Endtown by Aaron Neathery for January 26, 2012

Cast out Outcast and willing to fight! Good, it is her only hope.

Well, why not? What’s she got left to lose, after all?

That’s already a given. As mentioned a couple of days ago, her only 2 options are to fight and turn into dust, or voluntarily surrender and get harvested. In this case, fighting and losing may be the easier way out. We already know that she’s a lousy fighter as a human, having been defeated by a mouse and a cat. Up against 50+ humans shooting from a distance?…

One more time, just to maintain visibility – Aaron is building up medical bills and needs our help with them. Suggestions for assistance include commissioning large pieces of art from him, making a donation from the Endtown Underground, nominating Endtown for the Ursa Majors, buying the $2.50 mini-comic directly from Aaron, and telling your friends and family to come here and read Endtown. You can also vote daily for Endtown on TopWebComics.

The cat and the mouse living in his head will thank you.

I think we are making a huge leap if we assume there are any “trained fighters” out there. Remember, we are talkng about a post-apocalypitc remnant on both sides. Just because topsiders look like they are wearing uniforms and carry weapons does not make them soldiers. I would argue that in this sort of post war scenario there are probably very few trained military that survived. There are no obvious soldiers in Endtown, why should the TS’s be any different. Quite honestly, most TS’s we have seen strike me more like scientist types than military. Flask carries the title of Captain, but that is because of her position as head of Endtown security. Her behavior under fire more than anything points to the fact that she’s certainly no soldier. They are surrounded, but by a mob of civilians who, quite frankly, are not used to being seriously opposed for the most part.

Aha! NEW mutant with a grudge….

A new mutant is joining the ex-men? Marvelous!

I take Flask is still in shock?

If you think back to the Sparkplug story, the mutagen outbreak wasn’t instantaneous. There was a period of time where they attempted to deal with the problem (through the screening centers, etc) It would make sense that the biosuit technology was developed at that time for the personnel who were operating those centers or for the researchers attempting to isolate and study the mutagen itself. It could be that many of the TS are former Apex employees. A society with a high percentage of scientists and engineers would certainly explain the significant technology advantage they enjoy. It would stand to reason that some military personnel survived, but as with the rest of civilization, probably not as an organized unit. It’s just that given what Aaron has shown us of the TS personnel to date, I haven’t seen anything to make me think they are particularly skilled in combat operations. They strike me more like what most people would associate with members of a posse from the old west days.

I think I’ve found a human Flaskhttp://www.talktalk.co.uk/news/article/argentina-hits-back-over-falklands/35226/Is she or is she not?

@DadOf3 and TSOJ – very interesting comments. I wonder how much of this analysis was done by Aaron when he wrote the story?

Tomorow is “cliff hanger” Friday

Please untie mePlease untie me, let me go I’m no Topsider anymore To waste our brains would be a sin So untie me, and let me fight again I have found a new command And I now want to lend a hand We’ll pay the price when we are sold But this way, we’ll die, not be controlled Please untie me, can’t you see Your side could use someone like me To wait and die would cost my brain So release me, and let me fight again So release me, and let me fight again =|====/ Level Head Vote for Endtown 2.0 And for Doc Rat, too The Endtown Forum

It’s the Gunfight at the PT Corral!

BTW, the Blackie Blackout has now reached 30 panels!

Wally’s Waterloo! Kowalski’s Last Stand! The Last Charge of the Mutant Brigade!!!!!!!

Traitor Linda, as noted above Has little or nothing to lose For the captain she’d have little love But she’s crushed that her side would refuse To allow her to speak to her son (Though if he’s grown up something like her It might not not be a whole lot of fun To see “mother” mutant, with fur) But no matter, she seems to have switched Though nobility’s in scarce supply Will she battle the side she just ditched? Or is this one more desperate lie? Captain Flask still is frozen in shock But this won’t be a permanent state She’ll shake off (I think) this mental block She is compentent, and fueled by hate And embarrassment, now — she’s exposed This has got to be high on her mind If they make it back home through these foes She’s got enemies of a new kind Flask is desperate, dangerous, mean And she’s more than a little unhinged When you add in the war skills we’ve seen I don’t know which side gets the more singed =|====/ Level Head Vote for Endtown 2.0 And for Doc Rat, too The Endtown Forum

This is going to be …. epic.

LInda has lost everything — especially her son.Anyone else see a suicide sacrafice coming to allow the others to escape?

Maybe Petey returning with a small, converted mutt army would give the TSers something to think about. And I don’t think Flask is done yet. Stunned, but not done.

That should be “sacrifice” — darn fat fingers.

@Arcaton: No, she’s WAY more reasonable than Flask.

@geedub re Level_Headwhats NOT to love?Brilliant poetry as always.

Linda’s still hurting, but I wouldn’t lump her in the same boat with Flask. I get the feeling that there is still a lot of Flask’s baggage that has not yet come to light. Linda just learned a difficult truth, but I don’t see her as suicidal. I sense a toughness inside that Flask lacks. Linda strikes me as above all a survivor. This TS/mutant conflict is only six years old. Before the war, all these folks were (apparently) on the same side. She may have grown a bit callous over the recent years dealing with mutants, but she may have been a perfectly decent person before. Flask, as our condescending TS so suscinctly put it “could not be trusted when she was human”. The ball (as always) is in Aaron’s court so anything is possible, but I think you could probably flip a coin with Flask. She might shake it off and fight her way out, or she could just stand there with a blank stare on her face until the TS’s lead her away. But I have much more hope for the rest of our band of rocket raiders. There just “feels” like there is more of their story to tell. Only time (and AN) will tell :-) …..

Poor Linda…All this time she thought she was fighting for the greater good. Now she understands who the real monsters are…and that she used to be one of them.If she had chosen not to fight, chances are that the only way she would ever see her son again, is if they turn her into a hand-held ray gun and present her to the boy when he’s considered old enough to fight.By accepting her fate as a mutant koala, she has a change to escape to Endtown and inform Professor Mallard of her situation. I have a feeling Flask will be retiring.The thing is, though… By the time she has a chance encounter with her son again, not only will he be a grown man wearing a faulty suit, but he will have been influenced by the same Topsiders who had written her off.

I agree, a mother who knows her child(children) are being threatened, is a force to be reckoned with!!! GO LINDA!

i hope they show some topsiders who are agaisnt the genocide(probably in the next arc) hard to believe every single member in their society is k with it

and i hope flask reacts soon they are going to need her

last time so many topsiders went after one transporter they needed a decoy to escape

i hope it will be different this time (i dont want any of them to be left behind)

I could be wrong, but as I understand it this isn’t a future USA, but rather a future fictional city state called Hillside.

Nasty stuff, cellulitis.

Up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … PETEY???