last strip I thought that was a Doppelganger. Didn’t even think about the little brother.

Aaron seems to be posting every three days, rather than twice a week, at least since Xmas

If, and I admit to guessing here, Aaron has an old fashioned story-board hanging on the wall; he would have to live/write(draw) in an 18,000 ft. loft with 20 ft. ceilings in an old warehouse…where he could keep adding sidelines, shortcuts, and just straightforward full stops! What a very enjoyable mess of realities we have the privilege to watch unfold.

This is one of the saddest scenes yet in this story…

I wonder if anyone else will take the plunge!

Duffy really thinks that was Benny? That’s quite the leap.

Did the Topsiders keep the portal open because they knew this was going to happen?

amazing art – I can just feel the hum of the electro field.

So… the determination of your animal type… is possibly genetic?

in panel 3, the one in the suit seem unfazed by this commotion…

“Only in the leap from the lion’s head will he prove his worth.”

Hears the opening theme to the classic Twilight Zone, as the specter of Serling steps into view…another sound, heavy labored breathing, and realize it’s your own…https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=notes+of+Twilight+Zone+opening+music&&view=detail&mid=D82981726CAB2808A5F2D82981726CAB2808A5F2&&FORM=VRDGAR

Going back a couple of days.. “Standing by”… Benny has been suspended or frozen … or a projection? And they just turned him loose. Why? Dunno. Main character and all that.

I have decided that trying to understand and interpret what’s happening is making what’s left of my brain hurt. Therefore, I’m just going to coast happily along in this storyline, enjoying the story and artwork, and hoping all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.

Duffy has been mentally and emotionally overwhelmed since Amesworth turned into toothbrushes and everything went to hell. The fact that this event happened involving his cub brother who disappeared is just one more mentally and emotionally charged thing that is driving him over the edge—- quite literally.

Thankfully, the 4th panel of the prior strip informs us that Al and Wally also see Duffy’s long-lost brother, and they quickly jump into action to hold him back from jumping off the platform in an attempt to follow his brother in the 3rd and 4th panels of today’s strip.

It’s interesting how calm, observant, unsurprised, and uninvolved the topsider is in the 3rd panel of today’s strip. It’s as though he’s seen this same scenario many times before.

Wally does not know who Benny is, or why Duffy would go after him. Now, Duffy gets to explain how he hid this information from Wally all along, and worked his way in on the expedition. I wonder how that will go.