417: The Man Who Fell Sideways

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The Man Who Fell Sideways
Strip originally conceived in conversation with Jeph Jacques. Soon to be a major motion picture.
Title text: Strip originally conceived in conversation with Jeph Jacques. Soon to be a major motion picture.

Explanation[edit]

A Matter of Some Gravity.png

This comic is humorously built-up like a short drama story, about a man (Cueball) with an unusual physics condition.

It might have been inspired by the Uncle Scrooge adventure comic "A Matter of Some Gravity" (Inducks) by Don Rosa, in which Magica de Spell makes gravity pull sideways at Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck. The same topic is covered by 1996 graphic novel L'enfant penchée (The Leaning Child), but, as it was only published in English in 2014, it’s very unlikely to be a source of inspiration for this comic.

"Soon to be a major motion picture" in the title text might refer to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a film released later in 2008 (and based on a short story), in which the protagonist Benjamin suffers of the impossible condition of aging backwards.

"Over land... and sea" might be from the song "Nature Boy" by eden ahbez. Nat King Cole sung (the most famous version) about "A very strange, enchanted boy. They say he wandered very far, very far over land and sea."

The title text mentions Jeph Jacques, who runs the webcomic Questionable Content. Jeph has also described the creation of this comic in his blog while working at ezplay company.

When Cueball hits Megan, he knocks her down and "knocks her up", in what is probably intended to be a visual form of antanaclasis. Megan tells Hairy about a person knocking her over and tumbling into the distance. She hints that she is falling for him, which is a joke regarding Cueball's condition.

The baby shares his tendency to be pulled sideways by gravity, but this apparently does not start until she is born, because Megan and the doctor do not seem to have been expecting it. If gravity had affected the unborn fetus in the same way, Megan would have been able to feel it, would have noticed that her uterus was hanging differently, and would have had difficulty balancing due to the sideways forces.

The last panel is a reference to the opening scene of The Lion King, called 'The Circle Of Life'.

The first part of the comic has some resemblance to this much later comic: 1376: Jump.

Transcript[edit]

[Cueball standing, with a dotted line perpendicular to him and a 30 degree angle going downwards.]
From a young age, gravity pulled him wrong.
[Cueball bouncing around his house.]
Sometimes east, sometimes west. When he was restrained, it grew erratic.
WHAM WHAM
[Cueball bouncing/rolling on the ground.]
So he fell.
Cueball: AAAA
THUMPA THUMPA
[Cueball bouncing/rolling on the ground in a desert.]
Constantly
Cueball: AAAAAAAAA
[Cueball bouncing/rolling off a rock on the ground in a desert.]
Over land...
Cueball: AAAAA-THUD-A
[Cueball bouncing/rolling on the ground in the desert.]
Cueball: AAAAAAAAA
[Cueball bouncing/rolling on the ground in the desert.]
Cueball: A-THUD-AAAAAA
[Cueball bouncing/rolling on the ground in the desert.]
Cueball: AA-THUD-AAAAA
[Cueball skating the surface of the sea.]
And sea.
Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAA
[Cueball skating the surface of the sea.]
Cueball: AAAAAAAA
[Cueball skating the surface of the sea.]
Cueball: AAAAAA
[Cueball skating the surface of the sea.]
Cueball: AAAAAAAA
[Tree in the savanna, with Cueball off the panel.]
He found, where he could, food-
Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAA
[Tree in the savanna, with Cueball still off the panel, but zoomed out so that part of Cueball's bounce/roll path is visible.]
Cueball: AAAAAAAAA
[Cueball upside-down, still bouncing/rolling in the savannah, with a gazelle galloping away from him.]
GALLOP GALLOP
Cueball: AAAAAAAAA
[Savanna with a tree in it.]
Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAA
[Megan standing, with Cueball off screen.]
And love.
Cueball: AAAA-THUD-AAAA
[Megan standing, with Cueball off screen.]
Cueball: THUD ACK CRASH
[Cueball crashing into Megan]
Cueball: Hiwhat'syourname-
WHAM
[Megan on the ground, with Cueball off screen.]
Cueball: AAAAAAA-THUD-AAA
[Megan speaking to Hairy.]
Megan: I met this guy. He knocked me over and tumbled into the distance.
[Megan speaking to the same man from the previous panel, with Hairy's hand to his mouth.]
Megan: We only shared a few seconds, but in his panicked scream I heard something beautiful.
[Megan speaking to the same man from the previous panel.]
Megan: I think... I think I'm...
[Megan speaking to the same man from the previous panel.]
Hairy: Falling for him?
Megan: I wasn't going to say it.
[Megan at hospital with doctor, giving birth.]
She never saw him again. But nine months later...
Doctor: Okay, push!
[Megan at hospital with doctor and new baby, who is bouncing/rolling away.]
Doctor: It's a gir—
Megan: !!
Doctor: Whoops!
Baby: Ga! Ga!
[Baby bouncing/rolling out of hospital.]
Baby: WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE
[Baby bouncing/rolling in front of a sunset.]
Baby: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
The End

Trivia[edit]

There is a fan made animated version of this comic.


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Discussion

I feel like the child should fall at a shallower angle from horizontal. There must be some way to do a punnet square for these things... BruceJohnJennerLawso (talk) 22:47, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

But then he/she would actually hit the ground at some point. It would make for a pretty boring sequel. 108.162.216.113 03:24, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

The "when he was restrained, it grew erratic" seems to imply that gravity always pulls him horizontally to the surface he's on. Otherwise, he would be able to stand on a wall, instead of bouncing around. This is one weird kind of gravity.108.162.219.7 20:10, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Any thoughts pertaining to Megan being the victim of rape in this strip? 108.162.250.210 01:10, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

If it was unintentional rape, does that make it ok? Answer: probably not, but maybe we should not read too much into the comic...108.162.254.66 16:24, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
"He found, where he could, food and love" - that sounds entirely intentional. Also, considering this entire website is set up to discuss and analyse XKCD comics, saying "we should not read too much into the comic" when the subject of rape arises is pretty shocking.108.162.250.210 11:52, 2 August 2014 (UTC)
I think we should treat this case as one of sexual assault, as Megan didn’t consent to having his child-even though they might’ve had a “connection”, that is still no excuse of rape. 42.book.addict (talk) 21:12, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

The transcript of this comic says that Cueball is under the water for three of the four "water" panels. However, based on the wave visible in the first two panels, the splashes caused by his feet in the third panel, and the lack of a wake in the fourth panel, I believe that Cueball is sliding across the water on his feet, instead of being submerged most of the time.Codefreak5 (talk) 16:57, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

This sounds more like a parody of the general plot of The Time Traveler's Wife (by Audrey Niffenegger) than anything. Or perhaps the book is more like this... 108.162.216.113 03:24, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

It kinda sounds like http://xkcd.com/1524/ is referencing this comic (X & Y being the much less plesant dimensions to be pushed through). Slang (talk) 02:58, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

This is also the major device in the novel On by Adam Roberts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_%28novel%29 141.101.99.38 19:57, 8 January 2016 (UTC)