Endtown by Aaron Neathery for July 10, 2013

Oh hell,…I was afraid of this…

Whaaa?! Maaaarx what’re you doing on Jackrabbit’s side?

I was afraid of this! They voice didn’t sound like anyone Except Marx to me. I wish he weren’t here as apparently the Evil Marx, this time.He appeared like Alice’s cheshire cat. He always did know how to make an appearance. If it had just been panel one, that would have been nice. I could imagine Jake nearly self-exploding from anger.

Hands up! How many people called this one?

I knew he had to be involved somehow, but couldn’t pin it down.

And Marx is back! My favorite deranged Doctor Who style time traveling/dimension hopping alien!

Jake: “Now, let’s talk about the power of homonyms…”

We’ve just been Neatherized.

Jake: “‘Marx’, your voice is slipping.”Mallard: “Sorry. It’s the beak, you know.”

He doesn’t look friendly to any one of them here, is he freind ( yes I meant that ) or friend? I sure hope that Flask is going to show up too. It is loical that Marx showed up at this time because at his last visit I am sure he noticed that the diets and interactions are not very stable or willing to move into another way “of doing things”. In the mud now and need a good shovel.Yea horraw Marx.Blessed Be

Why would anyone tell you to get lost? You are free to enjoy the story or not. But the fact is regardless of whether you like it or not, it’s Aaron’s story to tell. If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s OK, but the story is the story.

My birthday party of 75 years utilized over 773 young children from the age of 10 to 12. Well maybe not that many. I was sitting at a corner in my wheelchair and was used as a shove off on many occasions. We fed them early because hide and seek in a 2 room apartment second floor with a hard cement stairs. Etc, Etc, Anyway Happy days Veteran. Blessed Be

Give a jackrabbit enough rope…. ;-)

while this little turn of events will never keep me from enjoying the strip, marx’s return seems, to me, anyway, a little bit facile…

Interesting fade in in panel 2. Doesn’t Marx usually make a hole to move through? Perhaps this Marx is made of dittos.

Ugh, not Marx again. :(

Ah!

I don’t think this is the Marx we know and love. Possibly not even really marx. I like mysteries but Aaron usually has me perplexed.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, MR. NEFARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marx’s evil twin?

The manner of his appearance does seem very ditto-like.

I’m going ’way out on a limb here and predicting that this Ditto-person is controlled by Mallard.

I’m also going to predict that Mallard got some information from the real Marx and is using it to try to steer Endtown into a scenario where it has the best chance of survival against some upcoming threat.

I am totally shattered. This is not at all what I expected. Aaron Marx LOVED the cuddly cartoon animals of Endtown. I cannot believe he would allow them to be slaughtered as they were, even for the greater good. I know his way of thinking is stratospheric, capricious and tangential, but I won’t accept that he’ll include massacre in the workings of changing a system of government, without a lot more explanation.Explanations I think are what we are about to be treated to, in the strips to come. The only certainty is that I trust Neathery’s moral compass in his storytelling. He has never let us down yet, as far as I’m concerned. Not in the final wash-up, anyway.Hang in there. We’ve been through darker times than his and come out the other side.

Aaron Neathery, stop ruining your excellent stories with your self-insert Gary Stue character.

I really fail to see how AM backing JJ is for the “greater good” . Unless its too early to make any conclusion. But this does not bode well

How ‘bout this? Marx just says, "He’s right, you know." But about what? That they’ll be at war with Endtown, or that Endtown will die? Or that they have “no choice to take here?” But what choice, which isn’t clear at all?

Never heard the term “Mary Sue character” till I took up Internet Fan Fiction…thought it was “autobiographical writing” till that point.

This is going to be very interesting.

Oww… my hip! I think I danced the Plot Twist dance a bit too much. Someone, take my grass skirt and coconut bra… and dance… dance you fools! I’ll just lay here, at the hoofed feet of M. Night Shayamallamallama Llama.

I think this is a third Marx with a different agenda. Remember when the first one brought Flask back and sent her to a different dimension’s nascent Endtown? She was partnered with a second Marx. The Marx we know wished he could have been there with her, and let her go. Perhaps this Marx has been shadowing the one we first met.

Well, I didn’t see that coming.

Heeeeesss baaaaaaack.

I am very disappointed by the appearance of Aaron Marx. Yesterday’s strip raised my hopes that Endtowners would rise solve their own problems. Marx’ intervention seems like a literary cheat.

Even though his ‘abilities’ are based on the “science” of the Endtown universe, they still come across as magic and tend to spoil the usual consistency of the story.

Wise words. Maybe my disappointment in seeing Marx will fade as more of the story is revealed.

I’m withholding judgment on the apparent reappearance of Marx. Something tells me there is more to this than you think.

LOL I like those suggestions. Maybe add “don’t get too involved in the comments section”.

Furlips,Don’t over analyze everything? But overanalyzing is half the fun!!!

I’d be careful about reading too much about subtle changes in Marx’s appearance. When a character’s been dormant for some time they sometimes do come back a little different. Take Flask. When she appeared at the end of the “Gustine’s Quest” story arc (book 2) she was shapely and well endowed but her endowments grew much larger when she hit the “Countdown” arc (book 4) to the point where she could be called Pillowmena. It also seems like Velda’s head has grown a little taller (less flattened) since her return from the story.

I had him as a suspect just not high on the list. His appearance does intrigue me. He did say the dittos could conceal things. An idea he got from Wally.Of course Jacob is right. Jacob is their only hope to solve the situation and restore order.Sacrifice one “evil” for another “evil” and in doing so the greater good will survive.A rule banning usage of mutant by-products would have hurt the survival of Endtown. Food must be gathered. Jacob gets his mutant rights and giving up on the old ways they use to know. We may not like Jacob but his way is open to survival. What would you do? Change you name and be able to eat? Or just see how long the beans can last?You can call me SUE if it means I can eat good and live.On a side note. I wonder if Albert knows Marx is here. They have history you know and not always pleasant.

NICE twist.

oh joy, quantum guy…

Exactly!!!

MARX?! Why is it when I see this guy I think of a combination of Dr.Who and Oscar Wilde?

An interesting note is that Aaron Marx does not look happy. Drinking the oracle may have forced him to see many unpleasant truths some of those could involve the fact that supporting Jacob’s plot is the least of evils. I can’t imagine him being too happy about the body count Jacob has amassed, but Aaron may have some understanding that the alternative is even worse.Still NOT happy with the idea of Jacob being in charge, it could be rough on the Typhoid Mary population.

First of all: Congratulations to all those who guessed Aaron Marx was the voice behind the HC microphone. BUT is it our familiar Aaron, or something else? So far every variation of AM has been a fairly positive minded guy. Unless he’s possibly seen the soon-to-be future includes the finding of Endtown by the Topsiders and this is the best way he knows to get the most people to leave through dissention instead of rapid evacuation.

he seems a good deal shorter. He had the Longest legs. He towered over the others. Unless he is bent over, this may Not be him.

I just don’t understand why this story arc is so objectionable to you???? I for one am amazed at each twist it has taken so far……

those rats must Know this isn’t the Arron Marx they know and love. This has them really freaked out. If he hadn’t showed up, the rats could have handled Jake and Velda.

OK, now that Marx has returned, will we see more of my favorite girl Flask?

Come to think of it, Marx does seem a little older…he does seem to be leaning heavy on his cane…

Hopefully Marx isn’t on rabbit’s side, or sees the end but doesn’t like the means

Aaron Marx may have stepped in NOT to reestablish the status quo, but to change it to something better. Let’s say Jake doesn’t know about the riots and deaths. Suppose he knows some knowledge that we, the readers haven’t been let in on? Think about it, other than some background information on Allgood and Velda and what’s happened in the courtroom after the cameras went off up to now, we actually know about as much as the average Endtown citizen. Recall the multidimensional character in MIB3. He could foretell the possible futures based on what events happened in the present. The absurdity in the movie is that the future events were caused by non-related actions. Aaron Neathery is too good a storyteller to do that. I’m going to guess that we will learn that the status quo is destructive in the long run and these characters would have died either way.

Or this could be a dream sequence like in Dallas. Remember, he did live in Texas and the heat could have gotten to him.

I’ll agree with you on the first three, but number 4 is half the fun of reading this strip every day.

I knew it! I said at the beginning of this arc that I thought Aaron Marx would be back. Remember, he said that this was his favorite reality and he also gets info from the Oracle. The ride should get really fun from here on…

A quick note on character drawing and design. My instructor BJ Crawford said that you need to draw a character 50 times before actually animating it. This would be at all angles. I found that 190 frames did it for me. Cartoonists also have to think about what animators call volume and weight. One line off and the character ceases to look right. Also, there’s the weight in the line, whether hand drawn or on a tablet where you can change line with pressure on the stylus/pen. Volume is how big each character’s “parts” are. Even if that character is distorted, by mouth movement, like Jacob screaming, the total volume should still be the same, if you could fill a cartoon character with water. Same with a profile. I noticed AM’s eyes are darker underneath, so maybe he’s had a bad, sleepless night. Or maybe if Mr. Neathery has to sit differently because of his infection, he might be drawing at an angle he’s not used to. Or maybe he’s changed equipment. Just changing from a cheaper Bamboo tablet to an Intuos made a difference in how my drawings looked, just like changing a type of pencil. Perhaps Mr. Neathery has a Cintiq? Hope this helps.

Any plan that requires you to face down two different sets of people with guns is never a good plan.

So…. today’s my birthday!You know what would’ve made a fantastic birthday present?The rats being the good guys and blasting Jacob to hell.You know what would’ve made a horrible birthday present?Aaron Marx being all sinister and siding with the devil bunny.

This strip is loaded with surprises! No wonder I love it so much!I don’t suppose now would be a good time to ask if he has a spare dimensionometer I can take off his hands…

AAAARRRGGH!!!!! AAAARRRGGH!!!!!AAAARRRGGH!!!!! AAAARRRGGH!!!!!AAAARRRGGH!!!!! AAAARRRGGH!!!!!AAAARRRGGH!!!!! AAAARRRGGH!!!!!AAAARRRGGH!!!!! AAAARRRGGH!!!!!

Bad Aaron! Plot twists! Makes me crazy! ;-D

If you get stuck writing a mystery, the cliche is you can always have a man come through the door with a gun. If the Endtown plot starts to reach a wall, somehow Aaron Marx always seems to come through nothing at all to save the story line. Frankly, it is starting to get a little annoying.

He’s BA—ACK…

This just adds to the intrigue. If Marx is involved, there HAS to be a darn good reason why.

@Veteran: I meant weight as an art term, meaning the thickness or thinness of line. In animation, it shows that the person actually has weight/weight shift in movement. However, your points are well taken.