United Shapes
United Shapes
The United Shapes A map of things states are shaped like [Each state has some item wedged to stay inside its borders]

In this comic, each state of the United States of America has been filled-in with an object of similar shape. Several years later Randall made a new map of the US mainland 1653: United States Map , where he shuffled the positions of the states but filled out the outline. Also in this map Michigan has been split into two separate parts. (Here it is the mitten and the eagle). This comic could also be a reference to Giuseppe Arcimboldo 's portraits, which were comprised of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, books, and fish.
Very few, if any, of the shapes used are stereotypes of the state; they are merely objects that look like the state. Some of the objects are those which the states are widely known to resemble. For example, Michigan is represented by a mitten and an Eagle, and a pot with handle takes the place of Oklahoma (with the panhandle region of the state filled with a literal handle). Others, however, are more creative. Few would have likely pictured Texas as a dog or Alaska as a bear with a jet pack and laser gun. There are several incredibly simple objects filling some states. Kentucky is filled by a cloud, which conceivably could have been used for any state, and Wyoming, one of the nearly rectangular states, is simply an envelope. There are three pairs of states that are related. Georgia and Missouri each contain an image of the other, drawing attention to their similar shapes, North and South Dakota are the top and bottom halves of a guitar amplifier speaker cabinet , and Alabama and Mississippi are moai facing in opposite directions.
Colorado contains what looks like a Wikipedia article. A close-up of the fake article is provided. The following references are made in the Colorado article:
New Mexico according to official transcript is "A liquid container labeled for something of unusual and silly danger". The labeling is upside down and it refers to the nuclear testing facility White Sands Missile Range located in New Mexico for the nuclear bomb.  The joke is that it presents the white sand itself as extremely hazardous.  The phrase "contains chemicals known only to the state of Nevada" may be a reference to the nuclear weapons testing that occurred in Nevada (although in that case, it's not really the state of Nevada that knows those chemicals, but rather the Nevada Test Site , home of Area 51 et al .), and is also a reference to California's Proposition 65 warning label, "WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."
This end up Property of White Sands Missile Range ??? [Followed by a NFPA 704 Diamond with all divisions at severe risk, and a radiation symbol in the special notice division] Contains White Sand FLAMMABLE Warning: This product contains chemicals known only to the state of Nevada. Contents under pressure from parents If swallowed, induce labor 56 fluid ounces and 14 other ounces
The title text makes fun of Florida which is sometimes called "The penis of America". Obviously, this penis is somewhat flaccid (not erect). The use of the word "state" is a pun, as it means some particular condition (flaccid state) as well as a political entity (The State of Florida).
The United Shapes A map of things states are shaped like [Each state has some item wedged to stay inside its borders]
