DRL: “A Matter of Some Gravity” (1996)

Capsule Summary: Magica De Spell turns gravity on its side and you can’t imagine all the twists and turns that presents Scrooge and Donald with. Think about how your life would change if gravity worked to one side instead of straight down. Don Rosa creates a wild and hilarious story from this mind twisting concept. He runs the gag for 16 pages without it ever getting old or losing the plot.

I’ve spent most of my time writing about the earliest Rosa stories so far, mostly because he seemed to do more shorter stories at the beginning of his career. Doing the “Life of Scrooge McDuck” hadn’t taken over his life yet. Not that he ignored it completely in this story. Once your mind has worked in the Klondike region of Scrooge’s history, it’s tough to get out:

Also, Rosa admits that he prefers doing those longer adventure tales. The shorter “gag stories” weren’t his favorite. It’s a shame because he does them so well.

It came more naturally to Carl Barks, who started out as a gag man at Disney. He did both the gag stories and the longer adventure stories very well, but I have to think his facility with the gag stories owes some of its strength to that work pre-comics.

“A Matter of Some Gravity” features the return of Magic de Spell. Her new scheme to steal Scrooge’s Number One Dime is to cast a spell over Scrooge and Donald that turns gravity sideways for them. The two ducks are stuck walking on side walls instead of the floor and have to figure out how to maneuver in this new set-up. Time is of the essence, also, as Magica is headed to the airport to take a flight back home to Italy.

Can Scrooge and Donald fight their way back to Magica, rescue the coin, and restore their normal gravity? It’s an awful lot to ask, but that’s part of the reason this story lasts 16 pages. It also gives it the dramatic pressure to keep the story moving, complete with the ticking time bomb of Magica reaching her airplane.

As with “On a Silver Platter,” this is a high concept kind of tale, setting up an impossible situation and using it for a series of gags and circumstances that might make your head hurt too much if you thought about it. I initially thought turning gravity horizontal was a cute idea, but it only took a couple of panels before Rosa showed us some of the wilder complications of this change. I was hooked.

For starters, it’s a good thing they were inside a building so that there was a side wall to stand up on. Then, climbing across the room became a massive effort like climbing up a wall would be — because it is! When gravity pulls you to the side, the floor becomes the wall and you have to work your way up and over desks and pull yourself through door frames and thrill at the ease of running down the stairs, where the risers are your runners.

Once they get outside, though, things get super crazy as Rosa finds new ways to use the gravity to his story’s advantage and to put Scrooge and Donald into exponentially crazier danger.

it’s a clever and occasionally mind-bending story. My advice to you is to not overthink it. Read it and enjoy the ride. Rosa will let you know what you need to see, how you need to think, and what you’re seeing happening.

The story doesn’t need a sequel, but I’m sure another writer would think up a dozen other different complications from this plot to create something new and challenging. As good as this story is, it does feel like just the beginning. On the other hand, it’s always a good idea to get off the stage leaving them wanting more. The gag could get old fast, or the momentum could be killed with too many gags.

There, I think I just talked myself into and out of the very possibility of a sequel for this story in the short span of one paragraph.

Rosa helps to “explain” his ideas by drawing half of every page sideways. Tier-wide panels become tall skinny panels that you read on their side. The rest of the world is going one way, but Scrooge and Donald are forced to find another. Thankfully, the word balloons are all in the same orientation, so it never gets annoying to turn your head to the side to read what’s going on.

Most importantly, Rosa doesn’t get lost in the gags and forget the story. He constructs this tale so that Scrooge is always doing more than just learning to cope with his new situation. He’s also having to race to the airport to ensure Magica can’t catch her flight back home. He’s running across town and trying not to fly away with every step. It leads to some creative plans being made on the fly.

I love this story. This is Rosa in his prime artistic period plotting crazy stories with hilarious results.

There’s one more Magica story yet to come! I’ll get to that soon. It’s another doozy with great results.

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