Editing 2459: March 2020

{{comic
| number    = 2459
| date      = May 5, 2021
| title     = March 2020
| image     = march_2020.png
| titletext = "I've traveled here from the year 2020 to bring you this vaccine!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TIME TRAVELING VACCINE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is another in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}, specifically regarding the {{w|Covid-19 vaccine}}.
This comic shows 15 calendars and [[Cueball]] next to them. The first three months on the calendar are January, February and March 2020. It would be expected that the months would increase in order, but the calendar month stays at March 2020 until the final panel of the comic, where it switches to May 2021, the month this comic was released, indicating that Cueball is "stuck" in March 2020 for more than a year. The COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States in March 2020 and Cueball (probably representing  [[Randall]]) may feel that he has been unable to move on with life, or that time was at a standstill until he was fully vaccinated. Seems likely that Randall was past the two weeks after his final vaccination when this comic came out. He has made several comics centered around that of being fully vaccinated in the weeks up to this comic. Specifically  [[2450: Post Vaccine Social Scheduling]] and [[2454: Fully Vaccinated]] in April.

In the penultimate 2 panels, Cueball is shown getting his two doses of the vaccine, with [[Ponytail]] and [[Hairy]] administering the vaccine. Also these two panels are in March 2020, but in reality they are most likely in March 2021 and April 2021, as there are typically 3-6 weeks between first and second dose depending on the type of vaccine. In the final panel, the calendar has switched to the current month, May 2021, showing that Cueball can now resume life after getting vaccinated, and most likely having passed the two weeks after final shot mark. 

The title text refers to films, in which someone travels through time with a Macguffin. (Although it's more usually usually taken ''to'' the past/''from'' the future. The opposite direction is more frequently achieved by just leaving the artefact in normal time 'waiting to be discovered' ''by'' the future, with prior or newly-established timelooped knowledge.) It could be based on initial production of COVID vaccine in 2020 or a reference to films in which an earlier "original" version of a virus is necessary to produce a viable vaccine. Mass rollouts of COVID vaccine ramped up significantly starting early in 2021 and are mostly still not universally available to all adult age-groups; or, if they are, this may be straining supply capacity.

Interestingly, there are only 15 panels, so if the 'normal' months increased in sync, it would "only" be March 2021, not May 2021. This may refer to the [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7641621/ strange distortion of time during the COVID-19 pandemic]. Clearly 17 panels would have made more sense when counting months, but the point here is that time has been at a standstill the last 14 moths from March 2020 to April 2021; how many panels represents those 14 month (14, 12 or 10) is not important. Using 15 panels, makes the first 3 and the last 3 stand out from the 9 in the middle, which makes sense from the flow of the comic.

The title text is also a reference to comic [[630: Time Travel]] which begins with "I have traveled here from the year...", although this has been with the same speed as anyone else has traveled, one second each second.

==Transcript==
:[In a 3 row by 5 column grid of panels, 15 monthly wall calendars are shown. All calendars have a large header with month and year given on two lines. Below this is a black border with 7 white lines, for each day of the week, and below that 5 rows with 7 columns, making all calendars the same, with 35 spaces. Nothing is shown in these grids. Next to each of these calendars are Cueball show. In the first 12 panels, Cueball is standing next to the calendar, in only slightly different poses. The text on the calendars only change in the top row, then it stays the same for the next nine panels:]
:Calendar: January 2020
:Calendar: February 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020
:Calendar: March 2020

:[In the bottom rows first panel the calendar is, as always. to the left, but now Cueball is wearing a mask and sitting on a chair leaning a bit to the left while he is being vaccinated by a masked Ponytail to his right. She is plugin the needle in to his left arm. To the right is a tall but small table with the cup from which she has drawn the vaccine standing next to the lid of the cup.]
:Calendar: March 2020

:[The bottom rows second panel is similar to the previous with Cueball wearing a mask and sitting on a chair leaning a bit to the left while he is being vaccinated. Although this time by a masked Hairy, standing to his right. Hairy is also plugin the needle in to his left arm. To the right is a different small table, with only one leg. On it is a cup from which Hairy has drawn the vaccine. Also some other black things are lying on the table, maybe other syringes for administrating the vaccine.]
:Calendar: March 2020

:[In the final panel Cueball again stands next to the calendar, but finally the text has changed.]
:Calendar: May 2021

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:COVID-19 vaccine]]
[[Category:Calendar]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Comics featuring face masks]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]