Endtown by Aaron Neathery for September 10, 2018

For the first time, maybe she’s thinking of someone else than her.Of course, the bottle not being empty, it may float till someone else finds it. Hopefully the alcohol in the bottle will destroy the ink on it.

DAMN it, she had to pick NOW to do the right thing?!

What else is that in the bottle?

That’s the bottle of booze (there is still some in there) from Walt’s PETCO Park experience.There is a strong current that will carry the bottle over the dam at the downstream side of the river.

I wonder if the fish folk will miss Walt too?

Will we ever learn what is written on the paper?

There’s something in the bottle besides the note. A small bag of sand to help it sink? Even if it floats, the river exits the city and flows off underground. And then there are the fish people. Perhaps she’s sending it to one of them?

rdt64, I’m with you!

And a little miffed at Aaron, that he would have dragged out the suspense of this moment, only to dismiss it!

Isn’t that the bridge that burned, or was it one just like it? Speaking of which, if she really wanted to destroy the note, why not burn it? Or maybe this is another incipient plot twist (as in, some unwitting person finds the note; hilarity ensues.)

That said, after Unity burned – but Wally, Holly, Kirbee, Chic and – no, I didn’t forget – Irving escaped, all that came afterward was that weird explanation that there was no mutagenic virus followed by Holly ’s self exile.

Which I still maintain as, their being written out of the strip.

Which has me thinking once again, not only have some important characters just been written out of the strip, once again, it looks like:

Stick a fork in it, this arc is done!

I really really really would have liked to have known what was on that flipping note!

Leaving out what you don’t like is just as much editorializing as spinning the truth.

A note to Walt’s fishy friend?

Regardless of what information is on that note; it records one of the last communications between Portia and Walt. It may contain Portia’s last goodbye to him, along with any endearments. Whatever the contents, it brought Dottie to tears. This may be Dottie’s way to let it pass on. After all, she could have burned the note, or torn it to shreds. Also, although she’s tossed the note—the information in it is in Dottie’s head. Will anything more come of it? Or will Dottie think she’s already been involved in enough strife? I’ll just have to wait and see.

That is the right thing to do.

I had a feeling, long ago, that Dottie like Walter very much but like most guys, Walt did not see it or thought it was just because he was Mayor. Now Dottie is grieving for what could have been. So I think the note is from Dottie to Walt.

Dottie: “Goodbye, Walt. Wherever you are.”

Sigh,

Here is where we first see the bottle. It’s Walt’s “souvenir” from PEP Stadium.

https://www.gocomics.com/endtown/2017/04/12

Note the fluid in the bottle. That’s the same fluid you see above. In the last panel, it is shown splashing around in the bottle because Dottie has thrown it into the water.

One can make out the Por of Portia’s name.

Portia’s placing the bottle on the note was probably deliberate.

Maybe Dottie’s throwing away the note and bottle is Aaron’s way of telling us that only the god of the comic strip gets to know everything…

I’m sure she feels like she’s doing the right thing, but it feels like she’s editorializing again. I’ve been curious about the note for a good while, and I thought we would finally find out what Portia wrote. It is, after all, part of the reason Walt went berserk.

I have a feeling that this isn’t the last we’ll see of it. After all, there are plenty of anthropomorphic fish; not to mention at least one huge crab. Someone is going to find that message in a bottle, and we better be prepared to find out what it reads…

So where will the bottle go from here?

Revenge of the fish?

Obviously this is Aaron’s way of telling us this arc is bottle under the bridge.

Shoulda left the top off. Now it’ll float. Who’s going to find it?

All evidence in bottle with bag of sand in case future recovery needed. Also, different bridge.

I don’t get it. She’s angry and crying. Looks like betrayal.

Stressing suppression of the truth. Still coloring it the way you like it.