Endtown by Aaron Neathery for May 13, 2015

Proof Jim has lost it completely, he is still using his lantern!Shades of “Phantom of the Opera” will he drop the chandelier on the crowd now agog with shock and fear?I thought the rib of the dome was part of a suspension dome and his claws are dug into acoustic insulation..Would the lizards go as far to engineer such a dome when supplies are short? Its carved into the “Amesworthlith” of the spires of the frozen sea of Ameswoth dust.Either way retribution has come for Phil, sometimes it sucks to be first. In this case I have a feeling Phil was one of lucky ones.

wow… can’t get over how terrifying Jim looks! Glad this wasn’t up yet when I checked in the middle of the night or hello nightmares ;-)

Tails are a useful appendage. Hope Wally’s is firmly attached!

“I am a light unto the world.” And he even brought the lamp…

If he says he is there to bring an end to all their worries, their trials and tribulations, their daily strife, I think that it would be time to run, very fast. However, I think that Holly thinks that it is already past that point, and that it is now time to set new olympic records for sprinting.

Well, I see Jim has perfected his Fred Astaire impersonation…

Looks like one of two things will happen. Either (1) they won’t listen to him, and that’ll be the end of him shortly. Or, (2) they will listen to him, with results that might not be pleasant.Either way, it might be a good time for Holly and Wally to (1) run, (2) grab Chick and Irving, (3) find the dittoes and Clive (you guys remember Clive?), and (4) get the hell out of this soon-to-be-named placed. Might take a little longer if Clive is hard to find.

It appears that the Jim-thing is about to open a can of something far worse than whoop-ass. Whatever it is, it’s small and portable.

Cue up ‘Fire’ by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown…or an appropriate, apocalyptic metal rock song for this scene. Jim is in the house, ready to burn it down. There’s already an inferno raging below, so he’s going to finish the job up here. Holly, Wally, Chick, & Kirbee have got to make tracks or get BBQ’d.

Ah, it is Carousel Time for Renewal.

Run, Sandman. TopWebComics voting links are in my profile. Endtown and Doc Rat have sunk dangerously low, so if you want to vote up Endtown, Doc Rat and others, just click on my avatar for the links in my profile. Thanks, JusSayin

Run!!!!.Run! now! Read about what happens In Mondays comic pages. Now go!

10 to 1 that lamp is more than a simple forgotten prop.If someone yells “fire” in a crowded theater, is it a bad thing, if the fire has already encompassed all the exits?

Though he was going to recite Kansas – Carry On Wayward Son.

Poor Jim – and all for a woman who wasn’t worth it…

Not sure how Aaron is going to finish this..Am I alone in the feeling that this will not be a satisfying ending?.Futuristic post-apocalyptic dystopia – I get that..Happy endings not guaranteed – I get that..But the characterizations are getting, as John Denver might say, FAR OUT MAN (long before it was legal here in Colorado)!.In particular, I’m upset that, of the two topsiders we have met, in the end, we are left with nothing good to say about either of them..Already known, there appears to have been nothing good about Sarah from the beginning. I’m good with that. We know that, on the whole, topsiders are the perennial bad guys in this saga. And 50% of the sample size (one of two), that’s okay, too..But Jim seemed so promising. Maybe not all topsiders were bad. Maybe some of them are just trapped by circumstances beyond their control..And Jim was stepping up, trying to take control of those circumstances. Apparently, he had even convinced Sarah to go along with him..Jim was, to me, a sign of hope in this world that Aaron has created that, as far as I can tell, is pretty much hopeless..And by making Jim “crazy” just adds to the hopelessness of this comic strip…

I don’t think that is a lantern that Jim has…I think it is a canister of something we don’t want to know about. I think he plans on gassing them all.Also, Aaron the artwork today is outstanding. Like it was said earlier the expression on Jim’s face is oh so scary, the perspective is amazing. It certainly gives you an idea just how big the place is. And I’m assuming we will soon find out the name of the colony. Can’t wait!!

Jim’s the man!!!

Jimmy No Fingers must have picked up “spider powers” somewhere! ;-)

And again we have Wally (ever the engineer) asking “How does he do that?”

Um, if Jim’s hands and feet are so blood-soaked that he’s leaving a trail even on the ceiling…. how is he managing to hang on to (or stick to?) the ceiling?

Holly’s got the tigger by the tail!

Hey, Veteran! I hope you’re doing ok with the weather in your area.

How about “Bittersweet Symphony” by the Verve? Or “Everybody Hurts” by Rem?

I beginning to think it might have been better in hindsight for Jim to just have let her die from the cancer. It would have been more merciful.

Spider-Jim, Spider-Jim, does whatever a Spider-Jim can

Hey, Lizard People… Do you still think gassing the passageways was a great idea?

I feel so bad for Holly. I expect she figured Wally would be delighted to see her. And would come running with her to safety however, he IS a guy, and guys can be totally unaware or care what the woman is trying to do. He wants to see how this plays out.All in all, this is one of the more satisfying cliff-hangers.

The world has talking psychic glasses of water and cartoon animals and artificial intelligences and instant monsters and Aaron Marx and people are wondering how a dead maniac can hang onto a ceiling?Pine tar, of course. Lots of pine tar. Things are getting real sticky now.I may not be too far off, though… However the mechanics, Aaron is showing us that only the point of contact with the ceiling is keeping Jim there. Everything else is hanging off Jim, even parts of Jim. His tail, hair, and whiskers are all hanging, so he’s not defying gravity. He’s sticky. His mind may not have a real good grip, but his hands and feet do.

On second thought, it may be the suit that’s sticky. We know Topsider suits have special properties, and van der Waals forces may be among them. The suit is practically glued to the ceiling. If it were Jim himself, I think the suit wouldn’t be touching the ceiling at all. Being a Topsider, Jim would know all about his suit’s powers.

You tell me there’s a raccoon on the ceil, Did he say he’d come to make us feel, For things are getting desperate at the fight, We thought we’d lost it all tonight, Everybody now bring your family down to the Lizarddome, Look up above to see Jimi covered with flecks of foam, Behind stone walls where the Lizards stay in deep, Denying all the outcomes so they can sleep, Burn Down the Mission

/8-track tape

JusPlayinAndSingin

Jim does have the hanger wire from the lantern around his arm. Perhaps he will use that to collect/use fire, like an ember bucket. He may be going to the light to get flames to hurl down. I can’t recall if Holly’s lantern, which Jim has, was flame or battery. If it is flame (or the guts light or candle removed), Jim can cause a lot of hurt from up there.

Now is when Kirbee needs to show up with the sack for the dead?? raccoon.I can see her now….“There he is!!! Now how do I get up there? And they told me he was dead!”

Here’s an interesting thought: In a population as big as the lizard city seems to be (there must be thousands in the arena) most of them wouldn’t have heard of Jim. They probably all know about schism syndrome, but don’t know that their leaders had gassed the corridors and that Jim is should be dead. There’s probably a lot of confusion and curiosity right now; Who is that? Why is he up there? Where did he come from? What’s he saying? Only the leaders have an inkling of what’s going on, and their panic level should be pretty high right now….Then someone will smell smoke.

Lol spider raccoon….

And that pretty much sums up the intelligent commentary you’ll receive from me in today’s strip. Myeeeep.

Shine on Jim you crazy crazy rabid diamond.

Creepy sh**…

Jim doesn’t have to stick to the ceiling. Look at panel 2 – he’s not the one that’s upside down, it’s the rest of the universe that’s upside down. How does the rest of the world cling to the floor like that without falling off?

Holly, pull Wally’s tail HARDER!!!Drop back down that access hatch that Kirbee boosted you up.Going down, gravity will assist you. Bring Wally with you and get Chic, Wally, Irving, and yourself out. Ask Chick- – -he may know an egress point to the outside.Whatever you do, avoid the Lizards, Jim, and the fire.

How’d he do all that climbing with the boxing gloves on? Talent I guess.

Creep factor: 8.5

Wonder what kills them first, the fire, loss of oxygen or him …

Endtown had shown, time and again, that characters cannot be defined by the culture in which we meet them. What could a more hopeful place than Endtown? Yet there we had Allgood and Jackrabbit. Even among the genocidal Topsiders we had Flask (before her torture) risking everything for her lover. Ex-TSer Kowalski showed love for her child and compassion with the cake. Jim sacrificed for Sarah (who showed the barest compassion before sneaking off from Jim) Among the awful lizards we find Kirbee and Chic’s mother. But the world of Endtown is harsh…and sometimes these compassionate characters suffer.

Am I the only one wondering how, with no visible climbing gear, or even fingers… just how is Jim sticking to that dome?

RIP B.B.King. I’ll just leave this here.

Riding With The King

B.B.King and Eric Clapton.