"magical speed" = nonsense, and a little bark coffee

[Olaf Solstrand]

Sigvald wrote an interesting post on why Bruno Concina shows lack of respect 
for the readers' knowledge. And... Well, here's a few opinions.


1. Something could have held up Magica, slowing her down on the way. Like... 
She crashed into a pole half-way there. Or... she stopped to buy a hot-dog. 
(Did anyone see the Simpsons episode where Homer drives in a terribly high 
speed to deliver his tax return in time, and stops to buy a hot dog ten seconds 
before? Hilarious!) But since such a hot-dog-break would be of no interest to 
the reader, they didn't bother to draw it.

2. Since she could fly so fast, Magica decided to take a few extra turns just 
for fun - like, 120 trips around the earth. Again, something most readers 
wouldn't be interested in seeing.

3. Magica flew so fast that she missed Duckburg. I mean... She would have got 
there in less than half a second, and it would be terribly complicated to 
calculate the exact direction she would have to fly in, so she needed a few 
tries before getting safe to Duckburg. Plus, when flying so fast, you will need 
a pretty long time to slow down to zero again.

4. The person stating that "magical speed" is equal to the half of the half of 
the half of the speed of light, could be wrong. Yeah, that happens. Not all 
comics characters know what they're talking about all the time.

5. The receipt and guarantee for the broomstick said that it could fly so fast, 
but that wasn't true. Perhaps the guarantee went out the day before she decided 
to fly. Magica wouldn't notice that, as she still would be flying VERY fast 
(Italy-Calisota in five minutes? I call that fast!), thus she would still state 
she was flying in magical speed, although that was wrong.

6. The pilot seeing Magica, didn't necessarily see her with his bare eyes, but 
through Scrooge's new Gyrovision(TM). Even I wouldn't have any problems 
recognizing her in one of those.



No, seriously: I think you take this with a little too much gravity, Sigvald. 
This speed is simply meant to be a funny thing, which - as you said - most 
readers won't notice. Or they will notice, but just see it as a funny fact. I 
mean... Half of half of half of half of half of half of half of half of half of 
half of half of half of the speed of light doesn't sound that impressive any 
more.

If we should think that way, you can also say that Carl Barks had no respect 
for the readers' knowledge of geography - every sane reader will know that 
there IS no place called "Calisota". Carl Barks had no respect for the readers' 
knowledge of geometry - there's no such thing as a cubic acre. Still, I've 
never heard you say anything negative about Carl Barks, Sigvald. Why is that?

Nah, let's just say that Magica stopped for a hot dog on the way there. That 
sounds so much better than saying that the author shows lack of respect for the 
readers. Don't you think?



Oh, and speaking of coffee:

> This thus means that there most probably is a goof in panel 2
> on page 110 in the new huge book "Andebys Skurker" (="The bad
> guys of Duckburg") which is recently published here in Norway.
> In the actual panel $crooge is served bark-coffe instead of
> nutmeg-tea.

Sigvald, when Barks once wrote that Scrooge loves nutmeg-tea, he did NOT write 
that Scrooge NEVER drinks anything but nutmeg-tea. So, Scrooge is still free to 
drink e.g. coffee. To be completely honest with you, Sigvald, _I_ just wrote a 
story where Scrooge is served coffee. And I even mention somewhere else in the 
story that Scrooge loves nutmeg-tea! YES, he loves nutmeg-tea. But he also 
drinks other things. Like, bark-coffee, which is a hilarious pun, if you ask 
me. Making coffee out of tree bark... only a miser like Scrooge could do 
something like that.

Now, if Nino Russo had made Scrooge say in a frame that he HATES nutmeg-tea 
from the bottom of his heart... THAT would be a goof. Drinking something else 
isn't.


Olaf the blue