The Problem with Many Marvel NOW! Premises

[Joe Acro]

7 books as a regular cast member, that's a record. I doubt he ever appeared that much in any other period, even with the guest appereances.

Counting guest appearances/mini series/semi-regular casting, he was doing 14 toward the end of last year and around 17 this spring. Once AvX started, though, he's been consistently at 6. So, 7 is more than we've been used to for most of this year.

[CrazyOldHermit]

I'm still having trouble reconciling the timeline Iron Man has gone through. He lost Bleeding Edge three weeks after Fear Itself and sometime after that spent three months with Mandarin and then left on a voyage to space. So everything post-Fear Itself showing the Bleeding Edge armor was supposed to happen in a three week span. Yeah, OK. At least in the 80s they had Rhodie in the Secret Wars.

[Leocomix]

Iron Man hasn't left for space yet (the last part of Fraction's last issue is a flashforward)

[Mikey Brown]

With a lot of the premises of Marvel NOW! comics, I don't understand how books like Avengers and New Avengers will work.

Captain America's stuck in Dimension Z. But he's also in Avengers.

Tony's in space full time in Guardians of the Galaxy and his solo book. Kieron Gillen said on his formspring that Iron Man wouldn't tie in to Age of Ultron because Tony's in space.

Wolverine is stuck mysteriously in the Savage Land in Savage Wolverine, but is also in sixty billion other books.

The Fantastic Four are away from Earth, clearly with no way of easily returning in Fantastic Four and FF, but Reed is in New Avengers.

While some of these can be explained easily, it's especially hard when you say, "This one just takes place first," because then we know nothing big will happen to the characters in that arc because they're all fine over in this book that happens afterwards. I think they should have some characters stay out of team books when in their own books they're not in a position to be there for other books.

They don't take place at the same time. It is that simple.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

They don't take place at the same time. It is that simple.

Exactly.

There's nothing here to significantly affect anyone's reading experience.

Yes, the timelines don't add up but really, even in the past Thor has been an Avenger and yet had his adventures in Asgard. Same with most popular superheroes with solo books and are part of team books.

[Tupiaz]

Only 12 comics come out in a year. In that time a character could have many adventures. If you add up all the time they are in each title, it still probably doesn't make a year over the course of a year. So I just think of it as it all happening over the course of the year.

I believe Marvel had a "1 Marvel year is 7 human years". This mean that many characters is in their mid to late 20's. The should have some years left in them this way.

[DebkoX]

This is one thing about comics I just cannot understand. I mean, Reeds in space, and earth?!

[J. Robb]

I agree that comic time is pliable enough that everything can be squeezed into place eventually, but the amount of appearances by some characters (especially Wolverine) is just ridiculous. It really dilutes the brand and makes each monthly story feel less important when it's just one of a dozen.

[CrazyOldHermit]

Iron Man hasn't left for space yet (the last part of Fraction's last issue is a flashforward)

Interesting. Source?

[Hostile Kangaroo]

Interesting. Source?

Kieron's run has Tony not in space yet and issues #1-5 are why he leaves for space. In #6 he'll leave. So it was either an oversight by Fraction or a flashforward, so I'm hoping for the second.

[Deus ex Chris]

With a lot of the premises of Marvel NOW! comics, I don't understand how books like Avengers and New Avengers will work.

Captain America's stuck in Dimension Z. But he's also in Avengers.

Tony's in space full time in Guardians of the Galaxy and his solo book. Kieron Gillen said on his formspring that Iron Man wouldn't tie in to Age of Ultron because Tony's in space.

Wolverine is stuck mysteriously in the Savage Land in Savage Wolverine, but is also in sixty billion other books.

The Fantastic Four are away from Earth, clearly with no way of easily returning in Fantastic Four and FF, but Reed is in New Avengers.

While some of these can be explained easily, it's especially hard when you say, "This one just takes place first," because then we know nothing big will happen to the characters in that arc because they're all fine over in this book that happens afterwards. I think they should have some characters stay out of team books when in their own books they're not in a position to be there for other books.

The stories don't take place at the same time. It really is that simple.