Editing 1388: Subduction License

{{comic
| number    = 1388
| date      = June 30, 2014
| title     = Subduction License
| image     = subduction_license.png
| titletext = 'Dude, why can't you just be a normal roommate?' 'Because I'm coming TOWARD you!'
}}

==Explanation==
In {{w|structural geology}}, {{w|subduction}} is the mechanism by which one {{w|tectonic plate}} disappears under another. This process usually creates a {{w|mountain range}} on the second tectonic plate, as that starts to ride over the first and the surface geology is rucked and folded upwards. Also, water entrained in the subducting plate may rise into the second plate and provokes {{w|volcanism}}, often resulting in a {{w|volcanic arc}}.

In this comic, [[Beret Guy]] is very happy because he has just received his ''subduction license'', which may be a play with business term ''{{w|licensed production|production license}}''. His roommate [[Cueball]] very reasonably asks him: ''Your what?'' But instead of answering him, Beret Guy begins to move towards him in their small room. It turns out that the license has literally enabled him to initiate subduction, or else allowed him to perform an existing ability he had not previously felt he could legally use. As he slides slightly towards Cueball, he slowly sinks under the floorboards of the room, and in this process he creates a small mountain range on the floor. In the end, much to Cueball's consternation, these mountains turn his desk and chair over. Cueball physically falls out of the frame in the final panel, where Beret Guy is already halfway down beneath the floor. This would not be possible in real life.{{Citation needed}}

The title text plays on the double meaning of the word "normal", which Cueball means in the sense of "like most people, not strange," but which Beret Guy interprets in the geological sense. While subduction occurs when two plates crash into each other, a {{w|normal fault}} occurs when two plates are moving away from each other. Here, "normal" is used in the sense of "perpendicular," as the result of a normal fault is often that part of the crust moves vertically downward, forming a {{w|graben}}.

A similarly atypical license was mentioned previously in [[410: Math Paper]]. Puns on geological terms (including types of faults) were previously made in [[1082: Geology]].

This comic was featured in a page of [[Thing Explainer]] as part of the explanation of the ''Big flat rocks we live on''. Only the last three panels where used, probably because the words in the first panel were way too uncommon for the book - see more details [[Thing_Explainer#References_to_comics|here]].

Subduction was again mentioned in [[1829: Geochronology]].

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is looking at some mail he has received while Cueball is at his computer desk at the other side of the room.]
:Beret Guy: Sweet! I finally got my subduction license!
:Cueball: Your what?

:[Beret Guy starts sinking into the ground, causing it to ripple.]
:Cueball: ...What are you doing?

:[Beret Guy sinks further, forming a miniature mountain range in front of him. Cueball is frantically trying to keep his computer steady as his desk tilts.]
:Cueball: ''Stop it! Stop it!''

:[Beret Guy is waist-deep, and snow caps have formed on the mountains. Cueball is falling backwards from his desk and out of his chair, and the monitor unplugs itself from his computer.]
:Cueball: ''Augh!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Geology]]