3285: Accretionary Arc

Accretionary Arc

|< < Prev #3285 (August 14, 2026) Next > >|

Title text: The late Triassic rifting was caused by a dinosaur trying to use the control panel to escape a predator, but it was eaten before the continent could fully separate.

|< < Prev Random explanation Next > >|

Explanation

This comic shows Cueball and Ponytail escaping from a mob of angry people. The reason for the mob is unclear, but it is led by Black Hat, so they are likely caught up in one of his nefarious schemes. However, Ponytail remembers that the land they are now on used to be an island, which attached to North America, and uses a control panel (possibly referencing the Universe Control Panel) to reverse the process and split off that part of the continent. The pursuers are left behind and either do not have weapons with long enough range (Black Hat has a spear, followed by others with a sword or a longbow, an axe, and a halberd), do not wish to use them, or else did not get in range to practically use them in time, and are left shouting across the water now separating them from Cueball and Ponytail.

The "island arc" refers to the Taconic orogeny, when, approximately 550 through 440 million years ago, the Bronson Hill Arc island chain, consisting of modern-day New England and Eastern Canada, collided with the rest of modern-day North America, forming parts of the modern Piedmont region of the Appalachian Mountains.

In reality, much like Russell's teapot, there is no evidence that control panels for continental drift exist.^{[citation needed]} Merely reversing the direction of drift would also be unhelpful: continental drift is so slow that it was unknown for most of human history. Speeding drift up by a factor of 1000 would result in a movement of inches per day. Using a factor of one million would result in movement slower than walking speed. This might be enough to escape: the mob leader is 120 to 150 feet behind Cueball (about 21 times the leader's height), and generously assuming that the mob is tired and slowed by their bulky weapons, the distance would take, at most, 30 seconds to cover (an athlete might cross several times faster). The panel needs to open a discouraging rift before that distance is crossed (at least 5 feet if the mob is surprised and misses the chance to make a running jump). The slowest speed of travel that might possibly allow them to escape is 0.1 miles per hour, though this would only stop a comically slow, incompetent and unlucky mob. Faster pursuit, delays operating the panel, and having the rift boundary located anywhere other than directly behind Cueball would require 1 mile per hour or faster for a close call.

The map indicates that "full reverse" is dramatically faster. Rather than creating a small chasm, the final panel shows the arc nearly 300 miles to the east (the northeastern coast having shifted by roughly the width of the state of New York). If this were to happen in the minute that it might take for the mob to realize the situation and shout in frustration, then the arc would have transferred so fast that the escapees would have been dropped into the now-ocean. The rift might not even have had time to fill with water, unless the pursuit took place next to a large body of water, in which case swimming might have been a more reliable way to flee. The panel may protect matter on the surface of the moving landmass from negative effects of such acceleration. However, such a dramatic transformation of the Earth's crust would have cataclysmic effects on the planet as a whole (if the control panel does not have properly configured safeguards to ensure that various unwanted side-effects are limited).

The title text's "late Triassic rifting" refers to the South Georgia rift, where a rift valley formed along the southeastern United States during the late Triassic (approximately 215 through 175 million years ago), but failed to separate the continent before the plate tectonics causing the rifting shifted, ending the rift (but leaving the geological history). The title text claims that this was due to a dinosaur attempting to use the control panel in a similar fashion, but the rift ended because it was eaten before completing the task (unlike Cueball and Ponytail). This confirms that the panel was able to make major landmass changes in a short time, but it is unclear whether the predator ended up on the right side of the rift. It also raises questions about who installed the control panel, since there were no humans at this time, and how a dinosaur knew how to operate it.

See also 2577: Sea Chase, in which a similarly impractical device is used for an escape, and 1388: Subduction License, which features similarly accelerated geologic activity.

Transcript

[Cueball and Ponytail are running to the right. Cueball is looking back over his shoulder.]

Cueball: They're right behind us!

Ponytail: It's OK! I have a plan.

[The field of view widens, showing an angry horde of people with weapons (consisting of Black Hat waving a spear, in the lead, two Cueballs behind him, waving an axe and a sword, and a fourth figure which is obscured) chasing Cueball and Ponytail, who in turn are running towards a control panel.]

Ponytail: This part of the continent used to be an island arc before it collided with North America.

[Close up on Cueball and Ponytail. Cueball looks back to the left, toward the mob while Ponytail pushes buttons on a control panel about waist-high which has some dirt and plants covering it.]

Ponytail: I just gotta access the control panel...

Ponytail: Yes! It still works!

Ponytail: OK, full reverse!

Control panel: Beep beep

[The field of view widens again, showing North America with a serrated edge along the east coast, from around the state of New Jersey to the province of New Brunswick. A landmass, whose shape indicates that it approximately includes Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, parts of New Hampshire, Maine, and New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, is moving off to the east in the Atlantic Ocean. The voice of the mob comes from the east coast of North America and the voice of Ponytail comes from the west coast of the landmass.]

Angry mob: No!

Ponytail: Hah!

  Add comment          Create topic (use sparingly)          Refresh 

Discussion

first?Ninojin3DD (talk) 03:29, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Made a very basic explanation,how'd I do?Ninojin3DD (talk) 03:40, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Also made the transcript, was it good? Ninojin3DD (talk) 04:04, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

I don't edit much :⎠ Ninojin3DD (talk) 03:49, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

You did pretty good. Maybe in the future consider explaining why the island part is relevant to splitting the continent? (Also I'm adding some new lines for formatting reasons)Sarah the Pie(yes, the food) (talk) 03:42, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Yep, looks pretty good to me - clear, easy to understand, and to-the-point. Nicely done Ninojin3DD! 98.97.43.107 04:22, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

looks good. Much much better than what I wasn't going to do because I came here to say "I've enjoyed movies with worse sort of thing" And thank you for the universal control panel link. I remembered that I'd seen it but didn't remember it. SDT, who loves this place. 2607:FB91:5181:5E48:748F:F8C:974F:DD12 04:57, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

This control panel looks a lot narrower than the one in the other comic referenced. It reminds me more of the control panels in Stargate Atlantis Nosh (talk) 11:48, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Investigating the odds that the protagonists and antagonists (and any other life on Earth) would survive this "Samson Maneuver", in the face of (to name two) the consequent earthquake (moment magnitude >11.0) and tsunami (hundreds of meters). Seeing words like "complete pulverization of the regional crust". It doesn't look good. The term "Pyrrhic victory" comes to mind. Yes, yes, I know, I know. 2605:59C8:160:DB08:E460:7A21:47D2:C3ED 13:55, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Unrecognizable Coastlines: Is it worth noting that coastlines would likely be unrecognizable? Cape Cod is such a delicate coastal feature that it wouldn't survive any such move, and probably wouldn't survive a few thousands years with no external interference. Coastlines and islands change significantly over time. That's one of the reasons I love looking at paleontological globes with modern coastlines superimposed / juxtaposed. 181.214.206.77 14:39, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

"...unrecognizable? Cape Cod is such a delicate..." Yes, run in forward time you have the fragmented erratic coast of Maine where it was run into the continent. But run time backward and may be no further damage. Think run your car into a wall. Smack! Now back away. The smack is not increased nor un-done. But more experimentation needed. I live there/here, I'll try it. --PRR (talk) 22:41, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

the explanation says "In reality there are (and never were) any control panels..." Shouldn't It say "there aren't"? 5692Wraith (talk) 16:30, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

That whole sentence is a mess. I'll fix it.47.177.11.75 17:46, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

I'm disappointed. I find this specific strip very insensitive to recent tragic events where many people lost their lives (huge earthquakes in Venezuela, Columbia, and now Indonesia). 109.77.93.46 (talk) 19:15, 15 August 2026 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Without dismissing the tragedies, I don't think there's particular reason to connect the two.

Earthquakes happen. As proven by widely different regions experiencing them. This comic relies on tectonics but doesn't touch upon actual earthquakes at all.

At worst, it's innocently insensitive. More likely just overtaken by events, having already lined up the tectonic subject before any earthquakes happened.

When it turns out to have been very on-the-nose (unintentionally), he's made a replacement, but I'd argue that it's not anything like that. 92.23.0.28 22:43, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Is the figure at the front of the mob Black Hat? It sure looks like him GSLikesCats306 (talk) 20:20, 15 August 2026 (UTC)

Probably. The person's definitely wearing a flat hat like he does. It seems like him to lead an angry rabble, especially a seemingly pointless one. 7amiþ moi · 💬 · 📊 05:07, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

Yep, that's definitely black hat leading the charge. --DollarStoreBa'al^Converse 15:24, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

Imo it's a clear "maybe". Yes, the person is wearing a flat hat. But with the sizes of the drawn figures I wouldn't conclude that the hat is depicted as it is because it's black or because of size compression. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 08:22, 17 August 2026 (UTC)

I would say there is need to adress the title directly and explain what is meant by accretionary arc 98.128.167.5 10:01, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

I had considered adding Accretionary wedge and Island arc#Features links, as covering the distinct elements of the two-word (not directly wikied) term. But hadn't yet decided how to word it. Consider this a suggestion for anyone who has an idea of what they want to say but not what it might link to. 92.23.0.28 17:42, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

I've decided my best comment for most comics is this:

Pfft, when I was a kid I believed everything I read too, like the earth was millions of years old... Mathmannix (talk) 22:42, 17 August 2026 (UTC)
        Add comment