In the Altered States of America, warped perceptions are king and melodrama runs high. In this original series from Brooklyn-based illustrator Mike Reddy and writer Matthew Newton, a new short story is published each day throughout the month of July.
At the Workaday Trouser Co., lunch breaks were forbidden and 18-hour shifts were the norm. When CEO Terrance Blandings announced a prohibition on color (except, of course, for use in the company’s wildly popular Roy G. Biv line of trousers) the town transformed overnight from a glowing Technicolor mini-metropolis to a gray quarter of dead buildings. In this company town, Blandings’ word was law. Neon lights were outlawed and cosmetics confiscated; fingerpaints rounded up from preschool supply closets and crayons melted down for trouser fuel. The men dispatched to drain the color became known as the Pig Farmers because, according to the company press release, their job was to “harvest pigment.” When the Pig Farmers’ work was done, the town looked like a scene from a silent movie. No color, just shadows and light. As the Workaday Trouser Co. posted record profits, Blandings puffed on a cigar and downed a mouthful of Scotch. From his corner office he watched as a child doodled in coal on the sidewalk outside, drawing black flowers near the entrance to the factory.
