Editing 288: Elevator

{{comic
| number    = 288
| date      = July 11, 2007
| title     = Elevator
| image     = elevator.jpg
| titletext = Quick, try it with 'LOVE'.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is in an elevator, and notices that, beneath the certificate of [[Elevator Inspection]], mandatory in all U.S. elevators at least, there are buttons for Floor 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then a mysterious unlabeled button. Possible logical conclusions he might have made include (1) there is a fifth floor reachable by pushing the bottom button which for some reason is not labeled; or (2) the button has some other function, a common one is to stop the elevator wherever it may be; or (3) the panel with the buttons is from a template used for various elevators with up to five floors, and as this particular elevator only goes to four floors, the bottom button is unlabeled, and nothing will happen if he pushes it.

He has, however, chosen to believe in a different explanation: the fifth button is not currently assigned, but giving it a label will assign it to whatever floor or other function he can give it. The possibilities are truly endless. And so, the intrepid Cueball writes "Zeppelin!" on a slip of paper and tapes it next to the unassigned button, thereby assigning it to move the elevator not to Floor 5, but to a {{w|Zeppelin}}. And it works; the elevator opens aboard a Zeppelin floating in the air, high above a land with many  glacial lakes, perhaps {{w|Minnesota}}, {{w|Nunavut}}, or elsewhere on the Canadian Shield.

The specific choice of a "ZEPPELIN!" is a reference to [[73: Zeppelin]].  That comic, in turn, referenced Zeppelin watches, which may have the word "ZEPPELIN!" replacing one of the numerals on the dial.  In the previous comic, having the hour hand of the watch pointing at the word invoked the appearance of a zeppelin.

The title text is most likely a reference to the Aerosmith song "Love in an Elevator," which really is about sex in an elevator{{Citation needed}}. However, it would also be great if one could reach the elevation of love by getting there in a magic elevator.

==Transcript==
:[Elevator panel, with a Certificate of Inspection and five floor buttons, numbered 1–4. The fifth button is unlabeled.]
:[Cueball thinks.]
:[Cueball writes something on a small piece of paper.]
:''Write Write''
:[Cueball tapes it onto the panel.]
:[Elevator panel, with the same Certificate and buttons, and with the piece of paper labeling the fifth button "Zeppelin!"]
:[Cueball presses the new "Zeppelin!" button.]
:[Elevator moves.]
:Elevator: ''Ding''
:[Cueball is looking out the door of a Zeppelin. The Zeppelin is flying over a green landscape with many lakes.]

==Trivia==

*There is a [https://youtu.be/z9U9MN7_jus fan made animated version of this comic].

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Airships]]
[[Category:Elevators]]