Strange Landscapes

Even to this day, well nigh of a quarter century on, whilst driving through the desert, especially at night, either on the 15 to/from Vegas, or whereverthehell is deserty, I imagine giant punctuation…out there…waiting.

Where do they come from? What do they want?

Perhaps the answers lie within.

Re: a new self-consistent universe per each few-square-inch panel:

Take the Giant Semicolon, for example, and all that you’ve implied with just a few brilliant lines. You’ve got the Jetsonsy craft, which suggests that some sort of antigravity tech has become mainstream, as the kids can be brought in it; and of course the monument itself, which obviously seems to be defying gravity, yet a ladder is used–why? So seemingly quaint and juxtaposey. Why not use personal antigrav ‘jetpacks?’ Maybe because the machinery required for levitation is still too bulky to be any smaller than car size. Or perhaps for liability reasons. Maybe a-gee was first applied to large stone monuments in the desert–before safety/shielding was perfected? And now the first aircars are out, but that’s as far as the technology has progressed, not yet to a practical personal-unit level. (after all, some 115 years separate the Segway from the Benz Patent Moterwagen…)The takeaway for me, though, is that the once-remote is now accessible; the last frontier of terrestrial travel has been conquered–seemingly cheap, efficient universal global access, by way of the sky. Yes, in 2106, we don’t need roads; yet, almost reassuringly, we apparently do still need ladders–a connection with the past…with us. But technology has finally liberated our descendants–for leisure, education…the noblest of intentions–to improve oneself, and to provide your loved ones with the opportunity to elevate themselves; Bringing about family bonding through a newfound accessibilty to the appreciation of art which was heretofore so remote as to be largely unattainable.
Better living through science, indeed–but like Serling’s flipped coin, landed on its side.