Endtown by Aaron Neathery for April 22, 2016

OMG – poor Holly – pour Lyn

Sure enough, here come the Buddibombs,

oh man…that’s bad…..run Holly RUN!!!!!!!

I’m guessing this is coming from Holly’s sick mind, I don’t think Lyn turned into whatever that is….

Aaron…your imagination is waaaaaay scary…..

Welp, Lyn can totally get a job with Hollywood to play “The Thing” in the remake now. Also, Buddibombs! Because this situation wasn’t explosive enough.

Well, we know what happened to Lyn now. Too bad. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Now it looks like he’s got several more.

Called it back on Wednesday…enter the Buddibombs! Poor Holly, she’s seen those little bombs attack to take out her friend Ethel, now she’s witnessing the same thing…only this time it’s Lyn, her husband that’s going to go BOOM!. Wally had better be there for her to help her heal of this trauma.

Y’know, the Buddibombs think Lyn is “Bad”…but what about the mutated Holly? Don’t they think she’s “Bad” too? Or do they go for the greater threat?

The creep factor jumped Way Up on seeing Lyn’s face on a stump on the floor!

“Hello, sir. You and the missus look like you could use some refreshment.”The bombs are ignoring Holly, and have been. I guess they’re designed to protect their registered owner even after mutation. Could be an oversight by Apex.

Maybe the Buddibombs don’t consider Holly the threat because they were GIVEN to HER (kind of like programmed to protect her)? They had plenty of time to go for her if they considered her bad. Just guessing. Tho’ I like the idea that they are going for the greater threat. It sure didn’t take them very long to go for Lyn.

If they have a back door Holly better use it.But they didn’t attack Holly. I think the Buddibombs won’t go off until she is safe like when they didn’t go off until the Holly leaves. He has 2 dragon hind feet, so the thing with the face reminds me of a Fukushima carrot or tomato.

I could make out several heads, but only one tail.

Ok, this is where the BIG questions come in. If the BuddiBombs destroy Lyn, who or what is under the Lyn-skin that keeps staring at Wally? If Lyn wasn’t (fully) destroyed by the bombs, how did he recover his original suave good looks? Does Holly pause long enough to get her baby from the tub? And, do the police blame her for Lyn’s disappearance, too?

Cross-comic action.

Dadof3 (From the comment on Wednesday’s strip):“I agree that whatever (or whoever) it is that is playing the part of Lyn is most likely the brains behind this whole show, but why does he/she/it need to be a monster or even a mutant?”Do I need to answer this?

Poor Lyn, I really liked him.

Oof, hope he was a fan of John Carpenter.

I have a feeling the buddibombs (assuming there are any left) will go after Holly once Lyn is no longer a threat. I’m assuming they go after the most threatening target first, which considering the commotion Lyn is creating is him at the moment. They may not have noticed Holly yet… which I’m sure will change soon.

Even if they were programmed to protect the original owner, I think Holly has changed too drastically for them to recognize her anymore. Plus… I suspect that buddibombs were created for and are being sold to the public because the government knows about the mutations and is creating an efficient way to seek out and destroy them under the guise of “safety” rather than allow the public at large to become aware of them.

Mutants that retain their intelligence will probably hide from soldiers, but may welcome friends and family who will unknowingly bring about their doom (and if Holly hadn’t hightailed it she would’ve met the same fate as snake lady… considering the mutation may be passed by close contact, I’m sure the buddibombs are made to kill both target and anyone close enough who may become infected).

Time for holly to run indeed! That many buddy bombs will destroy any left in the house. So what follows is where holly goes from here. I’m guessing she seeks doc, her grandfather. by now more then likely a mole.

That… or about to become one. We’ll see.

Wow! A plastic surgeon’s Dream…

That is so true. I didn’t even see it as a tail!I wish the replies could be under the comment they are replying on. I read the comments early this morning and it was hard to tell which comment someone is replying on. So many of us make 2 or more comments, so that can be a bit confusing or frustrating looking for the right comment.

Y’know, maybe THIS is why Lyn had such a hate going on ref. the BuddiBombs…

I think the intelligence behind the flashback was just “possessing” Lyn to make sure they were paying attention. It will probably “possess” others now that Lyn will be out of the picture.

Cordwainer Smith – ‘A Planet Named Shayol’

And, though I never thought it would be possible to say this about that story, Endtown presents a darker vision/version…

Ok. Wally certainly had a sad backstory. Shanghi’d engineer tricked into murdering innocent lady teacher, therefore now hates guns and killing. But I have to say that Holly’s surged way out in front in the “Can you top this” backstory contest. Blew up the neighbors, birthed a dead fish, hubby goes nightmare and now the reprise of the buddibomb chorus. We have a clear winner folks! ;-)

I wonder if we’ll ever learn why conscious people turn into horrors while unconscious ones turn into animals (and other non-existent but still coherent creatures).

The Many Faces of Lyn…

Wow, I sure got it spectacularly wrong yesterday – thought it was just a fast-turning head. That monster is seriously disturbing, especially the head on the tail. How conscious are the “monsters” after mutation, do they know what is happening to them? That face could be a scream for help.

Nightmare fuel is now topped off.

lemonade anyone?

If Robbie robot is, as some suggested, connected to Apex to watch the potentially infected, I’m assuming Apex is seeing Lyn, but hasn’t seen Holly. I wonder if that would have an effect on Holly eventually ending up in Endtown, rather than Petco stadium.

Oh, holy gods. This is giving the troll-monsters at Stand Still. Stay Silent a run for their creepy money.

RanaRavens: LOL, I would love to see that crossover story.Any others: I think buddypomps just treat her as family pet.

I agree with the buddibombs.

Okay, two theories come to mind……One – The Buddibombs are registered to Holly, and are programmed to protect her despite her Anthro mutation, since the bombs are sensing her fear. Although, if she had mutated like Lyn had, there’s still a chance that the bombs would have gone after her, too…Two – When you consider what Lyn has mutated into, having a mouse in the house is the least of the bombs’ concern.

At least the buddibombs are actually intelligent enough to realise a threat – and not just go on the mutants. Because they didn´t see Ethel as “bad” before Holly was frightened, and now they go on Lyn after she is frightened by him – or he just plain see himself as a threat. Wonder how the servicebot will act towards him though.

EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!! EEK!!!!

Aaron! My heart is breaking.

The Master of the house is currently unavailable.. He’s not feeling himself today,,,, Could you please call back at a later time when this domicile is a smoking crater.Tsk tsk… What will the neighbors think of the new Lyn and Holly. Will they instinctively know which face to address?And what of Lyn’s dental bill?Thats a lot teeth that are gonna need fixing if they find them all…After…Amazing how those buddibombs find lyn a larger threat, Holly’s DNA must register as more “human” than Lyn’s rapidly mutating genes.

I bet she’s got one left in her pocket somewhere.

Its not buddibomb programming to Holly.Its the Enhanced Threat Detection program.Refer back to Ethel….she only became a threat once she mentioned she could smell Holly’s fear and it made her hungry……that thought of eating Holly triggered the bombs action.As for them going after Lyn…..Aaron said this about his monsters…..they are all homicidal maniacs in this stage….the bombs sense this and are targeting Lyn.Holly is not a threat nor is she a homicidal monster.She will be tiny bits of mouse meat if she don’t clear the blast zone but do remember….this is a flashback……no mice were harmed in the making of this documentary.

And Nightmare Fuel level goes off scale.

Ooooh sh**!

Wow. I was wrong about the Buddibombs. The “smiling” face of the robot with the tray of drinks is a wonderful counterpoint to the monstrous Lyn. I can’t believe how much this story has “drawn me in.” I think I did yell “HOLLY RUN!” at the computer yesterday.

The Hollisters certainly do not seem to be Happy.

I guess Lyn must be Pete’s son. We don’t know Holly’s maiden name, so she probably isn’t the same Holly Hollister who was six years old in 1963. But Endtown definitely has a noir vibe, so they could be in a parallel universe that had developed flying cars, robotics and some weaponry in the 1950s.

The stuff of nightmares!

Lyn: Robbie, I seem to have developed quite an appetite. Can you scare me up something to eat?

Robbie: You should have no problem doing that yourself, sir.

The most BuddiBombs I was able to find in any strip with Ethel was six bombs. The most BuddiBombs I can find in any one panel today is five bombs. So it is possible that Holly still has one Buddibomb remaining, somewhere. Veteran may be on target here, the bombs may pick up on anger, or hunger, and target that. Or they may be coded somehow to the original recipient. I almost never register products, but, then again, people rarely give me explosives. Then again, the microwave sometimes makes funny sounds.

“Robbie, bring me both of those Tom Collins beverages, and maybe a nice jeroboam of tequila.”

Believing the buddibombs zero in on mutants. Whoever released that mutagen trumped everyone else in this nightmare.

Is it wrong that in this beautifully drawn depiction of horror and chaos, one of my major points of focus is on Holly’s feet? I don’t think that we’ve ever seen her sans shoes…They are adorable, for the record.

Holly’s face in Panel 1 says it all.

Looking at yesterday’s strip again, I get the impression that Lyn is actually WARNING Holly to stay away because he can feel his change happening and he’s afraid he will hurt her. A loving husband to the end.

artheaded1 said, 24 days ago

If I’ve counted right,half of Holly’s bombs are gone. Wonder what the other half will do? Poor Ethel!

Well, I count 5 in the lower left panel. One to chase Holly?

I think the last buddibomb will go after Holly.

Forget Holly having to escape the house (we know that’s going to happen as a matter of fact) – Wally, Kirbee and Chic better get moving right NOW…

The most heartbreaking thing is Holly’s early comment “I lost the baby” I’d say she has been repressing a whole heck of a lot more.

Yep, Gallagher it is then. (See yesterday’s comment). My question is how does Holly get out of this? Remember her cheery happy personality in the cafe? How can she have had that with this in her past.

Here come the rest of that 12-pack of buddibombs. I think she used up 5 or 6 of them on (accidentally) killing her friend-turned-snake, and this looks like the rest of the pack.I’m going to guess that even if the buddibombs recognised Holly as a threat, mutated Lyn represents the greater threat according to their programming, so they’re going to kill him first.Which might just be a mercy for Lyn.

If/when Holly takes off, Apex security will see a small mouselike creature wearing oversized clothes on the security monitor. Unless of course, Robbie is either transmitting video, or has an indestructible video card. This will be the second explosion Holly has fled in about a week, so Apex will probably issue an all points bulletin for Holly Hollister, domestic terrorist. And Apex probably knows something about mutations, and is still trying to research the issue later, from the story of Flask and her friend who became Petey. So at the least, they will want to study Holly. She escapes somehow. Unless Wally, Kirbee, Chic and Irving somehow landed in another part of the multiverse, an alternate storyline from the one Holly and Wally were in at some time.

Aaron you are the Man!!! I love your stuff. You know how to really hook people in and then hit them hard. I think you need to pitch an idea for the Zootopia sequel to Disney. Something along the lines of Zootopia 2: It Came From Endtown!

Re: everybody: I don’t think there’s anything left of the Buddibombs after they, er, take care of what’s “bad.” Also, surely if they saw someone who mutated into a snake as “bad,” they would see the same in someone who mutated into a mouse.Also also, I don’t know if they’d continue to be “keyed” to Holly after she mutated…

I think Lyn may have ran away from Holly on Monday’s strip because he realized something was happening to him. On Friday’s strip where Holly is talking about their child, we see Lyn break out in a sweat as his tears form. I think he could feel the mutation starting and ran because he was afraid of what he’d turn into and he wanted to be from Holly when he turned into it. I’m thinking that he warned her to stay away because he could feel the change and knew it wasn’t good.

The look on Lyn’s face: “This was never the way I thought I’d die.”

I’m beginning to think Marx is doing this, back to the little Marx and his eyes, balloons, IIDK about soles.But AKWK only Wally and Marx control the dittos, oh and the crazy duck, but wouldn’t be him.

This is just a really bad day all around

“Did you hear about the Hollisters? Turns out they were some of THEM. BuddiBombs had to go after them.”

“Tsk. There goes the neighborhood.”

Hang on… didnt all of Holly’s buddybombs latch onto her snake friend? Where did all of those come from? Holly said herself she couldnt find even one herself…

Very creepy but I read it every day!

Thanks Just Sayin for clearing that up. I did click on the link and think I would have liked those books as a child.

I feel like one of the most telling things about the Buddibombs here is that they don’t perceive Holly as a threat. Why? One bounces off of her head. Ethel was moving around wildly to try to shake them off of herself, but they stuck on as much as they could. One casually bouncing off of Holly shows that their biggest concern is definitely Lyn. It would have stuck to Holly if the Buddibombs were designed to attack anyone who mutated. I think it means they’re still keyed into Holly somehow—they only activated and started their "bad"s once Holly saw Lyn transforming—a real threat.

Who’s controlling the dittos? It’s pretty obvious to anyone who remembers Sparkplug: Holly’s controlling them. Not the Holly in the image — as with Sparkplug, that’s a ditto recreation. But Holly can see and hear all of this, because (again as with Sparkplug) the few things she didn’t see/hear for herself can be filled in with a trace of imagination and a dash of logical thought.

Of course, if it’s the same situation as with Sparkplug, the word “control” can be a bit strong — Sparkplug never could seem to stop them replaying his traumatic experiences. But then, if I may be forgiven the quote from Deep Space Nine: “This is where you live. All of your thought, your existence, keeps coming back to this point.”

Buddibomb-Actiontime !! :)Poor Lynn. It looks like Buddibombs recognize different level of mutation and so they ignore Holly and go for the more dangerous one first.

I feel that Lynn was trying to warn Holly not shooing her back because she mutated.

maybe buddibombs gravitate to the biggest aberration in a room

I think you have to admire the joy of the buddibombs to do their job. They really like to work.

“Oh great MORE mouths to feed!”