Transmetropolitan
Foglets are evolutionary dead-ends.
Think about it. They may be practically immortal, have the ability to assemble just about anything out of literally thin air, and likely possess quite a few other incredible abilities. However they're not omniscient, don't seem to have any ability to reproduce themselves, and it is implied that they are unable to leave the City. Most important is that "going foglet" is a one-way process, which would also imply that once you go foglet, you can't change into anything else or make any modifications to the foglet form. It also adds rationale to the existence of the Farsight Reservation, which tries to do things more differently specifically because foglets are dead-ends. The setting of the story is 20 Minutes into the Future.
Telling the "Revivals" the length of time that they've been frozen causes them to Go Mad from the Revelation not because it's so long, but because the world has changed so much in at most a few decades.- Hm... I always thought it was being dumped out into the streets and seeing all the changes that triggers the first shock, and that the rest comes from failing to adjust to society after a lifetime back in their own.
- It was stated in the comics that nobody actually knows what year it is. That would be a rather unnerving revelation.
The Singularity has happened
It's just that they were so disgusted with humanity they left the known universe.Whether they left or not is unknown, but Spider does mention transhumans in passing.<<|Wild Mass Guessing|>> Spider's cognitive dysfunctions are partially due to the effects of the I-pollen exposure, and not JUST his drug use
This probably falls into Reasonably Probable Conjecture rather Wild Mass Guessing, but I thought I'd throw out the idea and see what people have to say.- ...That it was pretty explicitly stated the I-pollen was messing him up?
- Nuh-uh, because ONE PERCENT HAHAHAHA.
- Spider is a pretty messed up individual even before his two exposures to the I-Pollen, which were both present in the series, so I don't think that you could say that I-Pollen was entirely responsible for his attitude. It doesn't seem to be a matter of drugs either, although Spider's so rarely seen without them that it's hard to say whether he's just naturally like that.
The world of Transmetropolitan takes place after Third Impact.
It explains the Gladiator Wall, how uninhibited everyone is, the apocalyptic past Spider refers to, and how we got such exact mastery of the human genome. The City is actually Gotham.
Spider and the Smiler are their day's version of Batman and the Joker.- Word of God is that Transmet does not take place in the DC Universe. Or rather, Ellis was vulgarly dismissive when I asked if it did.
Spider is descended from Herr Starr.
Spider's ancestor was the product of Starr and an enterprising French prostitute in his early days in the Grail movement. Spider's bloodline doomed him to become a bald, impulsive sadist freak with a set of idealistic beliefs to adhere to and several more to utterly destroy. Spider started at least one religion by accident
Well, there's thousands of religions in the City based on shaky pretenses already. And Spider's little rampage in the religion convention while dressed as Jesus wouldn't have helped. The Beast was once like Jerusalem
The Beast was like Jerusalem: a frustrated idealist trying to change the world. Unfortunately, the brutal reality of politics wore him down. By the time he entered office, his drive has been replaced with cynicism and venality. When Jerusalem finds him, he seems indifferent to the problems of society rather than actually causing problems. Simply put, years of political intrigue have left him not giving a shit anymore.