Can we talk about the sliding comics timeline?

[Armageddon]

https://twitter.com/cracksh0t/status...764952065?s=20

I just saw this from a link on Bleeding Cool. I understand it’s the nature of comics to keeep characters eternally frozen.

But it’s just as bad to state a concrete age. I wish they would just dance around it. There’s no way the X-Men are in their late 20s. That means Generation X needs to be still 19ish

And New Mutants are what?

Then add in the New X-Men and there’s no way to fit all of that

The X-Men don’t even act like they’re in their late 20s. Like I said even though I’m against it, I understand it’s the nature of the medium, but you have to give more leeway with those ages.

Do X-Writers even know how late 29 year olds act?

[PsychoEFrost]

https://twitter.com/cracksh0t/status...764952065?s=20

I just saw this from a link on Bleeding Cool. I understand it’s the nature of comics to keeep characters eternally frozen.

But it’s just as bad to state a concrete age. I wish they would just dance around it. There’s no way the X-Men are in their late 20s. That means Generation X needs to be still 19ish

And New Mutants are what?

Then add in the New X-Men and there’s no way to fit all of that

The X-Men don’t even act like they’re in their late 20s. Like I said even though I’m against it, I understand it’s the nature of the medium, but you have to give more leeway with those ages.

Do X-Writers even know how late 29 year olds act?

Yeah, we had a long discussion of this exact issue not long ago.

Just pick an age that sounds right for you, and go from there.

Use the Mystery Science Theater mantra:

It's just a comic, don't think about it too hard, and try to relax.

[Armageddon]

Yeah, we had a long discussion of this exact issue not long ago.

Just pick an age that sounds right for you, and go from there.

Use the Mystery Science Theater mantra:

It's just a comic, don't think about it too hard, and try to relax.

But he just forced me to

[Silver Fang]

The characters age changes based on whatever is needed.

Example. In the 90's Deadpool, Wade had Siryn as a love interest. So she had to have been a grown woman, as Wade certainly wasn't a young man at the time. JDW says he's between 45-50 now. Meanwhile, in the 90's GenX, Monet was 16 or 17 when the series ended. Come X-Factor, she appears to be Siryn's age group & they slept with the same guy.

Emma's age received good bits of debate when she's stated to be no older than 28 now, which makes her young as **** with some of her earlier stories.

[FUBAR007]

https://twitter.com/cracksh0t/status...764952065?s=20

I just saw this from a link on Bleeding Cool. I understand it’s the nature of comics to keeep characters eternally frozen.

But it’s just as bad to state a concrete age. I wish they would just dance around it. There’s no way the X-Men are in their late 20s. That means Generation X needs to be still 19ish

And New Mutants are what?

Then add in the New X-Men and there’s no way to fit all of that

The X-Men don’t even act like they’re in their late 20s. Like I said even though I’m against it, I understand it’s the nature of the medium, but you have to give more leeway with those ages.

Do X-Writers even know how late 29 year olds act?

It doesn't make sense. It's never going to. Trying to rationalize it is a waste of time.

[Armageddon]

The characters age changes based on whatever is needed.

Example. In the 90's Deadpool, Wade had Siryn as a love interest. So she had to have been a grown woman, as Wade certainly wasn't a young man at the time. JDW says he's between 45-50 now. Meanwhile, in the 90's GenX, Monet was 16 or 17 when the series ended. Come X-Factor, she appears to be Siryn's age group & they slept with the same guy.

Emma's age received good bits of debate when she's stated to be no older than 28 now, which makes her young as **** with some of her earlier stories.

The first thing I thought of was Ocasio-Cortez
Someone who is young but is in a position of power
But even she does things that remind me of how young she is
The X-Men don’t, they’re written as older
It makes Wolverine really creepy

It was even worse when DC did it

[Snoop Dogg]

The O5 are in their late 20's, just like Spider-Man. That's just how it is. You can't complain that characters don't act their age when people at different ages don't act the same and no person has been in circumstances like these characters have.

[Silver Fang]

The first thing I thought of was Ocasio-Cortez
Someone who is young but is in a position of power
But even she does things that remind me of how young she is
The X-Men don’t, they’re written as older
It makes Wolverine really creepy

It was even worse when DC did it

Sadly the characters have been de-aging in some cases. Read Domino's current solo by Gail Simone. Domino should be in her mid-late thirties, but is written like an awkward 20-year-old.

Sabretooth is older than Wolverine, and tends to be written like a dumb frat-boy jock. He's recently been stated to be on dating sites, using smart-phones and texting with emojis and speaking with words like "man." - "Stryker, looks like we just killed ya, man." And how he mentions lurking on twitter.

Honestly, the de-aging of some characters is even worse. No way the current Domino would've ever been in a relationship with Cable. Currently she's dating Warpath, and calling him stuff like "beef-cake" and "hot guy I like to play smash-mouth with."

I prefer the more old-fashioned adult characters, rather than the newfound millennial characters.

[Armageddon]

The O5 are in their late 20's, just like Spider-Man. That's just how it is. You can't complain that characters don't act their age when people at different ages don't act the same and no person has been in circumstances like these characters have.

I can, and I am. Especially when the majority of them suffer from it.

[Armageddon]

Sadly the characters have been de-aging in some cases. Read Domino's current solo by Gail Simone. Domino should be in her mid-late thirties, but is written like an awkward 20-year-old.

Sabretooth is older than Wolverine, and tends to be written like a dumb frat-boy jock. He's recently been stated to be on dating sites, using smart-phones and texting with emojis and speaking with words like "man." - "Stryker, looks like we just killed ya, man." And how he mentions lurking on twitter.

Honestly, the de-aging of some characters is even worse. No way the current Domino would've ever been in a relationship with Cable. Currently she's dating Warpath, and calling him stuff like "beef-cake" and "hot guy I like to play smash-mouth with."

I prefer the more old-fashioned adult characters, rather than the newfound millennial characters.

That’s a flanderization problem. Domino was always a badass.

[Silver Fang]

That’s a flanderization problem. Domino was always a badass.

Flanderization and makes the characters come off like frat kids. Give me Bunn's Domino. Or one that's sassy and snarky. Not ditsy party girl who never had friends before. lol

[Arsenal]

Once people started dying and coming back to life it was time to stop bothering figuring out a timeline that makes sense.

[Ambaryerno]

I will never agree with the sliding time scale. It leads to a form of storytelling that's becoming increasingly obsolete as more and more forms of entertainment — even animation — abandon rigid adherence to a status quo and adopts a heavier reliance on character development and allowing characters to move forward. It mires characters and stories in past, and is especially problematic because of the changing demographics among the audience (IE, hetero WASPs formed the majority of the readers when most of the "core" characters were introduced, and thus the core reflects that demographic; POCs and LGBT therefore occupy a token status). The handful of shows that still rely on this — IE the Simpsons — feel increasingly dated.

The industry NEEDS to suck it up and phase it out. Allow characters age, grow, move on, and even die for keeps. Maybe riding on the same 60 year-old core keeps their existing audience happy, but as demographics change and that audience eventually dies (because we DON'T live in a "Death Is Cheap Comic Book Time" world that never ages) they're going to be finding it increasingly difficult to draw the increasingly diverse new readers for whom those characters no longer appeal.

[Armageddon]

I will never agree with the sliding time scale. It leads to a form of storytelling that's becoming increasingly obsolete as more and more forms of entertainment — even animation — abandon rigid adherence to a status quo and adopts a heavier reliance on character development and allowing characters to move forward. It mires characters and stories in past, and is especially problematic because of the changing demographics among the audience (IE, hetero WASPs formed the majority of the readers when most of the "core" characters were introduced, and thus the core reflects that demographic; POCs and LGBT therefore occupy a token status). The handful of shows that still rely on this — IE the Simpsons — feel increasingly dated.

The industry NEEDS to suck it up and phase it out. Allow characters age, grow, move on, and even die for keeps. Maybe riding on the same 60 year-old core keeps their existing audience happy, but as demographics change and that audience eventually dies (because we DON'T live in a "Death Is Cheap Comic Book Time" world that never ages) they're going to be finding it increasingly difficult to draw the increasingly diverse new readers for whom those characters no longer appeal.

I agree but they won’t

The dumbest thing is they want to stick with loose continuity
But they don’t want characters to age.

They could just keep doing resets for different writers
But they’d rather stick with the same universe but keep time at a standstill
And the reasoning is that’s how it’s always been

[yogaflame]

Until Batman, Superman, WW, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Captain America stop being Bruce, Clark, Diana, Tony, Peter, and Steven, the mainstream comics medium will adhere to the slippery slopes of the sliding timescale.

It is important to remember most of the X-Men have been zooming around the universe, battling aliens, working with advanced technologies, being drilled in combat techniques by a telepathic genius in his mansion since they were teenagers. Of course they are not going to act the exact same as normal late 20-somethings. Their life experiences are far and away different. Their capacities and opportunities have been far different. If you look at real world late 20-something soldiers, or advanced research scientists, you might get a better reference. Late 20-somethings can be very responsible, adept, and mature under certain circumstances.

I think the O5 and older ANAD cast are between 28-32.
The younger X-Men (Rogue, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Rachel, etc) are just behind them at 25-28.
The New Mutants generation and Kitty are just behind them at 21-25.
The Gen X kids are just behind them at 19-23.
Leaving the Academy Kids plus at anywhere from 17-20.

Yes, it does truncate the space between the various generations, but as should be expected in the sliding timeline.

There are a handful of more mature characters, including Banshee, Sage, Emma, Xavier, Magneto, the Science Team, Forge, etc, who could be anywhere from mid 30's to about 85, not to mention obvious outliers like Mystique, Wolverine, and Sabretooth, who are well over 100.