JB: About Reed and Ben being war veterans: Why not make it the first Gulf War today? When you updated Iron Man's origin, you made it an unspecified Southeast Asian conflict instead of Korea. I think I like that better than excising that particular bit from their origins.

Mind you, they still haven't explained why the Punisher can be a 'Nam vet and not be approaching Social Security benefits...

Unspecified war is fine. I just think it's an important part of their characters to be war veterans. War veterans (especially those that saw combat) are different kinds of people than the rest of us. You know?

I'm a big fan of Marvel creating a unspecified War that happened a year or three before the FF rocket went up, perhaps with some lingering political unrest for a year or so after, and just letting that Fictional war slide with everything else.  Cap, of course, needs to stay grounded in WWII -- and hopefully they'll move his origin back to BEFORE Pearl Harbor.

Troy wrote: I'm a big fan of Marvel creating a unspecified War that happened a year or three before the FF rocket went up, perhaps with some lingering political unrest for a year or so after, and just letting that Fictional war slide with everything else.

!!!

Somebody else has my idea!! :-)

I've been telling people for years that Marvel should just create a fictional war that could explain Reed and Ben, Tony Stark, and Flash Thompson's involvement with the military. I figure that would get rid of the need to ignore or constantly change the continuity of those characters. I always point out that in a world with fake countries like Wakanda and Latveria, and others, what's the big deal about a fictional war?

Marvel stopped being the world outside your window a long time ago (in the 1960s', in fact).

You know it's funny, but one of the minor reasons why I joined this forum is how J.B just brushes off those foaming fanboys.

Before I joined this forum, I had checked out a lot of the 'anti-Byrne' threads on other sites and I can't believe how much crap these idiots say! I can only imagine how J.B would rip these idiots apart if he posted there!

As I recall, either Roger Stern or Kurt Busiek (or perhaps both, in collaboration) found some mythical war that already exists in Marvel's history, and suggested this become the site for all war references. Don't recall if anyone up at the offices had the wit to follow thru on this, however.

The #835 thing has hit Newsarama and JB is getting quite a bit of support there.

Seems a lot of people liked Gail and him on Action...

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=d5b6f10011a 11e7ffeda06f6c2646f3f&threadid=46663

My, my its grown into quite a debate over there. One could be forgiven for thinking John had posted a 10,000 word sermon about leaving Action the fuss they are making!

I've been telling people for years that Marvel should just create a fictional war that could explain Reed and Ben, Tony Stark, and Flash Thompson's involvement with the military.

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Is there any reason not to just stop referring to there wartime involvement?  Does it really need to be there (with the notable exception of Iron Man, Cap, and Nick Fury)?  Just always seemed to me Reed and Ben were war buddies because men of that time would have been, notn because it added anything particular.  and Flash could just have joined the army, not been in Vietnam, if it needed to be mentioned.  But for the most part, I don't think it really detracts from the characters to stop mentioning the war past for almost all of the characters.   

It boggles my mind that confidence is frequently mistaken for ego.  I think that Byrne is one of the greatests creators in comics because he does what he says he will do -- and has a proven track record. 

In the past 25 years or so, Byrne has shown:

         *He delivers on time, high-quality work.

         *He is devoted to his fans. (this website is proof of that!)

         *He puts great thought into his work, and has deep pride in his profession.

         *He constantly works on improving as an artist.

I've said this before, but I don't care:  If I was an editor, I would kill to have John Byrne working for me!