Endtown by Aaron Neathery for February 26, 2013

A square mayor in a round hole…in more ways than one.

And some grease.

The rats are of course being meanMany Endtowner sizes are seenTiny worms play as baitGustine, Cooper are greatSurely all routes aren’t stuck in between!Each new mutant did his own “evolve”With new size, other problems to solveSo this too-small path sticksThey are just being … meanJust to test the good mayor’s resolve.=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

THAT obviously is not the back way. Not every citizens are plyable enough to fit through a hole in the roof. Me for instance. I sympathyze.,Blessed Be

Rat: "We’re not doing this to be mean, or to be sticklers for the rules. We just think the youtube video is going to get us a ton of “likes” when we’re done…"

Just in case anyone forgot this is a comic strip. And remember to vote early and often for Endtown 2.0, Doc Rat, and Endtown at topwebcomics.com. Let’s try to salvage this month for all three. Today is the 26th of a 28day month, but TWC is on Pacific Standard Time, so we have until 2AM Central Time Friday AM to stuff those ballots.

Why do we have eighteen(18) weeks of Standard Time and thirty four(34) weeks of special, Daylight Saving Time?Sincerely and Respectfully,JusSayin

(to this Beatles tune)I’m stuck in a hole to the bunker roomIt’s stopped my bulk from travelingWhere it should goThe rats making cracks from down on the floorThey’d see my plans unravelingSo I should goIt really doesn’t matter if the Doc is madOr that the fishing’s badIt won’t be longAll these rats are standing pointing guns at me with feral grinI wonder why I ever came this farI’m thinking of this in a brand new wayImagining it’s Dottie thereSo I will goIt really doesn’t matter if I live or dieI’m gonna help that’s whyHere I belongSo the plunger’s helping meMy dignityIs never gonna try to make it past this floorI’m steeling myselfFor a number of thingsThat weren’t important yesterdayAnd I’ll still goI’m stuck in a hole to the bunker roomI’m stopped, so far, from finishingBut I will go=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

I suppose the Security Rats did this strip-Walter-of-dignity thing because they can…

This writing is Aaron Neathery at his finest, in my humble opinion. I read it, and I thought for a moment, and then I said: “Yup, works for me.”We have a story set in a political pressure cooker, with characters whom we have grown to know and love, each for his and her own cares and travails,we have people locked up at gunpoint, dispossessed and stripped their rights, we have a cast of players who, motivated by fear as they may be, are mere pawns to some unknown despotic power… and to solve the crisis, we witness a cowardly, untidy, fat slob of a bear who has to be winched in a harness through a small hole.I have just never seen a story like this. It is brilliant. It has such extreme… well… bathos.Bravo from me.

“Does this hole make me look fat?”He bearly fits.

The hole is large enough. Just have to get the velocity up a bit.

Y’know, this is the first time any of the Security Rats have spoken since Walter’s arrival…

What will he find up there? The council…dead, except for 1? Imprisoned?

Things will look worse if the top end resembles a commode seat.

Benton…not funny!

Hilarious in so many ways.Now WHO in the world thought up that way to get to the High Council? What they really need to do is decrease pressure in the area above him and increase pressure below. A little RAT grease and up the chimney he will go. Heck if Santa Clause can do it why can’t the Mayor.On their lacking tails. I have been thinking. A sign of honor/respect for the loss of their leader Flask who also had no tail? Like a human tattoo to honor a fallen friend. (I knew a soldier who had tattooed every fallen soldier he served with in Iraq. He had a few.) Hard to tattoo a furry rat so lose the tail in respect. In Al and Gustine they all had tails.That could play into the story at some point. They may have to make a decision as to what would have Flask (whom they adored)tell them to do in response to an order.

This has happened before to the rats. The Rat that seems to be in command asks for the large plunger and he seems to have that look of disgust as if he is saying to himself, “here we go again”.This hole to go up to see the high consul seems to me almost an Aaron Marx nod to the inane. You have to go up to see the High Consul, so what better way to go up.Aaron Neathery, Thank you….

Reminds me of another bear (of very little brain) who had a penchant for getting stuck in holes… Can I get an “Oh bother”? ;-)

To rickDHe will find another hole.(The bear went over the mountain and what do you think he saw? He saw another mountain. OLD song and I mean old)

I’m thinking this new High Council may have had a hand in this. Walter said that he was allowed to use the “back way” to the bunker in the past. This may be the first time he has been forced to go this way. That suggests that the High Council doesn’t want anyone addressing them or otherwise observing or interfering with their work. I also suspect that the council’s orders/behaviors may have put the rats on edge, they have been very quiet in today’s and yesterday’s strips.I also wonder at the loss of tail. It would be touching to have it a gesture of respect for their fallen leader but I wonder if it wasn’t at the High Council’s orders. A society that believes in “human values” might believe in altering anthro’s appearances to make them more human, even to the point of ordering tail docking.

Perhaps they do have their tails, but their uniforms do not allow for tailholes.Remember when Flask was first mutated? Her topsider uniform didn’t have a tailhole. When she was captured and placed in that “pit”, it turned out she did have a tail.That is, until the topsiders decided to chop it off.

I can’t wait to see the High Council members.I wonder how many of THEM can actually fit through that portal?

AND NO COWBOY BOOTS (Cant run or climb in those anyway) and I don’t like cowboy hats.

Flask tried to remove her own tail down in the pit when her sanity snapped. The Topsiders finished the tail docking so that she wouldn’t bleed to death. The rats may have had their tails removed to commemorate her, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of Allgood’s implanted workers convinced the rats to cut off their tails for ‘the greater good’.

Ordinarily, I am opposed to one-size-fits-all, but this time, I think I see the desirability.

That’s one way to plug a security leak.

The best dressed cowboys I ever did see where in New York City when it was all the craze.To the real ones its all about functionality as the key to clothing. Durable, lots of pockets, able to drop when necessary with out too much fuss or carrying on.(Hey when ya gotta go ya gatta go. Those enchiladas from last night are coming out today. AND NOW!!!!)

Really? I thought they had it surgically removed. That was how she was able to make her escape.Oh, well.My point is that perhaps the rats do have their tails. They’re just tucked into their uniforms.

Bathos is an abrupt transition from the exalted to the commonplace, but it need not be unintended. It can be used deliberately, to convey a certain effect of contrast. In Endtown, it gives that sweet-and-sour mix of tense political thriller and slapstick comedy. It’s not accidental nor random, in this case. It’s a way of demonstrating that when you’re laughing, you can cry a bit, and when you’re crying, there’s a hint of unexpected laughter.Neathery does it well.