INFINITE CRISIS: Chronologies *SPOILERS*

[sudoku]

Any thoughts on where Supergirl 1 to 3 go on your timeline, Sudoku? ;)

I've placed Supergirl 1 and 2, but I haven't touched #3 yet. The 10th footnote explains my reasoning.

I think Supergirl may turn out to be one of those series that reads great as an independant story but doesn't gel well with the bigger picture.

[PaulTiberius]

I see why you placed JLA 115 before BoP 87-88, Paul (It was to tie the JLA reference to the Firestorm kidnapping directly to Villains United 4, while BoP 87 clearly takes place after Villains United 6). For my timeline, however, I gave precendence to the Black Canary/Green Arrow relationship, so it made more sense for BoP 88 to precede JLA 115. I assumed that Lois was writing her Firetorm story several days after the actual kidnapping had taken place (it could have very easily been a detailed investigative report, rather than a "breaking news" piece).

I am the first to admit my connection of Firestorm #16/Villains United #4 to JLA #115-119 is extremely tenuous. In fact, that's one item I may revisit, which my result in a compression of my "backbone" from four weeks to three.

In fact, I thought as I was generating the file that it would probably be better to have Lois working on an investigative report, just as you say, some time after the Firestorm events. But I was starving for anything -- anything! -- that would help to explicitly define the amount of time between "Sacrifice" and IC #1, and that was literally the only thing I found.

Regarding the Dinah/Ollie interactions, we have three things: their involvement in "Perfect Pitch" (BoP #87-90), "Crisis of Conscience," and "World Without a Justice League." The "CoC" timeline is pretty short -- just two days. And the only time they are seen together then is in the company of at least Green Lantern, who is carrying them around on a flying platform. It seems possible they simply shared an awkward silence, not wanting to air their private business around their teammates.

And since in "Perfect Pitch," Dinah only says they just haven't "talked" things out, not that they haven't "seen" each other, it can work. On the other hand, Ollie seems surprised at Dinah's physical shape, as if he hasn't seen her at all since the break up. I'm beginning to think I might ought to rework these arcs.

The final effect will be that my timeline is compressed by a full week, due to the Firestorm "last week" dependency. I'm not sure I'm willing to do that yet.

[PaulTiberius]

Ed, you have Return of Donna Troy before "Insiders." How do you figure that? RoDT #2 clearly tries to place this after "Insiders," since Shift says Nightwing had decided to leave the team.

[sudoku]

Ed, you have Return of Donna Troy before "Insiders." How do you figure that? RoDT #2 clearly tries to place this after "Insiders," since Shift says Nightwing had decided to leave the team.

You may be reading this backwards (perhaps because CBR displays posts in reverse order when you are replying?). I have "Insiders" on Day 4 and "Return of Donna Troy" on Day 5 (I figured that would explain why Kid Flash and Wonder Girl were still at Titans Tower, since it would be a Sunday, but on the downside, it allows very little time for Cyborg's repairs).

Or perhaps, I have accidently shifted one or the other and failed to correct my mistake, but if that's the case, I can't find the error.

[lawman]

Wow! Now, this is the sort of fannish attention to detail that does my heart good to see! As a long-time fan of careful continuity, I find this effort fascinating. Excellent work!

Of course, I disagree with quite a bit of it. :)

(Paul Semones, same kudos to you, and no slight intended, but I just haven't had a chance to read your version yet... drop me an e-mail via my site, linked below, and I'd be happy to send you comments!...)

Here's the thing: there's just no need to pack all these events into such a short period (two weeks -- or even four, for that matter -- from Countdown to Infinite Crisis, inclusive of all mini-series). Consider that Titans #26 explicitly places itself "one month later" after Superboy's rampage in #24-25 (which rampage was "not three days ago" as of "Sacrifice" (Adventures of Superman #642), in the midst of OMAC Project and thus hot on the heels of Countdown). Consider also that the JSA #73-75 tie-in to the early issues of Day of Vengeance was "last month" as of #76, which also follows shortly after Countdown. And both these references were in stories by Geoff Johns, architect of the whole shebang, so they shouldn't be casually disregarded. Consider also that the events of Batman #635-641 span "five weeks" prior to Red Hood's unmasking, starting after OMAC Project (since in OP #6 Batman himself remarks that the stolen Kryptonite has not yet been recovered).

Nor are these the only examples; you've had to disregard the internal day references in Teen Titans and dismiss several other stories as "apocryphal" to make this tight compression work.

I think there is a more elegant solution, one that allows time for all the intervening stories without the awkward crowding and overlapping. In my interpretation, there are roughly 2-1/2 months between the beginning of Countdown and the beginning of InfC.

More detailed comments to follow...

[lawman]

Taking it from the top...

First of all, there's no need to try to pin down the various tie-in mini-series so precisely, as (except for OMAC Project) they don't actually intersect the "main" storyline(s) except at a select few points. Villains United, Rann/Thanagar, and Day of Vengeance can each take place at various points scattered over several weeks. In particular, as I noted last post, the beginning of DoV intersects with JSA #73-75, which is "last month" as of OMAC Project/JSA #76. Thus, whenever you have scenes from one of these inserted on a specific day, I'm forced to ask "why? how?"

Second: I'll trust the content of Batman's own scenes as to when the Kryptonite was recovered, meaning its discovery toward the beginning of the 5-week-long Red Hood arc must follow OMAC Project #6. (The only anomaly is Metamorpho's passing remark to the Kryptonite in JSA #76, but that's incidental to that book's plot, and IMHO the Batman scenes take precedence.) The rationalization about who Nightwing talked to in Countdown just doesn't ring true.

I think the Superman/Ruin arc in Adventures #636-640 also belongs weeks earlier -- prior to the "Vanishing" and the whole "For Tomorrow" arc, which itself leads into Superman #217 (with an additional break of "three weeks").

When you take the internal "weekend" dates in Titans #21-23 and 24-25 into account, the former story (Dr. Light's attack) must fall earlier than you have it (albeit only by a few days), and the latter (Superboy's rampage) slightly later. Given that Titans #21 starts only a single week after Mia's "trial run" with the Titans in Green Arrow #46, as well, I think it's likely that Ollie was accurate when he remembered (in GA #54) that story occuring prior to the events of GA #50-52.

So, what we wind up with are two tight stretches of days (one surrounding Countdown, the other InfC), but with quite a few events leading up to the former and falling in between the two, over a span of several weeks in each case. Let's take the first "stretch" first...

Prelude events...
-- Including Adam Strange mini-series
-- Including Spectre encounters in DoV #1, JSA #73-75, and Dov #2-5 (the month before Countdown)
-- Including much Society recruiting, including possibly early scenes of VU

Day 1-2 (Fri-Sat)
Titans #21-23/Outsiders #20
(Mia officially joins the Titans, and Dr. Light attacks; Shrapnel invades Outsiders HQ and is defeated, then the team joins the battle with Light.) One week after GA #46, and coincides (per Flash's dialogue) with JLA #107-114.

Days 3-7
Events of Countdown
(Beetle discovers financial shenanigans, confronts Batman, goes off on his own, gets killed)
Possibly August 15-19, based on a newspaper seen in the story.

Day 9 (Sat)
Titans #24-25/Outsiders #20-25
(Indigo attacks the Outsiders; Superboy attacks the Titans; both teams join forces.)
One week after the Light battle; requires a continuity "gap" in Outsiders #20.

Day 10-14
OMAC Project #1-3, JSA #76, "Sacrifice" (Supes/WW isues), OMAC #4-6
(Batman learns of Beetle's death; Superman goes nuts; Diana kills Max; most OMACs defeated)
Going by the Titans day-of-week references, Max's death falls on Day 12, a Tuesday. There's really no need to "interpret out" the "22 hours" caption in "Sacrifice."

Then we have several weeks before the final scene of OMAC (Brother Eye's release of the Diana footage), during which fall (among other things):
-- the first Red Hood arc (Batman #635-641), covering five weeks -- note that Batman's treatment of his fellow Leagur's place this before] the "Crisis of Conscience" arc
-- Titans #26, "one month later," in which Conner learns he has a soul
-- Superman #220, which logically follows Titans #26
-- Return of Donna Troy
-- remainder of Villains United (and note the time plausibly needed for Deadshot to heal in #6)
-- JLA #115-119 ("Crisis of Conscience"; also linked to VU via Firestorm reference), except for the final scene in the Watchtower
-- Rann/Thanagar War (including Hawkman and Hawkgirl, thus after the JLA arc)
-- Adv. Superman #644, with Superman and Zatanna, also after "CofC"
-- quite a few other stories, including sundry Society and OMAC attacks (and heck, just the stories in Batman's own titles after Red Hood's unamsking -- including the Hush/Clayface arc, "War Crimes," and the second Red Hood arc, among others -- easily occupy a month based on internal references!)

More to follow!...

[PaulTiberius]

Lawman, some of the difficulties you're mentioning are addressed in detail in my SBC work. When I get a chance, I'll come back to this thread and think through your points more closely. But for every "Five weeks earlier" or "One month later" reference in Batman #635 or Teen Titans #26, there are other references that work to compress the timeline much more tightly. Whether you push the timeline longer or squeeze it tighter, something has to be disregarded as incorrect somewhere.

[lawman]

Well, you're right that everything isn't ever perfectly reconcilable. And I haven't yet read your take on things, so I reserve the right to adjust my judgment. :)

But all else being equal, I find this overall sequence of stories seems to contain more explicit references like this (indicating longer time spans), whereas the indications of shorter spans (like, e.g., DoV #5, or the odd elision in Robin #145-46) are usually (A) implicit, and (B) so compressed that there's no way they can be taken at face value and still accommodate other stories -- so, for both reasons, they're easier to set aside.

Beyond that, when weighing things in the balance, I tend to grant precedence to references from a character's own book and/or a story's primary writer wherever possible (e.g., trust Titans over outside clues as to how long Conner spends in Smallville). (Admittedly, this doesn't work for the two examples I just cited -- both of which, interestingly, were written by Willingham. Rather sloppy of him, no? But hey, no rule of thumb in perfect...)

[PaulTiberius]

Wow! Now, this is the sort of fannish attention to detail that does my heart good to see! As a long-time fan of careful continuity, I find this effort fascinating. Excellent work!

Of course, I disagree with quite a bit of it. :)

(Paul Semones, same kudos to you, and no slight intended, but I just haven't had a chance to read your version yet... drop me an e-mail via my site, linked below, and I'd be happy to send you comments!...)

Lawman, first of all, major major respect for your website! I'll be browsing that in the weeks to come, no doubt! I had never seen it, but I believe your site is what a friend recently mentioned to me over coffee.

Now, let me just say that Ed Sudoku and I have been conversing a bit privately, and he and I may be converging toward a three-week timeline from Countdown to IC#1. Some of the references you are taking issue with are (I believe) from his initial work in this thread, and I believe he's planning on easing things into a longer sequence.

But I still have problems with some of your reasoning. Let the arguments begin! :)

[PaulTiberius]

Here's the thing: there's just no need to pack all these events into such a short period (two weeks -- or even four, for that matter -- from Countdown to Infinite Crisis, inclusive of all mini-series).

I am the first to say I wish I could make the timeline more expansive. But other than the single-point-of-reference captions you have noted (all of which I struggled with mightily!), most of the structural story elements don’t allow it. Actually, there are plenty of references that force it toward a short timeline. Unless you deliberately place Superman #220 out of sequence (something I have absolutely avoided – rearranging the order of non-fill-in issues within a title) the Superman titles claim the events immediately preceding “Sacrifice” are within days of Teen Titans #26. This is something I didn’t cover in my SBC write-up, but S #218 is best seen as the day before “Sacrifice” Day 1, and S #221 is still referencing it as only a few days ago … but of course in between these issues we have the Smallville issue in S #220 crossing over with TT #26, contradicting the “One month later” caption there.

The entirety of the Wonder Woman title during this timeframe requires major, and almost indefensible, time stretching within issues to even allow my four-week timeframe (and this is by co-arcitect Rucka).

Willingham’s Robin title argues for a passage from “Insiders” to the opening of Infinite Crisis as barely a week, and very nearly explicitly places all of OMAC Project #4-6 as on the same day (or one previous) as Infinite Crisis #1-4. Clearly, the late issues of Robin are utterly impossible to take at face value.

Day of Vengeance – if events on the Rock of Eternity are taken as in literal sequence with events on earth (a question I deliberated in my SBC write-up) – places less than three weeks between the days surrounding the first chapters of Countdown and the opening of Infinite Crisis #1.

And of course, we must assume major time gaps in OMAC #6 and JLA #119 to allow even the two weeks Ed has plotted and/or the four weeks of my chronology.

As you state, there are, of course, a handful of explicit captions that force the chronology the other way – toward being much longer. And we have all of the Batman run arguing for a lengthy timeline as well. Simply put, somewhere something has to give, and we’ll never be able to make every time reference fit. The best we can do is minimize the number of things that must be considered as errors… and I prefer the default of throwing out a single caption to twisting the structural flow of entire runs.

[PaulTiberius]

Consider that Titans #26 explicitly places itself "one month later" after Superboy's rampage in #24-25 (which rampage was "not three days ago" as of "Sacrifice" (Adventures of Superman #642), in the midst of OMAC Project and thus hot on the heels of Countdown). Consider also that the JSA #73-75 tie-in to the early issues of Day of Vengeance was "last month" as of #76, which also follows shortly after Countdown. And both these references were in stories by Geoff Johns, architect of the whole shebang, so they shouldn't be casually disregarded.

Indeed, I would prefer not to have to disregard either reference. But like I said, other events argue against them.

Consider also that the events of Batman #635-641 span "five weeks" prior to Red Hood's unmasking, starting after OMAC Project (since in OP #6 Batman himself remarks that the stolen Kryptonite has not yet been recovered).

I can’t agree with you that Batman #635-638 is after OMAC #6. If your only basis for this is Rucka’s line of dialogue where Batman tells the Green Lanterns that the Kryptonite hasn’t been found (or is it “recovered”?), then you have to disregard Johns’ statement in JSA #76 that it was. I prefer to split the difference and have either a) Batman lying to the GLs, or b) Batman not actually taking possession of the Kryptonite in B #638. (There is also the troubling theory that there were two batches of the green stuff, but this is entirely speculative, and not supported by anything explicit anywhere.) I do plan on re-examining Batman’s and Metamorpho’s comments in these two issues, as well as looking closely at whether or not Batman could have been forced to leave the K behind in his pursuit of Red Hood. (Memory fails me at the moment.)

[PaulTiberius]

Nor are these the only examples; you've had to disregard the internal day references in Teen Titans and dismiss several other stories as "apocryphal" to make this tight compression work.

I believe you’re referring to Ed’s first chronology here, where “Lights Out” and “Insiders” go on the same weekend, due to Outsiders dependencies. I, of course, place them on consecutive weekends as the dialogue explicitly requires (which also requires forcing a rather uncomfortable gap in between Outsiders #20 and #21), and – I hate to keep speaking for Ed like this – I think he may be planning on correcting this.

I think there is a more elegant solution, one that allows time for all the intervening stories without the awkward crowding and overlapping. In my interpretation, there are roughly 2-1/2 months between the beginning of Countdown and the beginning of InfC.

I’d love to see a spreadsheet of your placement of things into a 2-1/2-month timeline. Got one handy? :)

At this point, I don’t see too much awkward crowding of anything – at least in my four-week timeline – other than the very big problem of fitting in Batman #639-649. In fact, in our discussions, Ed and I have been converging toward a three-week timeline, since my four-week backbone is extremely tenuous in the third and fourth weeks, and the events within those two weeks are in fact rather sparse.

In any case, it’s a huge ordeal to make a coherent timeline, isn’t it? And what fun, too! :D All this back and forth is very cool.

Takes me back to the days in 1998 when a bunch of us Star Trek bulletin board addicts started arguing things loudly enough to get the attention of the Star Trek editors … and a year later, our chronology work was officially sanctioned and published! Makes me feel all warm inside … Dan DiDio, are you reading? ;)

[lawman]

Anyway, moving along: we finally get to Infinite Crisis...

...and here, Sudoku, I think your difficulty is that you treat the events of InfC #1 as if they were in fact all simultaneous, as presented -- and thus wind up moving other things back and forward rather awkwardly to accommodate that (e.g, having Donna leave Earth then return again). It still doesn't quite work, though, as you yourself note WRT what Conner's watching on TV... I think you're quite accurate in your notes when you say, "As long as we assume that the Earth-2 Superman and the others are watching scenes out of sequence, there is no problem."

Given that, then, here's my take...

Day "0"
OMAC Project #6 (end), WW #221
(Footage of Max's death is broadcast worldwide)

Day 1
JLA #119 (end), Adv. Superman #645
(The Watchtower is destroyed) -- note: Lois in mid-east
JLA #120
(JLAers gather at cave, then Batman leaves for moon)
InfC #1 (selected scenes)
(Big 3 battle Mongul and each other on moon; Society ambushes Freedom Fighters)

Day 2
JLA #121; JSA #77
(Arthur attempts to regroup JLA, contacts Nightwing; JSA encounters Donna approaching Earth)

Day 3 (Sunday)
JLA #122-23 (Donna recruits Supergirl & RT in NYC)
WW #222 (Diana surrenders to ICC; Donna & Kara visit; fights Cheetah)
JSA #78-80 (JSA goes to Fate's tower & 5th dimension)
InfC #1 (cont'd), DoV #5-6 (Rock of Eternity detonates over Gotham)
--longer-than-apparent continuity gap in DoV #5
JLA #124-25 (Key defeated in Gotham)
Outsiders #29-31 (first scene) (7 Deadliy Sins attack Alcatraz; Donna recruits Starfire, Jade, & Shift)
Titans #29 (Donna recruits Cyborg; Red Hood attacks Tim)
--reference to "breaking footage" of Max's death is inaccurate
Superman #223 (Supergirl bids farewell to Clark, in Peru)
InfC #1 (Bloodhaven scene) Donna says goodbye to Dick; OMACs change protocol
Hawkman #47-48 (fight Komand'r; prequel to Donna's arrival at Polaris)
Action #832 (Spectre, now without Eclipso, visits Metropolis)
--note: Lois back in Metropolis; date given as Halloween (10/31)

Day 4 (Monday)
Titans #30-31 (Brother Blood attacks)
Firestorm #20 (Donna & crew in space)
Outsiders #31-32 (Donna & co in space, vs. Komand'r)
Adv. Superman #646-47 (final unmasking of Ruin)
-- note: Lois in Europe: visits Diana, then Geneva
InfC #1 (climax): Kal-L & co. escape Alex's "prison" dimension
WW #223 (night) (learns of new OMAC attack on Themyscira)

Day 5
Superman #224 (Luthor flies to arctic)
InfC #2 (Kal-L rescures Power Girl, explains her history)
InfC #3, Aquaman #37, WW #224
(Spectre destroys Atlantis; Batman argues with Brother Eye & meets Kal-L; Diana sends Themyscira away; the two Luthors meet)
Superman #225 (S. flies west -- with brief stop in El Paso -- to fight fires)
JSA #81? (side battle in Philly)
DoV Special (Rock reconstructed, Spectre finally defeated)

... and so on from there, in pretty much the sequence you present.

Thoughts?

[PaulTiberius]

Anyway, moving along: we finally get to Infinite Crisis...

...and here, Sudoku, I think your difficulty is that you treat the events of InfC #1 as if they were in fact all simultaneous, as presented -- and thus wind up moving other things back and forward rather awkwardly to accommodate that (e.g, having Donna leave Earth then return again). It still doesn't quite work, though, as you yourself note WRT what Conner's watching on TV... I think you're quite accurate in your notes when you say, "As long as we assume that the Earth-2 Superman and the others are watching scenes out of sequence, there is no problem."

Given that, then, here's my take...

Day "0"
OMAC Project #6 (end), WW #221
(Footage of Max's death is broadcast worldwide)

Day 1
JLA #119 (end), Adv. Superman #645
(The Watchtower is destroyed) -- note: Lois in mid-east
JLA #120
(JLAers gather at cave, then Batman leaves for moon)
InfC #1 (selected scenes)
(Big 3 battle Mongul and each other on moon; Society ambushes Freedom Fighters)

Day 2
JLA #121; JSA #77
(Arthur attempts to regroup JLA, contacts Nightwing; JSA encounters Donna approaching Earth)

Day 3 (Sunday)
JLA #122-23 (Donna recruits Supergirl & RT in NYC)
WW #222 (Diana surrenders to ICC; Donna & Kara visit; fights Cheetah)
JSA #78-80 (JSA goes to Fate's tower & 5th dimension)
InfC #1 (cont'd), DoV #5-6 (Rock of Eternity detonates over Gotham)
--longer-than-apparent continuity gap in DoV #5
JLA #124-25 (Key defeated in Gotham)
Outsiders #29-31 (first scene) (7 Deadliy Sins attack Alcatraz; Donna recruits Starfire, Jade, & Shift)
Titans #29 (Donna recruits Cyborg; Red Hood attacks Tim)
--reference to "breaking footage" of Max's death is inaccurate
Superman #223 (Supergirl bids farewell to Clark, in Peru)
InfC #1 (Bloodhaven scene) Donna says goodbye to Dick; OMACs change protocol
Hawkman #47-48 (fight Komand'r; prequel to Donna's arrival at Polaris)
Action #832 (Spectre, now without Eclipso, visits Metropolis)
--note: Lois back in Metropolis; date given as Halloween (10/31)

Day 4 (Monday)
Titans #30-31 (Brother Blood attacks)
Firestorm #20 (Donna & crew in space)
Outsiders #31-32 (Donna & co in space, vs. Komand'r)
Adv. Superman #646-47 (final unmasking of Ruin)
-- note: Lois in Europe: visits Diana, then Geneva
InfC #1 (climax): Kal-L & co. escape Alex's "prison" dimension
WW #223 (night) (learns of new OMAC attack on Themyscira)

Day 5
Superman #224 (Luthor flies to arctic)
InfC #2 (Kal-L rescures Power Girl, explains her history)
InfC #3, Aquaman #37, WW #224
(Spectre destroys Atlantis; Batman argues with Brother Eye & meets Kal-L; Diana sends Themyscira away; the two Luthors meet)
Superman #225 (S. flies west -- with brief stop in El Paso -- to fight fires)
JSA #81? (side battle in Philly)
DoV Special (Rock reconstructed, Spectre finally defeated)

... and so on from there, in pretty much the sequence you present.

Thoughts?

Lawman, you're into territory I, personally, am saving for my next revision on SBC, and so haven't settled on concretely.

But I am surprised you're writing off the "breaking news" reference to the footage in Teen Titans #29. I'm treating that reference as inviolate, if I can, since Geoff Johns is clearly using that to establish the opening timeline for Identity Crisis.

I'm treating "World Without a Justice League" as hugely problemmatic, and will probably have to recommend portions of it as erroneous. I've also treated Action #832 (the Spectre/Halloween issue) as an out-of-sequence fill-in (actually, I've called it apocryphal). Otherwise, you have Lois returning to America for no good reason, in between her trips to Umec and Europe.

You're right that IC #1 has to be viewed as a dramatic sequence, not a literal sequential story.

[lawman]

First off -- thanks for the kind words on my site! It's a labor of love.

Now, to the nitty-gritty...

Actually, there are plenty of references that force it toward a short timeline. Unless you deliberately place Superman #220 out of sequence (something I have absolutely avoided – rearranging the order of non-fill-in issues within a title) the Superman titles claim the events immediately preceding “Sacrifice” are within days of Teen Titans #26.

The Clark/Conner issue? I just flipped through it again, and I didn't see a single specific chronological reference.

The entirety of the Wonder Woman title during this timeframe requires major, and almost indefensible, time stretching within issues...

Okay, I'll grant you that... there needs to be a hidden "continuity gap" just before her "confession" to her colleagues at the Embassy. Perhaps this included the period (as Sudoku notes) mentioned in JLA #118, when she was meditating on Themyscira. I still maintain that it's usually easier to find space for "gaps" than it is to crunch longer events down. (I take my cues here from the approach George Olshevsky used so judiciously in his classic Official Marvel Index series.)

Clearly, the late issues of Robin are utterly impossible to take at face value.

Yup, no argument there.

And of course, we must assume major time gaps in OMAC #6 and JLA #119...

Yes, of course. But once you allow that those "final scenes" aren't actually connected to the stories that precede them, the length of those gaps is then up for grabs.

I can’t agree with you that Batman #635-638 is after OMAC #6. If your only basis for this is Rucka’s line of dialogue... then you have to disregard Johns’ statement in JSA #76 that it was [recovered]... (There is also the troubling theory that there were two batches of the green stuff, but this is entirely speculative, and not supported by anything explicit anywhere.)

I just think it makes more sense to trust a Batman scene WRT a Batman-related story. Granted, though, the whole Kryptonite subplot doesn't seem t ma much sense regardless... if it did, we wouldnt' even be able to speculate about "two batches."

I believe you’re referring to Ed’s first chronology here, where “Lights Out” and “Insiders” go on the same weekend, due to Outsiders dependencies. I, of course, place them on consecutive weekends as the dialogue explicitly requires (which also requires forcing a rather uncomfortable gap in between Outsiders #20 and #21)...

Well, you and I are in agreement on this bit, then!

Takes me back to the days in 1998 when a bunch of us Star Trek bulletin board addicts started arguing things loudly enough to get the attention of the Star Trek editors … and a year later, our chronology work was officially sanctioned and published!

Oh -- you're a part of the "official" Pocket Books ST timeline team? Very cool. :) I'm impressed.

Now, for an encore, shall we sort out the order of all the Sherlock Holmes stories?... ;)