•••

Fictional characters do not "evolve." Especially not if they are part of ongoing serial fiction, in which different creative teams will plot their exploits over many years. Even when the same hand guides a character thru his/her entire existence, changes occur not because they are "natural," but because the writer wants them to happen. (Stan wanted Peter and MJ to marry because he was writing the newspaper strip as more of a soap opera. I was even told he was surprised to find this had been brought into the comics themselves.)*

Logic is only occasionally a factor.

_______________

* It should also be remembered that the wedding was played as a big stunt in the comics. DC had generated a lot of press with the issue of ACTION COMICS in which Superman and Lois Lane "finally" got married (avoiding drawing a lot of attention to the fact that it was actually a flashback to the wedding of the Earth 2 versions), and Marvel wanted a piece of that. Of course, outside fandom, the much publicized wedding of Spider-Man and MJ was greeted with a big "Huh?" The general public had no idea who Spider-Man's supporting cast was, or whether he was married or not.

•••

AT FIRST. In the early days, when none of the folk up at Marvel had any way of knowing whether the latest venture would last more than a few years. When it became obvious Marvel was "here to stay," Stan and the gang applied the brakes. For some elements, it was already too late -- Reed and Sue were married, Franklin had been born, Peter Parker had graduated from high school, Johnny Storm was clearly no longer a teenager -- but time as a vital part of the character's lives ceased to exist. This was especially true when long continued stories became the norm. For the Fantastic Four, a dozen issues might mean half a day. And the next issue would give no indication of further time lapse. Franklin was even quietly shunted to the side, removing a constant reminder that time was not passing.

It was with the influx of more and more fans-turned-pro that the obsession with "real time" began to assert itself. Even after the introduction of the unofficial "Seven Year Rule" -- it had been seven years since the FF went up in their rocket, AND ALWAYS WOULD BE -- it did not take long for some to start "doing the math." "Well, if it was seven years in 1978, it must be TEN years by now!" Point missed. (I even saw one "reviewer," around 1980, disputing the Seven Year Rule because the stories were clearly not taking place in 1968!)

It's all very simple. The characters are not real. As noted above, they do not "evolve." All changes are arbitrary, dictated by the whims of the writers. But that can be a GOOD thing, too. It means some of the things that vex we mere mortals, like the relentless march of time, need never touch these characters. Generations of readers can enjoy them, as originally intended.

••

That was, of course, the Big Idea behind CRISIS. Unfortunately, what was missing was the WILL to make it really happen. Again, too many fans-turned-pro in the mix, who did not want to let go of their favorite bits and pieces of DC's cluttered history.

As many of you know, Dick Giordano originally offered what would become CRISIS to me. Back then, it was called THE HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE (which would later appear in an altered form), and the idea was to line up all the ducks in twelve issues, and then blow up the arcade. The next month, all the books would begin again with new first issues.

It was Frank Miller, sitting in on the dinner where Dick made the offer, who strongly advised me against taking the job. "They'll crucify you!" Which "they" probably would have, but there was no danger of me accepting Dick's proposal. As I told him, my knowledge of the DCU was not nearly as complete as was my knowledge of Marvel. I was well set up, in fact, to do something like that at Marvel -- but Marvel, at that time, didn't need it.

So HISTORY went away, and mutated in CRISIS, and immediately started fraying at the edges. (Yes, there's Captain Carrot again!) And, most odd of all, DC insisted on doing their HISTORY book to show the NEW version of the DCU -- a version they were already planning on overturning with the likes of MAN OF STEEL and BATMAN: YEAR ONE.

We see a stark contrast, reflecting the deep involvement of fans where they really should not be, in the difference between CRISIS and the relaunch of superheroes DC had initiated some thirty years earlier. Back when the Silver Age Flash made his debut, there was no such thing as organized fandom, and if National Periodicals received any mail complaining about this overturning of "history", they simply did not print them. They just plowed ahead with the Plan -- new names, new faces, new characters.

Except for that one tiny slip. A slip that was titled "The Flash of Two Worlds." Impossible to have foreseen, when that story was published, how long and damaging its shadow would be!

••

That sounds about right. I had lunch with Bruce and Paul Dini during a visit to LA in '94 (Oy!), and they both came across a very enthusiastic fans of the material -- but fans who knew to check their fanthink at the door.