posted
I think I realized why time can move so slowly in comics compared to the real world.
You get like, twelve issues of a series a year. Yet, that entire year, the twelve stories could be part of a story that takes a week, or a month even. Chances are a year could pass in comic book time after like, five years.
-------------------- I want to be hated by lies - Bring Back Lian Harper
posted
Absolutely. In Ultimate Spider-Man its been very clear that the entire first 125 issues took place in about (8) months. The recent restart of the title takes place about (1) year after the start of the first title.
Sometimes all it takes is a creative team that has this in the back of their heads throughout the entire process to make it very easy to keep track of.
A good arguement can be made that all of Green Arrow's adventures in the 1940's and 1950's took place in the first year of his career as GA; you can even squeeze in more from the 1960's.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Yeah, a good writer ought to be able to keep track of the difference between time in-story and time in the real world. It generates a lot of problems in the "shared universe" context, however, if a lot more time seems to be passing in one title than in another.
I also think the "floating present" idea, where the current issue is always set "now", is generally annoying as well. It tends to create a whole lot of anachronisms, such as "Red Star", as discussed over in the Titans forum. It also results in stuff like the JSA having children in their eighties and stuff, which really annoys me.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Absoultely agree! Same with a JSA comic set in WWII, as EDE suggested DC do again a few years back.
If I was starting a comic book company from the ground-up, first thing I would do is ensure ther was no 'floating present'. That's how Marvel was in the Silver Age. It potentially could make fans feel more connected to what's going on in the series, such as it did then.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Which is another reason why the Legion is cool. Time can move in their world because it's the "future".
Which is why I hate that (except during 5YL) the Legion is fixed to 1000 years in our future, so it still has a sliding timeline.
-------------------- Tom Strong, on nostalgia: "I suppose it's a ready substitute for genuine feeling." - Tom Strong #6, Alan Moore
From: Calgary, Alberta | Registered: May 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: It also results in stuff like the JSA having children in their eighties and stuff, which really annoys me.
Me too! I'll grant the JAS'ers have had long lives due to their adventures - either trapped in Limbo or de-aged, etc. But what about their wives? Sure Rex Tyler could have had fathered a kid 25-30 years ago, but his wife gave birth a child when she was 65 years old?
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
At least when the JSAers were on Earth-2, you could explain stuff away with the "time moves at different rates on different Earths" to fudge this kind of stuff.
This is, incidentally, one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the neo-Silver Age stuff at DC currently. A lot of Silver Age characters (Hal Jordan/Barry Allen/etc.) make a lot more sense in the environment of the fifties/sixties/seventies than they do grafted to 2010.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
The Legion is the one comic where time can be advanced as quickly or as slowly as the story dictates.
This makes it all the more sad to me that the Legionnaires have to trapped (or rebooted) as eternal teenagers. I much prefered the sense of group history that had developed around the team in the '70s and '80s.
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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