Editing 954: Chin-Up Bar

{{comic
| number    = 954
| date      = September 21, 2011
| title     = Chin-Up Bar
| image     = chin up bar.png
| titletext = Those few who escaped found the emergency cutoff box disabled. The stampede lasted two hours and reached the bottom three times.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] has a plan to block traffic on the {{w|Escalator#Longest individual escalators|longest single-tier escalator}} in the Western hemisphere. At the time of the comic's publishing, that placed the comic in the {{w|Wheaton (WMATA station)|Wheaton station}} in {{w|Washington D.C.}}'s {{w|Washington Metro}} subway system, where the 70-meter (230-foot) escalator is. An {{w|escalator}} is a motorized stairway. It's clear that Black Hat knows it is the longest and that this is the reason he has chosen this exact escalator for his evil plan.

Black Hat carries a {{w|chin-up bar}} over his shoulder up the escalator, resulting in a conversation with his friend [[Cueball]], riding up behind him, about Black Hat's motives for doing such. Black Hat uses sly conversing methods to avoid saying his true motives. First he counters the question with another question: ''Why aren't you wearing a hat?'' Cueball's reply is a normal ''I'm not really a hat person'', whereas Black Hat's copy reply is not a real answer; ''I'm not really a not-carrying-a-chin-up-bar person'', which is probably a sentence never used before this comic. It takes Cueball a second to process this answer, but he doesn't give up and asks why again. Black Hat continues deflecting his questions by stating that he's ''not a psychologist'', although he clearly is aware of his own motives and intentions. 

After this they reach the top and once they get off Black Hat quickly turns around and locks the bar in place at about waist height (i.e. as high up as possible on an escalator), just before the moving part of the escalator ends.

Chin-up bars are typically capable of holding up a 300&nbsp;pound (130&nbsp;kg) person without moving, and a bar like Black Hat has brought with him can be [https://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Health-Fitness-Door-Chin/dp/B0016BNDXI/ref=sr_1_6?s=sports-and-fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1470541509&sr=1-6&keywords=chin+up+bar installed easily in a doorway], or in the opening of an escalator…

The unexpected appearance of a solidly attached bar at the top of a crowded escalator could be disastrous. The first people would probably stumble backward to avoid it or hit it and topple backwards, and collide with the passengers immediately behind them, knocking them off their feet and likely creating a {{w|domino effect}} all the way down. Indeed, this is exactly what happens and is depicted in the last panel. Black Hat and Cueball are seen on the descending escalator in the background, but Black Hat pays no attention to the chaos he has just created. Cueball is not so detached and has turned around looking at the scene and displaying worry about what Black Hat has done. Although it might be possible, the two are fairly lucky to be unscathed, as they could have been hit by someone in the pileup falling all the way over in their side of the escalator. Since they are most likely on the way down to a subway, the traffic should make it easy for them to get away on the next train, before anyone has a chance to try and find the perpetrator, so Black Hat gets away with his schemes once again.

In the title text it is made clear that the few people that actually escaped the moving stairs were unable to use the emergency shutdown because Black Hat had disabled the system, presumably before ascending in the first place. This is stated to have caused the {{w|stampede}} to last for two hours and waves of falling people would end up reaching the bottom three times, before ascending with the stairs again. The reason for this extended mayhem could be that only the very first people at the top of this domino effect who actually hit the chin-up-bar know what caused the problem to begin with. Since they are likely among those people too hurt to explain anything in time, the next group of people trying to get out after the first wave of falling people might just proceed to run into the same problem at the top once again. The problem is exacerbated by the disabled shutoff, so even if someone sees the chin-up-bar and knows how to escape, he would either be pulled back into the crowd of traffic or be free but unable to help. This helps to explain why the cycle of crowd collapse happened three times, and the use of the word "stampede" connotes the panicked, unorganized behavior of the trapped people that serves to make the problem worse.

==Transcript==
:[Zoomed out view with Black Hat in the middle standing on an escalator with five other people as it ascends. He is carrying a pole with what looks like a bracket on each end, resting on his shoulder. In front of him is Ponytail, and in front of her is a guy with spiky hair and pimples. Behind Black Hat is Cueball. Behind Cueball is a man wearing glasses with a small goatee standing next to Megan.]

:[Zoom in on Black Hat and Cueball. In the background in front of Black Hat a girl with long black hair can be seen standing on the descending escalator. Most of the characters that appear on the descending side of the escalator is drawn in light gray instead of black.]
:Cueball: This is a long escalator.
:Black Hat: 70 meters. Longest in the country.

:[In the background the girl with long hair from the last panel has now passed the two so she is now behind Cueball, right behind Cueball passes another Cueball-like guy (drawn in black not gray), partly obscured by Cueball, and in front of Black Hat a woman with black ponytail is also descending. Beat panel.]

:[In the background the girl with black ponytail from the last panel has now passed the two so she is now behind Cueball, in front of Black Hat a man with baseball cap is descending.]
:Cueball: Why're you carrying a chin-up bar?
:Black Hat: Why aren't you wearing a hat?

:[The view returns to the original view only showing the six people ascending, only shifted so they are all a bit longer to the right.]
:Cueball: I'm not really a hat person.
:Black Hat: And I'm not really a not-carrying-a-chin-up-bar person.

:[Close up on Cueball on the escalator. Beat panel.]

:[Zoom out again to show Ponytail, in front of Black Hat, reaching the end of the escalator where the handle bends from rising to going straight. The pimpled guy has already left the panel and the escalator. The guy with goatee and Megan is still behind Black Hat and Cueball.]
:Cueball: Seriously, why did you bring it?
:Black Hat: How should I know? I'm not a psychologist.

:[Zoom in on the top of the escalator where Black Hat steps off and then turns around to quickly install the chin-up bar in the exit of the escalator clicking and twisting it into place. He did let Cueball of first, and Cueball stops and looks back at Black Hat over his shoulder.]
:''Twist''
:''Click''
:''Click''

:[View from above towards both ascending (left) and descending (right) escalators. Black Hat and Cueball has immediately moved onto the descending escalator already their heads are on height with the top handle bar. It is now revealed that Black Hat placed the chin-up bar in such a way that it blocks people from leaving the escalator sitting at about waist height. The man with glasses and a goatee is shown holding hands with Megan and they are now blocked from leaving the escalator by the chin-up bar. They are slightly higher up than Black Hat and Cueball.]

:[The final panel takes up two entire rows (the size of six of the previous nine panels). The view shows an extended section of the escalator, the top right has become a pile of people all squished together and on top of each other, making it impossible to find out who's limbs or heads belongs to which body etc. At least 18 maybe 19 people are full or partly drawn on the ascending escalator. At the very top right there seems to be two Cueball-like heads above a Ponytail-like head, then the goatee guys head, as indicated by the line from his glasses and at the bottom a Hairy-like head. Behind them are another person with hair (could be either sex as someone hold on to this hair making it difficult to tell, see below, and thus it could also be Megan from the previous panel), a third Cueball-like guy holding a hand up in front of his face, and the top of a fourth Cueball-like head at the bottom partly below the handle. Behind the guy holding a hand up is a Megan-like woman (longer hair than the Megan from the previous panels) trying to run down the escalator an arm out in both directions. A fifth Cueball-like guy is standing on that woman's head grabbing on to the the hair of the person in front of him to the right, the one with hair (either sex) in an attempt to avoid the melee below him. Below his other foot which is in the air is a sixth Cueball-like guy who is also trying to get down, both hands out in front of him, like the Megan-like woman behind him with a guy on her head. That guy is pushing one of his hands into the head of a second Ponytail-like woman, who is falling backwards throwing her arms up. Over her head is a seventh Cueball-like guy, who maybe tried the same at he guy standing on peoples head, because he is hanging in the air above her his head pointing down towards her head, his feet in he air and his arms out as he tumbles back first down the escalator. A second Hairy-like guy is behind Ponytail trying to run down the escalator, arms in running position, and he is almost reaching an eight Cueball-like guy, who holds his arms out from his body leaning back. Behind him is a second Megan-like woman holding both hands up in her hair. After that there is a small segment without people, and then a ninth Cueball-like guy holding his hands in front of his mouth stands right next to a man with flat hair and square glasses holding one arm slightly out toward the people in front. In the lower left corner, drawn with the gray lines for the ascending characters, is Black Hat standing in a relaxed position with a hand on the handlebar looking toward the bottom of the escalator, while Cueball, behind him and further up, looks back at the scene over his shoulder holding a hand up in front of his mouth.]

==Trivia==
*It would appear that the man behind Cueball with glasses and a goatee is the psychologist from [[435: Purity]], and then Megan next to him could be the sociologist from the same comic. This gives new meaning to Black Hat's line about not being a psychologist.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Psychology]]