Endtown by Aaron Neathery for December 07, 2016

Well, at least it’s a colorful ending to this arc.

Indeed.

OK, i’ll say it — Mr. Neathery is SUPERB !!! And thank you, Mr. N. for posting early! Sometimes this is the only time of day I get to check!

At least they’re alone together…

The sun still rises – awesome colors!

Great ending of this chapter.

Sunrise? or the sun setting on this chapter of Wally’s life?

Wow.

Wonderful…

Tomorrow, return of the MUTTS.

Cue completely unexpected cut back to Al and Endtown lol

Color!

“Red sky in the morn’ sailors be warn. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight” I hope Holly has smooth sailing ahead of her. Even though it’s just an illusion, it shall become her reality.

This isn’t the end is it?!?

LOVE IT!

Wow…what…a…strip.

All of us readers have been speculating on Holly’s mental state and her decision, and the characters are doing the same. No wonder the powder plains of Neathery-world are so big; we’re all sitting beside the characters wondering about Holly’s choice, and reflecting on our choices as well. And then comes a gentle full-color reminder from the creator: if you choose illusions you ignore some of the good things that reality has to offer. Not often but sometimes, I remember to look up and look out…and look down for gifts for my senses, hold dear the loved ones in my life that I have now.

After all the HUGE revelations and Holly’s decision to live with her illusion, a small thought occurred to me. I wonder if her realization that Kirbee could be a support and love for Wally (since he did seem attracted to Kirbee) might also have contributed just a bit to her decision to leave Wally. She knew he would not be alone. He had someone who cared about HIS feelings and could comfort him in his loss.

I can’t see them kissing just yet. Wally has just gone through the pain of losing someone he thought to be the love of his life. I think Kirbee understands that and will give him a little space and time before trying to kiss him.

Is it my imagination or does Kirbee’s shadow (in the 4th panel) look like Holly?

Suicide is painless. It brings on many changes. And I can take or leave it…if I please.

And you can do the same thing if you please.

Well done Aarron! Thank you.

Most of you seem to miss some of the point with Holly. She became Captain of the Lucranian ship early on. (Remember, Wally tried to assert command, but was told he was not the ship’s captain.) It offered her a life away from the wasteland of sorrows. A life which she could choose! She knew that the cumulative effects of horror after horror was breaking her down. (She told Wally, remember.) Her choice was to live in an environment friendly to her soul.

She needs that dream reality to heal herself. Someday, she will be able to put it aside, but not for some time. In the mean time, she can leave that bleak world and do something completely different from being a waitress. She truly has become the master of her fate and the captain of her soul.

But she could not do this if Wally or any one from that world stayed with her. He would be constantly drawing her away from the dreamscape. Part of her subconscious and the computer, knew Wally had to leave the ship. So, “Lyn” was the hostile expression of this.

A brilliantly executed story line.

This strip never ceases to amaze me. Aaron, as this arc completes I want to thank you for all the entertainment you’ve provided over the years. Your love for the medium is a throwback to times when comic strips mattered. And you’ve taken it and made it special again. I hope we will have years ahead of exploration within Endtown. :3

…sniff…

Thanks Aaron for another great story.

Hey can anyone tell me how to attach a picture to the comments? Thanks.

My random question is how do they get a rosey sunset if there’s nothing left to provide the necessary pollutants to color it? Is there a coal fired plant still operating somewhere?

Probably said before, but the little they have is sure a lot…each other…and it’s real. :-)

About color, my mind “sees” color in every strip. I don’t think they live in a black and white world. They would be seeing their world in color. Same with Holly now, I “see” her world in color too.Very few people can’t see color. IDK,does anyone have complete color blindness? but-I read in an Oliver Sacks book, how an artist had a head trauma and lost all color. except for an ugly orange. he was nearly suicidal about the ugly gray tones, not crisp clean gray.

Wow.

Okay. That’s just a really nice ending

I think the illusion of her old life is a temporary crutch to help her heal and refuel the ship. I think Holly will leave this illusion behind at some later date and move on to other more challenging ones that will help her grow. She can never leave the illusions for as long as she is captain as the ship needs something to recharge its batteries. Maybe future illusions will train a healthy Holly on how to face the various monstrosities out there.

And that answers my question from yesterday.

Well played.

A final statement.Holly chose an easy way out.She was still on the top of that tower even when she was off the tower.The Milk Trial destroyed what little faith she had left.That is why she begged Wally to take her out. She lunged head first into things expecting to be cut down but every time she lived and found folks needing her. That was what she did not want….being needed.This ship being abandoned with no captain became her way out. Remember Flask….the first person in becomes Captain. Only by killing the Captain can one take over. Wally did not assume that Holly was now Captain even when the computer explained the previous Captain abandoned the ship…..so there was no Captain. The ship never told Wally as he never asked who was Captain now.She finally found a place that will give her what ever she wants for as long as she lives. She was blind to the real world dwelling only in the past. She could not see the real world as beautiful as it is even with its problems.Kirbee has it right. Holly settled for an illusion.But that was her choice. I don’t slight her that choice. It is your choice and only yours.But as the final panel shows.The real world is just as beautiful.Wally will pick up and move on. Kirbee carries a lot less baggage (laugh you know its true) and little Chic needs them both. Irving…..Irving is just happy to be Irving and alive.

Beautiful ending to the story, and a visually beautiful sunset. And how like Aaron to embellish it with a twist of bittersweet irony: The real world has “so little to offer”.

Soooo…what happens as she ages and they don’t? Unless the dittos have the capability of simulating aging…

At least the sunset is real enough Wally. :)

What little the real world has to offer is still a lot. And you can make more of it. When there’s nothing out there, there’s plenty of room to make whatever you want.

A lot of heartache. When an apocalypse comes and they will many will commit suicide rather than survive in a horror they could never adjust to.

No matter what happens to us in life, all we really have in the end – is each other.

All the panels are great, but man, that last panel…pretty, pretty sunset!

I wonder though…what in the world is happening back in Endtown?

Will the end of this story arc means the beginning of new stories in color?

It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings to this space. I am guessing a return to Endtown. It would be nice to see how things are going with Linda now that she’s homeless. It would also be interesting to see what Jacob is doing with Endtown.

Sounds like some of you are saying that now Holly will die happy. This was her way out. Never thought of that. Sad. Figured she will rescue the gang from a pickle in the future like a night riding a white carrier ship!

You really can’t blame Holly for choosing the dream over reality. In the ditto dream world her little girl will grow up, marry and have kids, her husband will always love her and never leave her, the war will never happen and her friends won’t turn into monsters and die. She has her family, her home and the future she wanted, even though it’s only a dream. Considering the reality of her world; barren, lifeless, occupied with Topsiders who want to kill her or shove her brain into a machine and fellow mutants who aren’t much better than the Topsiders, yeah, I don’t blame her for taking the ship up on its offer. Energize the ship so it could escape that world in exchange for the world of her dreams. A simple choice of Heaven or Hell. She’d had enough of Hell.

Ummm, they HAVE SHADOWS. Does this mean Wally no longer has “his” dittos? Are they now visible to the Topsiders?

This may be the greater good Marx and the Oracle meant for Wally and Holly and Endtown. At the cost of their relationship, Holly has moved on to a better life and Wally can move on to a healthier relationship with Kirbee. Holly may return a more mature and capable woman, with resources to help Endtown that no one has right now. She’ll come back when she’s good, and ready.

That last panel is stunning.