Endtown by Aaron Neathery for March 12, 2012

We have a dream sequence here, right? Blessed Be.

It certainly seems That Wally’s dreams Play out in vivid image As Captain Flask Assigns the task In bullet-riddled scrimmage You’d think this fellow Would be more mellow Or dream of better days Since he’s at rest With one who’s best At “calming-Wally” ways =|====/ Level Head Vote for Endtown 2.0 And for Doc Rat, too The Endtown Forum And don’t forget to nominate both For Ursa Major awards!

Per Endtown uniform insignia, projectile weapons, looks like flashback to the war.Post mutant Captain Flask and WALLY!?!?

We are about to be Neatherized again!

Or does Aaron Marx have the ability to alter reality to match what people are thinking/wishing, in this case, Flask?

All right… I was not expecting that. It seems to be a flashback. Maybe that makes sense why Flask choosed Wally for this mission. (Sorry for my english, hehehe)

Holly must not have been the only one feeling exhausted…

This demonstrates the value of not being seen. Or keeping your premutation name.Apparently Wally was a corporate officer and Flask was his superior. Flask knew his kept name when he came to Endtown, and how resourceful he was, but also how inconveniently conscientious he was. He did not know she had mutated since the old days, and did not know her real name. His subconscious was taking notes, however, and placed her new face over her old body in a dream. (Notice the lack of a tail stub.) After working with her on this mission, he recognizes her.Given the setting, which seems to be pre-End, I’m guessing they were more police than military. Probably a SWAT team. While their uniforms have some similarity to the Topsider encounter suits, they’re not worried about exposure to the mutagen yet. Flask might have designed the encounter suits and based them on her uniform from this period, which would explain how she knew of the design flaw.

And the song on the radio right now is saying, “I’ll be watching you…”

I’ve been around hairpin turns before, but not like this one..(0.0)

Weird…

Dream sequence. But whose dream: Wally’s or Flask’s? On a related note, Wally has gone off to have a sleep. When you go on a life-risking secret mission, and you are betrayed and surrounded, facing certain death, and then are plucked out and taken to a fantasy world where nothing is real, you may as well sleep when offered. If anything worse can possibly happen, you have no power over it anyway!

This looks like a dream sequence, not a flaskback. Flask and Wally do not have a “past”. That was established quite plainly, and though he is the master of plot twists, Aaron’s facts are consistant. Look at the details: Flask appears anthro, yet she has all 4 fingers. The uniforms have Apex insignia. My guess is that Wally may have either served on such a team at one point before he mutated, or was hunted by one afterwards. His recent dealings with Flask have caused him to insert her in place of the original squad leader who I’m betting he had problems with. I think we may be getting a glimpse of what led to Wally’s initial apprehension with weapons. Backstory time…

It looks like someone ate and then went to bed. These things do happen.

I think Coyote is on to something here. It seems like this is Wally’s dream and the dream is about to reveal who Flask was before she mutated.

AARON NEATHERY, WHY DO YOU DO THESE THINGS TO US?!!

Waaat????

Hmm, new patch on Flask’s uniform….black triangle with a white dot in the center. Who does that represent?

OK what the H just happened? Is this another illusion by the dittos? I’m confused!

I love the bullet ricocheting off the door knob!

I love these 90 degree turns that Aaron goes into at about 120 mph. Only problem is, after Friday’s strip I had taken off my seatbelt. Guess that’ll teach me.

So then, why would Apex have mutant Flask on its team? I thought Apex was conning those exposed into a camp for a final solution kinda thing.

Guys, this isn’t a flashback. Flask ISNT HUMAN in those panels. she’s a cat. If it were a flashback, she’d be human.

UUH, I wasn’t expecting this! Whatever this is. Did it skip in time? is this a dream? What happened between the last on friday and this one?Something Had to have happened, right?

Maybe Apex used mutants to clear out monsters initially and then decided to eradicate the mutants later? Hence, the lower tech weapons (wouldn’t want to give the next enemy good weapons). Would also explain mutants working with Apex and the house-to-house, room-to-room search. The monsters we’ve seen so far probably haven’t been smart enough to know what a doorknob is for and would be stuck inside if transformed there. If Wally was conscripted to help clear out monsters, he’d probably be a bit hesitant to kill something that was once human and Flask would be keeping an eye on him.

If this is Wally’s dream then he is projecting Flask’s face over what she was before. Just because he is present in the dream does not mean he was present in reality.

The timing of this set of panels is pretty creeping considering recent real life events in Afghanistan.Good thing i know Aaron works at least 11 weeks in advance.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoaWhat?

So this is what it’s like to be Neatherized, huh?I like it!

Congratulations! We are all the next contestants on that exciting new audience participation game show “Where in the hell has Aaron dropped us today?”

I was into Endtown before it was cool. (Takes off large horn-rimmed glasses) Just kidding, it was always cool. Maybe this scene is from several days into the future? (From last strip.) Perhaps Marx has furnished them with equipment and some type of ditto-powered training hologram in order to assist them in their fight against the Topsiders. Doesn’t seem likely, but nobody else has covered that angle yet. So if I’m right, I get to say NANANANANANA IN YOUR FACE

I don’t think this is a flashback. I’m thinking this is someone’s nightmare, perhaps Wally’s? Cuz Wally was not a resident of Endtown during any war or confrontation with guns. He only met Flask at the beginning of the mission if I remember correctly.

Also the old-style weapons can be explained by Marx’s apparent affinity for anachronistic accessories and for discarded items. The “others” could be ditto-created “squad members” for the purpose of training.

My guess is it’s somebody’s dream. Though a future shot would be interesting…

SO CONFUSED!!!

Also, this might be stupid, but is it possible that’s not actually Flask under that helmet? I realize that it looks exactly like her, but no one’s said her name yet. Just a thought.

Why can’t this be some form of lucid dream or even a Marx-induced psychodrama, both which can be symbolic in content?

the only problem with this being an actual flash-back, is that it has recently been revealed that Flask was once a topsider. bearing that in mind, we notice that the insignia on the suit is the apex insignia, which means these guys are with apex. this means that this is before the modern topsiders we all know and love (to hate) today. but if flask was a topsider, that means she was a human then, and before then (now).

Ok, Ok, let’s just let the room stop spinning. … That was a 200 mph crash into a brick wall. — I had to go back over the last 6 sequences to convince myself I didn’t miss anything.

This being so abrupt, I vote for a dream/nightmare sequence. Being Wally and the team have been tramatized by Flask’s sadistic tactics.

I have to disagree with some of you. That is not Flask. For instance her? ass is too big and the boobs are too small. Those eyes are larger and without the female shape that we have become used too. 10 to 1 it is a past accurence that he is reliving. He is tired. He is confused and this is logical for a dream sequence of the past. Slap me down if you disagree…Blessed ed.

My official guess: Wally is having a dream that has to do with past events in his life, but the dream itself is not entirely accurate.