"magical speed" = nonsense

[Sigvald Grøsfjeld jr.]

Hi all!

In a new huge book "Andebys Skurker" (="The bad guys of Duckburg") which is
recently published here in Norway, there is a story (I/T 1858 D) named
"Hekseangrepet som uteble" where Magica is shown flying from Vesuvio (Italy)
to Duckburg (Calisota on the western coast of North-America) – in page 19
(of the book), panel 1. It's stated that she's flying with "magical speed"
and that after a few minutes she passes Scrooge's plane which is heading the
opposite direction. It's also stated that this "magical speed" is equal to
the half of the half of the half of the speed of the light (= 1/8 of the
speed of the light). In panel 3 in the same page it's shown that one of the
pilots in Scrooge's plane identifies Magica as a flying witch as she passes
the plane. Obviously either the writer of this story (Bruno Concina) or the
Norwegian translator has made a great big goof here.

As you all probably know the speed of the light = 300.000 kilometers per
second. 1/8 of this is thus 37500 kilometers per second. With that speed one
will travel around the entire globe (=40076 kilometers) in just about 1,07
seconds. Even if Magica could go so fast by using magic to protect her from
the friction she would meet in the atmosphere at that enormous speed she
would use far less than a second to go from Vesuvio to Duckburg, not minutes
as stated in that story - and further more it would be impossible for any
pilot to identify an object passing his plane in such a speed. My conclusion
is thus that this "magical speed" sequence in that story is just completely
nonsense that seems to indicate lack of respect for the readers knowledge
about physics, mathematics, etc. Some people here may say that not many
readers will notice these matters, so why bother? Well, let me tell you this
– I am *not* a physician nor a mathematician, but an historian who in his
studies focused on the 1700th century. When I, with my background, was able
to notice this mess instantly when I saw it, you can bet that well qualified
people - in the mentioned sciences - like Geir Hasnes, Nils Lid Hjort and
Don Rosa will too. So maybe we can now agree that civil engineering is not
such a bad background for a Disney comics creator after all.

Sigvald