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Here's a great book I treated myself to recently - the store detective didn't spot me stuffing it down the front of my trousers (well, there's plenty of room down there anyway, so why waste it?), nor the slightly odd way in which I shuffled out of the shop, so that's one-nil to me. (Relax, of course I paid for it. You're so gullible.)
This is the collected edition of a six-issue tale, in which The Fantastic Four age in 'natural' time (more or less) from their first appearance in the '60s right up until the present day. There are a few liberties taken with the established sequence of certain FF memorable moments, so I guess it's a 'reimagining' of sorts, but it's no less an absorbing story for that fact.
If you're a fan of the Cosmic Quartet, you're sure to enjoy this valiant volume - so rush out and buy it as soon as you can from your friendly neighbourhood bookstore. 'Nuff said!
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I haven't seen this one but I picked up the Spider-man Life story ( issue 2) in a 3 comics for £1 bag a few years ago. That issue was pretty good so may look at this next time I'm in Glasgow
ReplyDeleteThoroughly enjoyable, McS, and worth the dosh. I got mine in HMV in my local Town Centre, though you might be able to get a discounted copy via eBay - if you used eBay, that is.
ReplyDeleteJust checked - yup, you CAN.
ReplyDeleteA "floating timeline" is the term for characters who don't age as the decades pass and who live permanently in the present day. Obviously this doesn't apply to characters like Conan who lives 12,000 years in the past but the current incarnation of the Fantastic Four must have got their super-powers in about 2016. And it affects certain TV characters too - Homer Simpson is permanently aged 36 so when 'The Simpsons' began in 1989 Homer's year of birth was 1953 but now in 2023 his birth year is 1987, only two years before the TV series began. In fact, 1987 was the year that The Simpsons first appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show on American TV so Homer's birth year has now reached the same year that The Simpsons were created.
ReplyDeleteMarvel used to describe outdated references as 'topical' references, to explain how their unageing heroes could be alive under Kennedy as President and also Clinton, CJ. I remember being confused (in the early '70s) as to how The Newsboy Legion (as reprinted in Jimmy Olsen) could be watching a Superman cartoon in the '40s when, as grown-ups, the 'real' Superman hadn't aged in that time. (I didn't know about the Earth-1, Earth-2 idea back then.) I believe it was John Byrne who came up with the 'floating timeline' idea (though he may not have called it that), when he suggested that (as regards origins) nothing occurred more than 7 years before a hero's current adventure.
ReplyDeleteI think I need to check EBay too? This sounds very interesting!
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting and enjoyable read, JP.
ReplyDelete