Geranium Lake Properties, all the fish love Chachi

The Blues, Canto VII, "Una carta dirigida al Presidente"

This series was initially a series of four or five panels, but as the images evolved into more panels, I realized I was making something that was becoming a little more epic. It seemed to me that I was illustrating an asemic opera called The Blues.

In this scene, Canto VII, Oriol replies to a request from the President of the Last Empire. Oriol is the person asemically represented by this panel. He is the author of the Last Book. The President has asked Oriol to adapt his book into a tube video. People can no longer can read written words, alphabets have become asemic. (The old books were recycled for toilet paper, Halloween masks and building materials like insulation.) In a letter (depicted here)the President cannot hope to read, Oriol politely declines.

Later, after his death, Oriol's daughter Yukosha will interpret the first line of the Last Book as: "Bahtnatchu feynd Min Veyshveysh ar8888ra ep88pe tem888met ast888erik gulp888plug tcha8ahct tcha88ahct noo88oon sci888ics ops8888spo." Or, on special occasions: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the end of times, so long, and thanks for all the fish, love, Chachi."