Endtown by Aaron Neathery for August 31, 2016

He’s been through the dessert with a man with no face…Well, if that is Holly’s husband then that explains a lot about how the dittoes knew holly’s story so well.

SpaghettiOs.

Hmmm… well, that sort of explains why he was the only one who could "see"the others throughout the ditto re-creation. And we never did know what Lyn’s fully mutated form was… we presumed he died in the Buddi-Bomb explosion. Curiouser and curiouser.

Bwuuuuuuh?!

Ok….. Then what we saw isn’t what really happened. Time for some truth, maybe? And just for the heck of it, how does a guy with no mouth speak, anyway? While we are asking questions, does Lyn know who has been stealing shoes? The box is still nowhere in sight….. ;-)

I never forget a face…except yours.

I think we may have had a doppelganger in the form of a ditto construct earlier parts of this story arc. This may be the first time we really are seeing Lyn.

So…now we’re learning something about what happens to those who mutate while conscious into those hideous creatures whose only desire is to eat everything—and everyone—in sight?

just wow …

So, does this mean that the full-blown mutation victims can gain back their sanity (or a portion of it)? Huh. Who knew exploding was a good cure for going savage?

Is it Lyn, or just the thought of Lyn?!?

And Lyn Hollister is a what?

Lyn seems to consider himself not human.The types of people who survived the End have included unmutated humans, anthros, rats, and monsters. But there are other things that don’t seem human, like the dittos, the Oracle, the resurrection tree, and maybe the Lucraneans. They may or not have originally been human.Lyn appears to not just control dittos, but be made of them. He could have mutated into them, or have had his mind “uploaded” to them. Or he’s a parallel Lyn that’s passed through the soul fountain and reincarnated in ditto form in this universe. He could remember his Holly and be trying to reconnect with her, any of her in the multiverse, but Wally is in the way. In ditto form, he could be losing his humanity.We can make assumptions of what he’s not. He’s not the entity that possessed Jim, because that was hostile to Holly. He’s not all the dittos because some of them are friendly to Wally, and indifferent to most people.He seems to inhabit some dittos, and now realizes if Wally controls them, Wally can control him and maybe erase him.He says Wally’s friends are safe, but he may not consider Holly one of them. Holly is his friend and wife, and she may not be safe, as much as Lyn wants her to be. Against his wishes, he may need Wally’s help to save her..

Nice to meet you, Lyn. Are you the same Lyn Hollister who was married to Holly?

“A cat? A mutant? A human!!” One of the key themes in Endtown is that “humanity” is defined less by appearance than by intent. I like this.

Don’t look at me!Don’t look at me!I can’t stand it when you people judge me like this!

And Aaron masterfully makes the explanation give rise to even more questions.Did Lyn somehow survive the buddibomb explosion? If so, I’d expect that this isn’t literally Lyn, but instead is a ditto-illusion version of Lyn, formed by the real Lyn. If Wally exerts enough control, he can take away all of Lyn’s dittos and leave him with nothing.Another possibility is that this is all being called out of Holly’s subconscious and not from Lyn at all.Of course that’s all guesswork. It will be interesting to see what the real answer is.

Y’know…traditional wedding vows usually have something about “till death do us part” or somesuch. If this is Lyn, and if he is alive (which is up for grabs, I think)—-well, so much for Wally and Holly and their relationship, at least as it is…

This will be interesting – more than it allready is ofc.

Well, whatever the situation, here’s hoping that Wally gets to use his brains, which is what drew me to this comic in the first place.

Daaa Daaa DAAAAAAAHHH!

This just occurred to me.Maybe the Amesworth radiation doesn’t kill. Somehow everyone is still “alive” somehow. I know that doesn’t explain what we “saw” what happened to Lyn, but that doesn’t have to be how Lyn really “died”, does it? It could be Lyn’s explanation of what happened to him in the allegory. That could explain the lost “soles”.

So, are they still married?

Just a note to say how much I’ve enjoyed “Endtown” since discovering it 4+ years ago. We’re seeing a master artist and storyteller at work here. It’s a terrific strip and I treasure my storyboard. Kudos, Aaron…sorry to read about Wheeler. Cats ARE family (within their parameters always).

So…. maybe Lyn is now one of those thoughts that thinks itself? Could we possibly be back in that “place where all realities meet”? I mean, Flask went there after she blew up, why not Lyn? Just kidding really. I have never been any good at anticipating Aaron’s next steps, so why should it be any different now. I’m still as lost as a blind polar bear in a dust storm. Help, Mr Wizard!!! ;-)

So…. maybe those NDCC types who showed up at the house collected some of the bits of “monster” Lyn, took them back to the lab, un-mutated his cells and cloned a new Lyn? Seems about as reasonable as anything. Unless the monster Lyn Holly saw blow up was REALLY a ditto construct just like when we all thought W&H were dusted by the topsiders. Or maybe the Lyn who mutated at the house was an imposter sent by Apex to “collect” Holly after she saw the snake lady. The possibilities boggle the mind. One thing is certain, this “whatever” that is calling itself Lyn has more than a passing familiarity with dittos…. ;-)

Wally Wallenchinsky : Ditto Ninja!

Wally: “And you’re the one responsible for all this?”Lyn: “No, not eye!”

I think Lyn died, and his spirit got caught in the group ditto quantum waveform, for a lack of a better description. Still possessing strong memories, which give him some influence with the dittos which will decohere with time, he can affect Wally through his dittos, merged with the Unity ones. Jealousy over Holly may be feeding and sustaining his remaining “humanity”, and now he needs to let go and allow Wally to be the main actor preserving Holly, himself, and their friends, all trying to hold on what is left of their “humanity”. Redefining this term is a way Aaron is using to get to its essence.

I haven’t read anyone ‘s comments yet. 1st impression is that Lynn died and has become another Jim. Jim was bad enough, thinking he was god ad all, But Lynn already hates him personally. I don’t think it can get much worse.Now I will read what everyone thinks, because without all of you, I couldn’t have gotten to the meaning of whatever was lat time. don’t trust Lyn and his smile for one minute.

Assuming this is Lyn, and not another ditto illusion. THis could be Lyn, and alternate Lyn, a ditto Lyn, a third party calling itself Lyn, who knows….The only thing that appears to be likely is that “Lyn” does not consider himself to be human.

Well.. seems I was right about the competing dittos theory (back on the 29th)…I’m wondering who this guy really is now. Lyn? Something seems off… perhaps a memory and no more.

Oooo, just noticed the skull impression that is the “Lyn” face… creepy

You all don’t seem to have considered the possibility that this being is lying about being Lyn.

Maybe Lyn became ALL of the dittos, when the buddy bomb went off in mid-mutation. He retained consciousness as Lyn – or maybe regained it upon realizing who Holly had been…

hm..could Lyn have possibly altered what he showed a bit?

Beem wondering, seeing Holly in the “flashback” seemed far more shallow and bitchy than the one we initially meet…

Either that…or all of what was shown really really changed her personality aside from the whole losing-the-baby-affecting-her-sanity-along-with-the-milk-trial thing.

on another note…

LYN GOT NO FACE

Hmmmm. The ‘essence’ of Lyn Hollister inhabiting a scrum of dittos maybe? Or not. Regardless, I am SO looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

More like what’s left of Lyn Hollister…

Huh! Whaddya know, Lyn has no mouth, yet he CAN scream!

Looks like Lyn is part Japanese…he’s certainly lost face this time…

This can work out for everyone. Wally and Holly were coming apart while Wally and Kirbee grew closer. Now Lyn has shown up when Holly needs someone who truly loves her and she doubts her love for Wally. Lyn can be there for Holly, and Wally can stop holding back from Kirbee and not feel obligated to Holly.

So many possibilities…Lyn was so unlike the other monsters we’ve seen. It could be that his feelings for Holly, and desire to protect her, kept him sane enough to mutate into something different, maybe when he blew up, his remains mutated into dittos or maybe his spirit remained stable enough after death that he was able to gain and maintain control of the dittos and they became an extension of his spirit. Of course, that’s assuming that this REALLY was the Lyn Holly married and that the story we’ve watched unfold about Holly’s past is true. It feels like it should be but in “Endtown.”In a way it feels like it might be a solution to the triangle that seems to have developed. Holly and Lyn can go off and start their new life together, Lyn using his ditto powers to give Holly as comfortable a life as any mutant can have in this world. Then Wally and Kirbee would be free to explore the feelings they seem to have. It feels strange as I’ve grown used to thinking of Holly and Wally as one of the great love stories. This may be Aaron’s response to the traditional “…happily ever after.” love story. That he feels that, while love can be real, it is really a lot more complicated than it is usually portrayed.

Lyn’s word balloons are like the Opabinia Queen’s AI’s. So he may be like the AI except his intelligence is natural, not artificial. He could have access to the same kind of systems as the AI… Or maybe it wasn’t artificial after all…Lyn, or his mind, may have been abducted by Lucraneans. These dittos are attached to a refitted ship, and could serve as its navigation systems like on the Opabinia Queen. They may need a supervisor program with enough intelligence and free will to make decisions like a person, and the most practical way to do that is use a person.Lucraneans could have somehow incorporated Lyn’s mind into the ship’s systems and he’s now its supervisor. If the Fitzgerald is like the Queen, it could have food replicators that can create “real” food like Marx served on the Queen. I would guess the Queen’s supervisor was also an incorporated person. It sounded like one.When Wally and gang came across the ship, coincidentally with Lyn as its supervisor, Lyn realized who Holly was and he was compelled to go into flashback mode. He could have been trying to help Holly psychologically, or get revenge on Wally for taking his place, or both. Being made of dittos, he could read their minds like dittos, and reproduce their memories. Maybe he wanted to heal her so she could be the ship’s captain. He was already imprinted on her as his wife, but the ship’s programming could have imprinted her as the captain, too, like Flask was imprinted on the Queen.Lyn may not be the only incorporated person. The tiger and the child seemed independent and sympathetic to Wally. They could be assistants subservient to Lyn, and have tempered his anger, keeping him from killing Wally outright.

What if when your body disintegrates from mutation it becomes Dittos? Some minds more in control of the gestalt than others. Wally’s willpower stronger than Lyn.

Well said by several of you: after getting dusted by Aimsworth radiation your remaining consciousness joins part of the collective ditto Nirvana; buddy bombs would be more accurately ‘Budda Bombs.’

Just another member of a faceless bureaucracy…

I agree with most of Coyotes comments, and some other interesting theories…maybe time will tell. But I still think there is some level of “guilt” involved when the dittos replay the past. I can’t recall good memories being shown in any(Sparkplug’s, Wally’s, Holly’s) except to set up for disaster later on. In the last flashback, I saw Lyn feeling guilty for covering up their “incident”. But the worst event I saw was when he ran from mutated Holly in terror; right after she lost her baby; when she needed Lyn’s support. If this ditto-thing has any connection with Lyn, then this recollection would weigh heavily. And…seeing Wally defending Holly could make “Lyn” envious.

Interesting. Even though he appears to have no face, he still has his freckles (or whatever those dots were under his eyes). Friday will probably generate more questions than it answers. ;-/

It’s a trap!

Thought so! Now we learn Lyn’s agenda.