A mysterious earthquake damages the oil rig of Scrooge McDuck. One, suspicious since no other seismograph was able to detect it, sends Paperinik to investigate at the bottom of the ocean, where he is intercepted by PBI agents. He escapes, but One informs him that the thing might be bigger then they think...
Earthquake contains examples of the following tropes:
- Air-Vent Passageway: Subverted: Paperinik tries to do this (remarking how "This always works in movies!"), but his large shield gets stuck.
- Bad Boss: Not really "bad" as much as "really strict", but Mary Ann Flagstarr has no problem treatening to transfer to Alaska one of her men if they fail an important mission. And she isn't joking, for that matter."Clean up your desk and leave the speedos at home! You won't need them in Alaska!"
- Benevolent Boss: Subverted; Fairfax is always very polite and generous with the people working for him — but he has no problem killing them all for his dream of a better world.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the end One gets over his doubts and stops the earthquake machines.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Of course not in the "cut part of his body" way. One simply registered Flagstarr's voice and retina while she was interrogating Angus.
- Chekhov's Gun: Early in the issue, One shows to Paperinik the jet of Ducklair as a gag. In the end, he uses it to catch up to Fairfax.
- Death Trap: An unintentional example: Fairfax tries to shoot Paperinik, but he misses him and causes a fire that traps the hero in the room.
- Empathic Environment: For much of the issue it rains pretty heavily. Only at the end, when the conflict is solved, the sun comes out.
- Foreshadowing: "Master Ducklair programmed me to do always the most logical thing!"
- Family-Friendly Firearm: Once again averted, as Paperinik is shot at (twice, mind you) with old fashioned bullets.
- Instant Marksman: Just Squeeze Trigger!: Averted big time. Fairfax is clearly inexperienced and, ironically, uncomfortable with firearms, and misses when he tries to shoot PK.
- Laser Hallway: One of the defenses of the lab Paperinik must sneak in: they are invisible, but he dodges them thanks to a pair of special lenses.
- To Be Lawful or Good: One must choose between stopping Fairfax's plan and save millions of lives, or letting him do it and create a mass of land from which billions will benefit.
- Two-Keyed Lock: Fairfax' control device for the earthquake machines is secured by two keys, which are camouflaged as pendants, with one of them given to Flagstarr by Fairfax.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Fairfax wants to create a new land mass to fight the overpopulation and the alimentary needs of the planet, something that would help billions of people. Unfortunately, he has to kill millions for that.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted: both a guard and Fairfax shoot Paperinik. Fortunately, the first time he has his trusty shield, and the second he dodges it.
