Endtown by Aaron Neathery for November 26, 2024

I wanna believe that if they could reunite this time, it won’t be the last time we see Wally and Kirbee together again.

Looks like Topsiders are nuking the space where Eden is/was inside the cliff – don’t see anything hitting the beach though…maybe mutts were enough there? Anyway, interesting last panels we have that “spy in the sky” view of the boats….maybe not a good sign.

July 24th’s strip noted three boats had been found intact…but we see only two here. Oh, dear. Also, how many of our heroes broke off their fight and got back to the boats?

Will they go back and look for survivors?

Cue Aaron Marx…

Hmm. From a closeup to a pullback fading to black. This is usually leads to rolling the credits. Not happymaking.

“We’ll meet again. Don’t know where, don’t know when. But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.”

There were 41 people (06/02/2024). 36 of them were moved there by the Marx family. 5 of them—Wally, Duffy, Terrance, Cole and Phoebe—were not. Terrance, Cole and Phoebe are on a boat. Wally and Duffy stayed behind, along with some of those “preserved” by the Marx family, to distract pursuit. I hope this means these boats get away safely. I really hope we do not see Duffy appear in front of Marx at the Crossroads—even if there’s a chance he’d be reunited with his brother Bennie. I don’t want to see Wally turn up there, either. Maybe if we move off into another adventure, Wally and Duffy will make it through somehow, make it to a boat, and catch up to Kirbee. But, it doesn’t look good.

There are either explosions or large vehicles on the cliff. That could be from MUTTs scorching the earth, or new forces from the Topsiders, or new forces from a rescuer. In any case, Wally and Duffy will probably get through this. They’ll get captured or rescued and learn more about what’s going on, or they’ll escape, maybe on the MUTTs’ aircraft, and catch up to the boats, or make their own way to the Green.

i’ve been dreading this installment…

The End. Roll Credits.

“Alone, alone, all, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea.”

No more shooting. But only a couple mutts got to the target. And Terrence dissected them. If he figures it out and dumps the suit, that should end the problem. As to the survivors on shore, if any, the third boat is still there.

Drone view. Oh, mutts.

I’m reminded of the song Time and Tide from the movie Plague Dogs.

I don’t feel no pain no moreI don’t feel no pain no moreI’ve left this cruel world behindAnd I’ve found my peace of mindI don’t feel no pain no more

Time and tide are flowing over meI once was blind but now I seeThe answer lies within your heartMemories are only ’bout the pastThe present time will never lastThe future lies within your heart

Much as I would like there to be a happy ending for Wally and Kirbee and Chic, I can only assume that perhaps this is the final page turn for our beloved Wally. At least, for certain this time given his (at least as I saw it) real death before and the birth of a different Wally. The end of the Wally saga if you will.

Poor Kirbee. Separated from Wally yet again, hopefully not forever.

Well, it looks like the boats got away, thanks to the fight on the beach and the zero knife. As noted above, this looks like “The End” – of something, at least. But only Aaron knows…

The Airship was aware of the fleeing boats. The MUTTs were aware of the fleeing boats. But although the MUTTs tried to reach them, the Airship did not pursue them. There have been no real attacks against the boats, or even the survivors. The MUTTs simply walked through/past them, ignoring them, heading (it would seem) directly toward the biosuit. When the biosuit was observed (by a MUTT) to be killing MUTTs that came too close (with a Zero Scalpel), it looks like the pursuit was broken off, and the Airship departed (likely after picking up the remaining MUTTs). It’s possible that the remaining survivors on shore will clamber into the last boat and follow the first two. It’s also possible that the departing Airship will return with a larger force — unless by seeing the MUTT destroyed by the Zero Scalpel, the MUTTs have determined that the Human (in the biosuit) did not desire their assistance or presence, and so chose to depart. A lot of possibilities! We’ll see what the future holds in the coming strips.

She is crying with joy! The watchamacallits are gone!

Oh, while there were indeed three lifeboats found, we only saw two being taken to the beach. That may have decided by the fact that there were really too few to effectively man 3 boats.

OK, foks

1) Some of you are misinterpreting what is shown. As the boats pull away from shore, they can see the wreckage atop the cliff. Close to the shore, with the wreckage some distance from the cliffs, it could not be seen. And what can be seen changes as they move away.

2) We see the airship in the 2nd-3rd panels. It gets smaller because of distance.

3) That the airship does not pursue may mean the battle continues… but it looks like Kirby thinks it is over

4) I wonder if there is some significance to the boats remaining in the same part of the frame in the last 3 panels.

Credit to Aaron Neathery, he’s a fine artist, and a great storyteller.

Over four months to get this far…

Mariner’s prayer. “O Lord, your ocean is so vast and my ship is so small.” Especially panel 8.