18-Till-I-Die
04-23-2005, 02:02 AM
Ok so, this is an idea i've been putting together for about a year now. It's a pet project of mine, comics i'm writing on my computer. Stories, characters, etc. I've been wanting to share it, and get some imput and so...here it is. I hope this is the right forum.
Anyway...first some technical stuff.
The name is 360 Comix, like as in 360 degrees.
Continuity and publishing policy:
I originally started writing basically what i thought would be an idea for a way to preserve continuity in comics while still allowing the characters to see fresh and new, and combined this with an interesting publishing policy.
It's a somewhat rigid publsihing policy, as well as a continuity policy written in stone, so that the artists and editors know precsisely what they can and cant do with the stories as it goes. Little note, i figured i'd write a story 'bible' for each series that describes one year of stories, so that the stories and such remain consistant.
Basically it works like this--the books are published on specific days each week. Like Books A, B and C on Monday while Books D, E, F and G are on Tuesday. The continuity between books is largely interconnectd and real-time. In this way, if, say, New York gets nuked in book A on Monday, it will have ramifications especially in books B and C, but also all week and probably longer, i.e real time. All the books published on a weekly basis, on differnet days from Monday to Sunday so if you get them all and read throw it you get a snapshot of that week in the 360 World, and weeks combine into a snapshot of each month and year. This rewards dedicated 'core' readers by allowing them to have a constant, totally consistant universe at their fingertips. However each book, while part of the larger whole, functions also perfectly as a stand alone. The real time continuity means that one week is one week, one month is one month, one year is one year and so if a character is 20 now he'll be 21 in a year and 33 in twelve years. This way characters can grow and evolve, while staying true the original intent. Also each book has a foldout in the cover that gives some backstory, explains a little of the current arc, and describes the major characters, sort of a 'When we last left our heroes...' kind of thing. This rewards new readers, so literally anyone can pick up a book and jump into a story without being left behind. And the characters always remain fresh and ever changing, while staying consistant in continuity, evolving in real time every week, month, year.
At the end of each year is a month long 'event'. Most story arcs then have about eleven months to finish, as most will be tied up just before the big year ender. The old plot threads and stories come to a close sort of officially each year, and new characters, stories and plot threads are introduced. Some plots will go on for more than a year, of course, but mostly the minor ones will be bound to this system to keep things evolving. Any 'big changes' that happen, will remain permenantly afterwards. No reboots, no retcons, none. Ever. Though i admit, some characters will come back from the dead, it is comics afterall.
Time:
Some stories, and several plot threads, involve time travel and futures. Thus i felt it was a good idea to sorta write the time 'laws' in stone too. They will explained slowly through the books.
Basically time works like this--there is one timeline, called the Temporal Prime, that starts at the begining and ends at the end of time. That is our timeline. There are points where huge events and momentous happenings cause natural hiccups or 'points of divervence' where time sometimes creates alternate timelines, time travel can do this too. Most of these Temporal Secondaries, or just Secondaries, eventually break off and are erased from the timestream. Some re-join the timestream, creating a parallel alternate history that can be accessed by time travel and exists perfectly parallel with the Primary. I liken it a tree--there are lots of branches, but only onetree, with one set of roots at the beginning.
Time travel can cause a point of divergence that creates an alternate timeline that intermixes with the Primary. If this happens it's called a 'coalescence'. Two kinds exist, minor and major. Minor coalescences would cause an alternate timeline to become it's own timestream, a literal alternate universe. This has never happened but it could, leaving the door open for a multiverse. A major coalescence would be the death of us all. It would involve the erasure of the current Temporal Primary and the 're-writing' of history. Coalescences, unlike alternate timelines, are not natural, they have to be created by time travelers. But it takes a lot and no one has ever been able to do either, yet they are theoretically possible still. Some plots and story lines tie into the idea of major and minor coalescences, and like i said, the latter may someday lead to a multiverse.
whew.
Well thats the stuffy, technical stuff. I'll post the books and the characters and story lines in a sec after i hunt down my notes and stories to get it all straight.
But for now, this is just an outline of the technical aspects of the 360 Comix universe. So...any imput, ideas, crqiues are appreciated. :)
Anyway...first some technical stuff.
The name is 360 Comix, like as in 360 degrees.
Continuity and publishing policy:
I originally started writing basically what i thought would be an idea for a way to preserve continuity in comics while still allowing the characters to see fresh and new, and combined this with an interesting publishing policy.
It's a somewhat rigid publsihing policy, as well as a continuity policy written in stone, so that the artists and editors know precsisely what they can and cant do with the stories as it goes. Little note, i figured i'd write a story 'bible' for each series that describes one year of stories, so that the stories and such remain consistant.
Basically it works like this--the books are published on specific days each week. Like Books A, B and C on Monday while Books D, E, F and G are on Tuesday. The continuity between books is largely interconnectd and real-time. In this way, if, say, New York gets nuked in book A on Monday, it will have ramifications especially in books B and C, but also all week and probably longer, i.e real time. All the books published on a weekly basis, on differnet days from Monday to Sunday so if you get them all and read throw it you get a snapshot of that week in the 360 World, and weeks combine into a snapshot of each month and year. This rewards dedicated 'core' readers by allowing them to have a constant, totally consistant universe at their fingertips. However each book, while part of the larger whole, functions also perfectly as a stand alone. The real time continuity means that one week is one week, one month is one month, one year is one year and so if a character is 20 now he'll be 21 in a year and 33 in twelve years. This way characters can grow and evolve, while staying true the original intent. Also each book has a foldout in the cover that gives some backstory, explains a little of the current arc, and describes the major characters, sort of a 'When we last left our heroes...' kind of thing. This rewards new readers, so literally anyone can pick up a book and jump into a story without being left behind. And the characters always remain fresh and ever changing, while staying consistant in continuity, evolving in real time every week, month, year.
At the end of each year is a month long 'event'. Most story arcs then have about eleven months to finish, as most will be tied up just before the big year ender. The old plot threads and stories come to a close sort of officially each year, and new characters, stories and plot threads are introduced. Some plots will go on for more than a year, of course, but mostly the minor ones will be bound to this system to keep things evolving. Any 'big changes' that happen, will remain permenantly afterwards. No reboots, no retcons, none. Ever. Though i admit, some characters will come back from the dead, it is comics afterall.
Time:
Some stories, and several plot threads, involve time travel and futures. Thus i felt it was a good idea to sorta write the time 'laws' in stone too. They will explained slowly through the books.
Basically time works like this--there is one timeline, called the Temporal Prime, that starts at the begining and ends at the end of time. That is our timeline. There are points where huge events and momentous happenings cause natural hiccups or 'points of divervence' where time sometimes creates alternate timelines, time travel can do this too. Most of these Temporal Secondaries, or just Secondaries, eventually break off and are erased from the timestream. Some re-join the timestream, creating a parallel alternate history that can be accessed by time travel and exists perfectly parallel with the Primary. I liken it a tree--there are lots of branches, but only onetree, with one set of roots at the beginning.
Time travel can cause a point of divergence that creates an alternate timeline that intermixes with the Primary. If this happens it's called a 'coalescence'. Two kinds exist, minor and major. Minor coalescences would cause an alternate timeline to become it's own timestream, a literal alternate universe. This has never happened but it could, leaving the door open for a multiverse. A major coalescence would be the death of us all. It would involve the erasure of the current Temporal Primary and the 're-writing' of history. Coalescences, unlike alternate timelines, are not natural, they have to be created by time travelers. But it takes a lot and no one has ever been able to do either, yet they are theoretically possible still. Some plots and story lines tie into the idea of major and minor coalescences, and like i said, the latter may someday lead to a multiverse.
whew.
Well thats the stuffy, technical stuff. I'll post the books and the characters and story lines in a sec after i hunt down my notes and stories to get it all straight.
But for now, this is just an outline of the technical aspects of the 360 Comix universe. So...any imput, ideas, crqiues are appreciated. :)