I've just finished rereading The Incal and I've realised what I think I missed the first time - is that the story is all told in flashback.

It starts with John Difool being beaten up and thrown of the bridge, then rescued and eventually he heads off to the homeo-whore where he starts thinking back on how he got to the point at the beginning. The whole rest of the book is a flashback. This means that the falling he's doing at the beginning is the same falling he does at the end. Not a similar situation (as I originally thought) and not happening in the new remade universe - because the fall at the beginning is also in the same new remade universe.

With this being the case, why don't the two match? The bystanders are saying the same thing, but there are no masked people beating him up and throwing him off the bridge, and he's saying "must remember" rather than just screaming.

Any ideas?