Sliding Timelines

[jackfaire]

Sliding timelines while they work in most cases are also a bit offensive at times.

For example a hero that has been a hero longer than his predecessor has suddenly only been one for 5 years because of the sliding timeline when his predecessor comes back.

But there is a case where sliding timelines are worse than that.

Captain America got his start in WW2 this is a fact of comics and one that cannot be changed. So when the timeline slides and he and his compatriots have still been around for 5 years then suddenly Cap was defrosted in the 90s instead of the 60s.

See the problem yet? Some of the people such as Nick Fury worked with Cap in WW2 yet now with him defrosted later suddenly he can't possibly have known Nick Fury.

But okay no huge deal I mean yeah that wipes out some storylines but tolerable since we don't have to alter Caps origin.

However what do we do with a character whose story would have to be completely rewritten or be granted immortality?

The one I speak of is Magneto. He got his entire attitude about life based on being a Jewish boy who lived through the Holocaust. The longer ago that was the more his origin won't make any sense.

So what should they do grant immortality or retire characters in situations like this?

[Ginger Tea]

I think we can agree most of the problems stem from the fact that comics released on a monthly basis and a six issue story arc might be a hectic night for the hero but six months for us.
trying to write for today just leads to trouble, Spiderman should be old now, not a perpetual teenager/early 20 something as he spent the first few decades, not sure what his current age is estimated at.
If marvel/dc and others got their writers/editors together and said "we are not writing as if we are set in the current year, but each year represents a month or a week in comic universe time.

The show 24 was a day in the life of, yet it was half a year for us, if the season was a week in the life of, well 7 years just to get from monday to sunday.

[Andara Bledin]

Oh, man, I hate the crap they pull to keep things running longer than they really should. The whole DC restart thing is utter crap and has ruined several characters entirely. >_<

They really need to decide that some characters just have to retire, and others have to die. And if they want to be topical even remotely, then they have to skip a lot more time between story breaks.

Or they can just do what Archies comics does and keep everything sort of generic not-quite-earth where time barely moves, but they still have Christmas every year.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

I think people worry too much about internal consistency of that sort. Why not just tell the current story on the assumption that whichever elements from the past that are referred to did happen for the purposes of this current story, and that many of the irrelevant ones didn't? As for origins... better to ignore inconsistencies if there's no good way around them (this *absolutely has* to have happened at a certain now-inconveniently-distant time and not everybody can be frozen for decades) just fudge it a bit. Or more than a bit; surely there's *something* that's happened more recently that could have made Magneto essentially who he is now.

But trying to make everything consistent given the nature of that type of ongoing medium, particularly when it wasn't planned out from the beginning, causes more trouble than it solves. And it can NEVER be done in a way that makes everybody happy.

[jackfaire]

Or more than a bit; surely there's *something* that's happened more recently that could have made Magneto essentially who

With Magneto actually that's very difficult unless we change his racial background.

The very essence of his character is, "I witnessed first hand the genocide of my people the Jews and so now I work to ensure that never happens to my people the Mutants"

It's wrapped up with every single fiber of his being and is his entire motivation that keeps him from being just another comic book villain being bad for the sake of being bad. If they started altering his character some and moving him away from "I grew up in concentration camps" then maybe they could just ignore it but right now it's like the guy that mentions his abusive childhood every other sentence.

[Rapscallion]

So, this is someone who can control metal with him mind, along with someone who can change their shape at will, as well as another person who can blast buildings with his super myopia...

For me, the timeline isn't the thing destroying my suspension of disbelief

Rapscallion

[gremcint]

I would like to see the characters age and retire, I would like to see DC actually let a superhero have a kid through all the ages. The flash has twins, let's superage them to 8 years old and sick them there bart simpson style.

I defended the DC reboot initially but now I haven't read a comic in months, I just lost interest, all the storylines I was following ended and some of my favourite characters are either gone or radically different, Booster gold's back to being a chump instead of the real hero he was.

[lordlundar]

However what do we do with a character whose story would have to be completely rewritten or be granted immortality?

Fury's been rewritten a couple of times at least. One he's a decendant of the Fury that knew Cap and another he's a metahuman himself with the power of longevity (aka not immortal but a lifespan measured in centuries)

[Ginger Tea]

DC did a mini serise years ago about Superman and Batman ageing over the decades, Bruce's son became batman and Clark Kent was a heavy dose of ageing make up applied and removed with the clothing when changing.

[Jetfire]

Fury's been rewritten a couple of times at least. One he's a decendant of the Fury that knew Cap and another he's a metahuman himself with the power of longevity (aka not immortal but a lifespan measured in centuries)

Currently he has a serum that gives him immortality for as long as it lasted. He used the last of it to heal up Mocking Bird after an attack went bad in one of the Avengers books (I think New Avengers)

[lordlundar]

I think Iron Man's origin story is the worst for this. One has him captured by Soviets, one has him captured by The Mandarin, one has him captured by Chinese terrorists trying to PREVENT the Mandarin from being reborn, the more recent one is Islamic terrorists, and I could go on.

[jackfaire]

I think Iron Man's origin story is the worst for this.

Yes but that's the brilliance of his origin it can be updated to whatever war we are fighting or were fighting at the time they are explaining his origin as having been in.

If your going to start debating it heavily please start another thread but anyone ever notice that our "superman" Captain America the one that was going to lead us against the Nazis and was about the best of the best Be all you can Be Americans was Blonde haired and blue eyed?

[s_stabeler]

That's probably because the actual issue of WW2 was German military aggression. it was only after the Concentration Camps were discovered that Nazi Eugenics were considered.

[SkullKing]

I thought that was part of his design.

Using an "ubermensch" against the nazis.

[Bloodsoul]

If I ever get off my lazy ass and produce a comic (ha!), I want my characters to age. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about doing it (since, generally, comic book time doesn't follow real-world time), but I certainly don't want a character who'll remain a teenager twenty years after being introduced.

Kind of one of the things I liked about "Dragon Ball," to be honest.