Comic Archive

They pass a store called “Mobilitee” which has some of the ‘Sagwey’ models in its display, as well as some hexagonal and octagonal wheels.
Adil: More of those ridiculous wheels! At least these come closer to being round. And, more preposterous Sagwey models…
Max: That is the only brand name I have seen so far which did not get displaced by some random string brand, or one that refers to bodily fluids.

Steve: Hmm, “Scroll store.” I suppose this is the equivalent of a book store. Well, at least these future people are still reading something.
Alana: Look, an announcement for a revolutionary new product.

The display shows an open book, with a sign: “patent pending.”
Steve: Looks suspiciously like a book. Someone reinvented pagination, and even patented it?
Alana: Surely they must know books besides the ones Alfred has? I guess the concept of prior art just does not exist in this time.
Steve: I doubt anyone even knows what a patent truly is…

Max: A music store! Look, vinyl records. Physical media is very much alive in this future.
Steve: But, what about the music itself?
Max: Let's hear, they should have the latest hits.

Max: Jeez, this one artist “Ultrax” seems to dominate everything. Even the whole video section is full of his productions.
Zhang: Nothing has his real face on it, only various masks. Must be one of those “keep things mysterious” artists.

Zhang: A kind of jukebox. Let's play the number 1 hit, also by Ultrax.
Max: “Facial Blasting?” What kind of a song title is that?

SFX: THUNK BONK THUNK BONK THUNK BONK
Steve: What the fsck is this? This “song” consists of naught but cowbell and kick drum!
Max: I had hoped for lyrics to explain the “blasting…”

Alana: A song with only cowbell and drums? An awful lot of people must be having a severe fever in this future…
SFX: THUNK BONK THUNK BONK
Max: Yeah, if this truly is the number 1 hit… There is a whole album under the same name, here it is.
Zhang: A whole album full of cowbell?

A close-up of the “Facial Blasting” album cover, showing what looks like an explosion hazard triangle sign, but then with the explosion emanating from a stylized face.
Zhang: Hmm, this does ring a bell…
Max: Yes, a cowbell.
Zhang: No, that's not what I mean.

Zhang: Somehow I get flash-backs to our Faceworld adventure.
Max: It did feature some blasting” of faces. But, doesn't that seem a bit far-fetched?
Zhang: Well, I guess it makes little sense indeed. There definitely was no cowbell involved.

Adil is holding a set of headphones connected to a machine labeled “Listen B4 U Buy.”
Adil: I have listened to some other songs in the hit charts, it is all awful. Most of it is just a beat with a single repeating tone. If there is anything that could be considered vocals, it is someone saying “AAAAAA” which is then auto-tuned to random pitches.

Max: So, we can declare future music dead. What about TV series?
Adil: A lot of the popular things I have previewed, look like mind-numbing A.I. slop.
Max: Strange… I have not seen evidence that they have come close to reaching the level of generative A.I. as we know it.

Zhang: Maybe that Ultrax guy or collective, or whoever makes all this crap, does have access to a working old datacenter?
Max: It would be interesting to check them out… but let's first see whether Heidi has made any progress with her tech shopping spree.