Re: 8 comic years = one real year

On Sun, 14 May 2006 22:58:50 GMT, "sgtbilko"
<rf001b1265@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Is that right?

At one point, it was about 5 years real time equals one year comic
book time (Xmas stories discounted). I think it has now gotten to be
more like 10 years real time to one comic book year, but your 8 years
suggestion sounds more reasonable.

The problem comes from stating real dates or showing real people in
political office. If X-Men want to say Jean Grey died in 1990 instead
of 1980 (basically moving that story 10 years ahead in real time), I
have no real problem with that. I think stories should say that event
X happened Y years ago, not that event X happened in 1980. That way a
sliding "now" can be maintained while keeping the past in perspective
for how long ago thing happened. This also requires not showing real
people (like the current President) so as the story is not linked to
any fixed time period.

This is not as easy as it sounds, I will give you that. The Fantastic
Four's origin is linked to the US/USSR race to be the first one to the
moon, so it is firmly tied to the early-to-mid 60's. The post-COIE
first appearance of Superman is tied to him saving the first Space
Shuttle from crashing on its maiden flight (okay, that one is easy
enough to change to "the next generation of space shuttles"). Batman
fans have a lot of fun trying to figure out which version of the Mark
of Zorro movie the Waynes had seen on the night of their fatal
mugging.

Of course, some are not tied to a specific time period. Both
Spider-Man and the Hulk can happen at any point in time from the 50's
onward. Sure some details of those very early stories are somewhat
dated, but most of those can be glossed over as being what the artist
drew or the dialog used, not something mandatory for the plot itself.
Those stories could be set in 2006 just as easily as they had been
originally set in 1966, the story itself still works with minimal
changes (mostly common technology updates).

This has turned into a longer ramble than I intended :-)

Wayne

--
Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.
.

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