Endtown by Aaron Neathery for May 25, 2018

“We’ve got the meats!”

She ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog!

You couldn’t make it up, could you? But Aaron Neathery did!

Surely Mavis and “the others” are deranged and in need of a nice padded cell.

I have been a passionate fan of Endtown since I discovered it around the time of the conclusion of the Milk Trial, but lately I am losing interest. Wally and Holly’s escape into the topside and their journey was fascinating, and the extended flashback (or whatever that actually was) was brilliant storytelling. This current storyline is flat and cliched in comparison. The artwork remains incredible, but it is all so less engaging, at least to me. I used to eagerly check in every M, W, F for the next installment, but now I barely remember to look in once a week. It is a matter of taste, surely, but in this current b-movie serial (A “minddrainer?” is this Flash Gordon now?) the magic of Endtown’s storytelling is gone :(

Now the last pieces of the story are falling into place. Mavis called the porcine mutants selfish, when in reality it is really she and the other “we” she’s referencing who are the selfish ones. Complaining about canned food and willing to murder other human beings (albeit in mutant form) for what they want.

We’ve seen that when mutants reproduce they don’t always have offspring in the same mutant form as themselves. So what happens if one of these canine/meat-eating mutants produce a child that looks like a piglet? Sacrifice him/her too? I doubt they’ve thought much beyond what they want on their menu.

And now we’ve seen that the wolves are innocent of the pig murders, at least. Though they’ve proven to be gullible and willing to be swayed by divisive “supremacy” rhetoric. Jacob has his work cut out for him to restore order in Endtown, especially with the chilling specter of the rats looming behind him.

It’s kind of interesting to see Jacob getting a little shaken up, when listening to Mavis. His morals are of debatable nature to say the least, but that look in the third panel really makes the character for me. – “Christ, even I would never have conceived of something like this…” Really enjoying this arc!

Two comments. First, this is too easy! All this build up, all for this? I’m disappointed!

NOW you’re beginning to see why Marx chose Jacob as his fixer. A vicious situation requires a vicious guy to deal with it. Jacob knows the players involved, and their weaknesses.

The banality of evil. I’m tired of canned food, think I’ll butcher a neighbor cuz he looks tasty.

Second, and a possibility for hope here: As someone who is personally shocked at the way fat people are treated almost universally anymore, I can empathize with this situation.

Society has already pre-conditioned pigs (aka fat people) to loathe themselves, making them easy prey to…

The weight loss industrial empire, the folks always willing to preach weight loss at any cost, that there’s nothing worse than being fat, that there’s no excuse for being fat, and, piece de resistance:

If you’re still fat, it must be because you haven’t tried our plan!

DIET OR DIE! That is the battle cry!

And the sad part is, absolutely everybody feels totally justified in this.

Heck, even fat people have internalized this.

Now, I have no idea where Aaron is taking this story. In fact, I’m pretty sure the above rant is probably the least likely possibility. But, for what it’s worth, it’s the only reason I have hung on to this story so far.

Jake: “Last question. Who’s in the rest of your group?”

Mavis: “Everyone in your inner circle.”

Jake: “Thank you.”

Velda:“Uh, Jake, can I ask one, too?”

Jake: “Sure.”

Velda: “Mavis, say goodbye. Adam, wipe her.”

Jake: “That wasn’t a question.”

Velda: “That’s ok, I wasn’t expecting an answer.”

The Milk Trials were nothing compared to this!

Endtown is destined to destroy [eat] itself out of existence.

So, JJ was never the target, it was all about pork on the plate. I’m looking forward to seeing how JJ settles this…

So what you’re saying, is that you harassed innocent people before murdering them, got an entire group murdered, framed Heather Hoss and drove her to commit suicide, murdered Cooper, got Foxworthy hung for sedition, made the Security Rats even more personae non grata in Endtown than they already were, trashed the notions of freedom of the press and fair trials, and put everybody against everybody…all ’cause you wanted some bacon with your breakfast?

I see some comments saying they aren’t a fan of this story arc, but personally I love it. It’s all a matter of preference of course, but I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next. Keep up the great work Aaron!

The Oracle said she did not like this For the Greater Good she saw coming. Its what Allgood feared would happen. Now when does Velda have to answer?? Velda is part of this Inner Circle. Mavis may or may not know this but I bet she does. Velda looks like the person who would enjoy some meat with her beans. Privileged.

So, it’s safe to say that there are no wolves in their inner circle.

Next question: What happens when every pig mutant is devoured? Wouldn’t it be just a matter of time before they feel like grubbing down on some fried chicken, or perhaps a hamburger? But, let’s not forget that chickens are a great supply of eggs, and cows provide milk which can also be converted into cheese. So chances are those two species would be saved for last…

Especially when there are still some juicy rabbits available.

Has Mavis confessed to sedition yet?

We have to remember there are two view of society in Endtown. One side feels they should maintain their humanity as humans. The other side feels they should embrace their animal side according to the species they mutated into.

What Jacob needs is a way to get ALL the people to have a common cause. Unite them as one society. Having a “pig” culture with a “wolf” culture, there can be conflict. As as we can now see, that conflict was promoted by a third party.

ah, so it seems the fake food shortage rumors and cannibalism DID come from the same place, I was kind of hoping for another layer to this conspiracy but as presented it does make sense.

Last comment of the day (for me, I hope): Yet another reason I’m so disappointed in this story line is that I had presumed Velda was the “bad guy.” (Wasn’t she the one shewing away Cooper when Mavis came to her house?) Now, all of a sudden, the roles are reversed, Velda is the “good guy” and Mavis is “bad”?

But, as someone said of a prominent Senator a week (eternity?) ago, “She’s dying anyway!” (Reference to what Jacob, Velda, and the rat are expected to do to Mavis as soon as this little confession is finished)

Aaron: If you’re reading this, help us out, please!

This strip has often shown us people who have done bad things, though sometimes for “good” reasons. Flask was presented as a merciless killer…and then we saw what happened to her, and at least saw motivation. Jim sacrificed for love,lost it and was possessed by “I”. Allgood wasn’t “evil” but did harm anyway. Jacob was underhanded, but he wants Endtown to survive, but in his vision. Mavis as we are shown here is pretty bad. She and Sarah Battle could be sisters.

These anarchists/revisionists must have a leader. The terminology Mavis is using depersonalises people, turns them into objects or concepts to be manipulated—like a lot of political speech. Is she spewing group rhetoric or does she really feel this?

(long whistle) Day-UMN.

Judging by the lengthy comments, I’d say that Mr. Neathery has done it again. He’s engaged our minds and emotions enough to make us think…a lot…about what is happening here. I am enjoying this.

Wear a jacket that says SPAM.

NO ONE will eat that!

Just push the button.

Fry her brain.

Exploitation of ‘identity politics’ at it’s finest I see.

Read a book recently where most of the human race was destroyed. Two small groups were left. One ran out of food faster than the other, and resorted to cannibalism in hope of surviving long enough to reach a livable location. The other group was appalled. The first group believed that it didn’t do any good to remain noble if you no longer existed. The second group wondered if what remained after cannabilism was accepted was worth keeping in existance.

So, Mavis and the Inner Circle were duping everybody. They duped the newspaper editor Foxworthy, who thought they were helping him bring about regime change. They duped the wolves, who thought they were on track with their supremacist agenda. They duped the pigs, who thought the disappearances were the wolves preying on them. They duped Cooper by discarding him when he became a liability. They fooled the police and telephone operators by phoning from a hidden system. And all this for what? To sell food.

So it’s all about profits? Look for any butcher shop owners who are suddenly spending big.

There’s an awful lot of vegetarians in this chat…

Velda is a member of the Inner Circle, but is she a member of “the Others”? I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere. If she’s a member of “the Others” why would she bring Mavis to Jacob? That does not make sense.

Yet we have a bunch of animals eating pigs… like pigs.

Hey, the animal stereotypes thing got brought back up