Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rochester.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!rochester!ciaraldi From: ciaraldi@rochester.UUCP (Mike Ciaraldi) Newsgroups: net.comics Subject: Re: Ketchup Comments #1 Message-ID: <5964@rochester.UUCP> Date: Wed, 30-Jan-85 12:54:41 EST Article-I.D.: rocheste.5964 Posted: Wed Jan 30 12:54:41 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Feb-85 01:53:07 EST References: <583@oddjob.UChicago.UUCP> Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept. Lines: 69 Xref: seismo net.comics:1514 > >> ...Doom is even older, since he's a contemporary of Reed Richards, > >> who fought in World War II. > > > >But revisionist Marvel History has it that that issue of SGT. FURY in > >which Reed Richards appears never happened, or that it wasn't *really* > >Reed Richards. Marvel doesn't want Reed to be 60+ years old. > > > > How can they help it? I remember an old FF where Ben and Reed were > reminiscing about their war days. Ben was a fighter pilot in the Pacific, > and Reed was with the OSS in Europe. I even think there was a Two-in-One a > few years ago teaming up Ben Grimm and the Howling Commandos. I don't > *think* that that was just a dream, although I could be wrong. The fact > that Ben and Reed were in WWII seems to be too ingrained in the FF saga for > Marvel to arbitrarily dump it. > When the origin of the FF was reprinted in the ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS trade paperback, around 1970, Stan Lee had a comment on this. He quoted Reed as saying Sue was "the girl I left behind when I went to war", and then Stan wrote something like, "It must have been the Korean War. Sue isn't THAT old!" Also, there have been occasional references to the gamma radiation slowing down the FF's aging processes. > On the same note, does anyone remember the issue of the X-men a few years > back where Wolverine, in a tough situation, says something like "this > reminds me of that night on Monte Casino". Seems like he was in WWII too > (and who knows how many *other* wars he was in. That mutant healing factor > might give longevity, as others on the net have suggested.) Charles Xavier, > I believe, also served in WWII. Again, Chris Claremont has said in interviews, but never in an official X-Men publication, that Wolverine is quite old and did serve in WWII. His mutant healing factor is what gives him such long life. Xavier is a little different. He has always appeared older because of his bald head, but recent X-Men stories say he was only in maybe his late twenties when he founded the X-Men. I think the confrontation with the bad guy who crippled Prof. X's legs has been set at 1960. I heard recently that Puck from Alpha Flight is supposed to be about 100 years old, and there will be stories of his early exploits published soon. He used to be known as The Dwarf. I agree, this is all very hard to keep consistent. John Byrne seems determined to single-handedly construct a time line that makes the origin of the FF about 8 years back from the present day. This shows up in, for example, the origin of Guardian/Vindicator, when he is shown working on the suit when the news of the FF's trip to space is announced. Flashbacks in the FF indicate that theirs was the first STARSHIP, not the first SPACESHIP, and that the original goal of reaching the moon (as quoted in FF #1) seems to have mysteriously turned into a trip to the stars. On the other hand, I am not crazy about the DC way of doing things, as it has changed recently. Earth-1 and Earth-2 I can accept, and I would even support a migration to a new Earth-n which would have all brand-new heroes (slthough this is not what the CRISIS series seems to be moving toward). What bothers me is the piecemeal way that longevity is being added to some of the characters. e.g. The JSA gets a portion of time energy added to their lives in the "Case the World Isn't Ready For", so they don't age as fast, but the Black Canary gets replaced by her daughter. Mike Ciaraldi ciaraldi@rochester seismo!rochester!ciaraldi