Newb Question

[Doughboy555]

I've been reading comics off and now For a few years. I usually stick to TPBs, but with a recent purchase of an iPad I started to purchase weekly. I do have one major question. How does a character in multiple books work? For example, last week in Amazing Spider-Man, Sidey was fighting with the Avengers on the coast of the Mediterranean fighting the Sinister Six. Now this week, he's back on Utpoia. Another example is AvX #1 and this weeks Uncanny X-Men. Can someone please shed some light on this please.


Thanks

[OkieDokiLoki]

Don't worry.
I'm sure even the writers can't figure out how characters can logically be in multiple books at one time.

Most people just go with it.
The stuff that happens to characters in multiple books is canon and does matter sometimes but you're better off not trying to construct a timeline or figure out what happened when most of the time.

[Old Sparky]

I've been reading comics off and now For a few years. I usually stick to TPBs, but with a recent purchase of an iPad I started to purchase weekly. I do have one major question. How does a character in multiple books work? For example, last week in Amazing Spider-Man, Sidey was fighting with the Avengers on the coast of the Mediterranean fighting the Sinister Six. Now this week, he's back on Utpoia. Another example is AvX #1 and this weeks Uncanny X-Men. Can someone please shed some light on this please.

How does it work? It doesn't. They need better editorial guidance and leadership over at Marvel.

[Scott M Davis]

Each comic pretty much has its own continuity, and rarely do events ever line up properly unless its a company wide crossover.

[Ravin' Ray]

Spidey borrowed that time-travel thingy from Hermione in Harry Potter.

[Corey W]

I've been reading comics off and now For a few years. I usually stick to TPBs, but with a recent purchase of an iPad I started to purchase weekly. I do have one major question. How does a character in multiple books work? For example, last week in Amazing Spider-Man, Sidey was fighting with the Avengers on the coast of the Mediterranean fighting the Sinister Six. Now this week, he's back on Utpoia. Another example is AvX #1 and this weeks Uncanny X-Men. Can someone please shed some light on this please.


Thanks

The short answer is that the books don't take place at the same time, so in universe he was in one spot one day and another spot another day.

That said, trying to work out the continuity is generally a lost cause. Some people devote hours to it and do a pretty good job but even within events it sometimes becomes impossible and they are usually managed pretty tightly.

[Expletive Deleted]

I've been reading comics off and now For a few years. I usually stick to TPBs, but with a recent purchase of an iPad I started to purchase weekly. I do have one major question. How does a character in multiple books work? For example, last week in Amazing Spider-Man, Sidey was fighting with the Avengers on the coast of the Mediterranean fighting the Sinister Six. Now this week, he's back on Utpoia. Another example is AvX #1 and this weeks Uncanny X-Men. Can someone please shed some light on this please.

Storylines are asynchronous. Just because two issues are published in the same week doesn't mean they're concurrent.

Sometimes there's a defined order; sometimes there it doesn't really matter.

[Rimmer]

Storylines are asynchronous. Just because two issues are published in the same week doesn't mean they're concurrent.

Sometimes there's a defined order; sometimes there it doesn't really matter.

Also, sometimes an entire arc of 3-6 issues can span an hour or two, whereas another arc of 3-6 issues in another book could be weeks or months. So yeah, it's best to just "go with it".

[Mr. Rice]

Storylines are asynchronous. Just because two issues are published in the same week doesn't mean they're concurrent.

Sometimes there's a defined order; sometimes there it doesn't really matter.

Also, sometimes an entire arc of 3-6 issues can span an hour or two, whereas another arc of 3-6 issues in another book could be weeks or months. So yeah, it's best to just "go with it".

These sum it up. If you like the character, roll with it. You get to see more of 'em. If you don't like the guy who seems to appear seven places at once, keep track of 'em and use it to make fun of them in the forum. Ta-dah.

[Doughboy555]

Thanks everyone!