Then the birth was announced in FF Annual No. 5, and the phrase “Marvel time” was first mentioned.

The stretching of time was not noticeable until 1973, and did not completely replace real time until after 1980 (the death of Jean Grey). The stretching finally broke and was replaced by a sliding timescale between 1988 and 1991. ‘Sliding’ is a misnomer, as the need to compress an ever larger history into ten to thirteen years leads to an abandonment of continuity; e.g., history is largely ignored and characters sometimes grow younger. The in-comics explanation is probably the existence of Franklin Richards.

Why Marvel time is a bad thing, on balance:

The purpose of Marvel time is to prevent change

The whole reason for Marvel time is to allow Marvel to publish stories about the same characters forever. In other words, Marvel time exists in order to prevent change. Change is replaced by the illusion of change. This way, according to theory, each generation can enjoy the characters as if they were new., which sounds good.

Unfortunately, change is the basis of every good story: the hero gains experience and usually changes inside. If you only have the illusion of change, then you only have the illusion of a good story.

The harm caused by Marvel time was not obvious in the early days, and by the time the effects became obvious, it was too deeply entrenched.

Marvel time has never been made to work

Different Marvel editors have stated that everything in Marvel time takes place in 7, 10, or 13 years. Paul Bourcier has shown that this is impossible. Once we admit that it takes 22 years, why not just accept 44 years and be done with it? Marvel time only works if we don’t pay attention. But if we don’t pay attention, then why bother?

Marvel time destroys trust

Marvel time bans real change, yet publishers often promise changes. The promises turn out to be false, and trust is reduced. Here are two recent examples of lost trust, courtesy of the Newsarama website...

The solicit:

“AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #545: ‘ONE MORE DAY’ PART 4: After this, nothing will be the same for Peter Parker! The stakes have never been higher.”

A fan comments:

“How many f***ing times have we heard ‘Brace yourself, Spidey fans, after this, nothing will be the same for Peter Parker’, in the past 5 years?! Seriously!! Enough!!”

Another example, a quote from Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief:

Newsarama: Now let’s get to probably the subject of the week – the FF. First of all, can you tell us about the just-solicited ‘Death in the Family’ one-shot, promising the death of Sue Richards? It reads, and we quote, “Not a dream, not a hoax”... So this is truly “in continuity” and she really buys it?

Quesada: Karl Kesel has created one of the best told-in-one FF stories in a very long time, and yes, unfortunately, there will be a death in the FF family and it is all in continuity. But here’s some Joe Fridays breaking news that the solicits don’t tell ya, and remember, you heard it here first: two of the FF die, not just one. Gone, goodbye, nevermore.

A comment on what actually happened:

“Sue Richards from our reality died, and then Johnny saved her, and it created a parallel universe. So, while they died, it didn’t matter.”

So Marvel said there would be change. Then there was no change. Result: we don’t trust Marvel.

Marvel time destroys characterization

In his (now defunct) blog, a fellow calling himself ‘Plok’ once pointed out how Marvel time can destroy the essential core of the characters. Here are a few examples:

Captain America is a hero of World War II who was frozen in ice and later revived. When he first appeared in 1962, World War II was a recent memory. His character was that of a “great hero who lives!” But as time passes, he becomes like Buck Rogers, frozen in one era and thawed out in a completely different one. His character is that of a historical figure “coming to terms with the future” – a completely different character.

Ben Grimm’s core character was about being trapped in a body he hated. Over the years, he has occasionally been transformed back into human form, but only very occasionally. However, Marvel time compresses all these changes, so The Thing becomes human every few months. This changes his essential character – becoming human is normal and common for him.

Spider-Man’s core character is about having problems. His best known problem is when his girlfriend Gwen Stacy died. At the time, he mourned for her for at least two years. But now those two years have been compressed into a few months. In Marvel time, all of Spidey’s major problems are solved or forgotten in a couple of months. So it becomes absurd to worry about problems: his whole character becomes a farce.

Mr Fantastic was defined as an introvert scientist who is also a heroic leader of men. Surely that is a contradiction – an introvert extrovert? How did it happen? The early stories explained: it was because of the draft. Introvert Reed Richards was forced into the army, and that’s where he became a hero. That’s why he was then able to lead the Fantastic Four. In America, the draft means either WWII or Vietnam at the latest, which fixes the possible dates at which Mr Fantastic’s career could begin. But the new Reed Richards was never drafted. New writers realize that an introvert scientist would not be a heroic and inspirational leader; he would not be a rounded human being. In stories like the Illuminati, he was presented as a jerk – one prominent writer called him “an asshole”. The original Mr Fantastic has been destroyed by Marvel time.

Magneto is another example – his origin is irrevocably tied to the Second World War. Originally, his character was to be a kind of evil parallel to Professor X, but now he’s old enough to be Xavier’s grandfather and all connection is lost.

The Black Widow and Colossus are other examples – their origins are tied to the Soviet Union. Or The Punisher, who’s origin is inextricably tied to Vietnam. The list could go on and on.

Marvel time destroys plot

How many times has the Marvel Universe been invaded by aliens? Marvel time compresses time so an alien invasion happens every couple of months. No big deal. The average person in the street would pay no attention. It ceases to be of any interest. How many times has a major character died then later came back to life? Marvel time compresses time so major deaths happen every few months, and are reversed a few months later. Great crises, deaths, all the major plot devices mean nothing with Marvel time. They become just tedious business as usual with no real effect on anybody.

Marvel time makes continuity a mess

With Marvel time, everything looks the same, and important events are not given dates, so it becomes very hard to maintain continuity. As a result, many writers don’t even try, so contradictions appear and make the mess even worse.

But in the real world, continuity is not a problem. Events move quickly so each decade looks different from the last. And there are clear dates, and events have rational consequences so they naturally form memorable patterns. So nobody gets World War I confused with World War II, and nobody gets World War II confused with the Gulf War.

With real-time comics, nobody gets unmarried Sue Storm confused with married Sue Richards: they look and act differently, and the wedding is a landmark. Nobody worries about remembering the earlier adventures of Franklin Storm, the Hate Monger or the guy who impersonated the Thing: they died and stayed dead. While Marvel time creates continuity confusion, real time solves the problem.

Marvel time turns the biggest asset into the biggest liability

The Marvel Universe was Marvel’s unique selling point: others could copy its realism, but nobody could copy the scale and richness of its world. Fans get excited thinking about this huge world to explore, and all the back issues to enjoy. But Marvel time makes it so complicated (see above) that the editors hate it. This sliding timescale soon becomes a dragging timescale, as witnessed by these quotes from Tom Brevoort:

“The Marvel Knights brand has been a place where creators can go to tell an iconic tale of our characters without having to be hamstrung by continuity.”

“Many readers are equally confused by the different lines with their different continuities, and by the fact that some projects don’t quite fit into any of them. But that’s part of the price of dragging 45 years of history behind you.”

“When you’re dragging 70 years of publishing history around behind you, continuity or the slavish devotion to continuity can be a straitjacket.”

In contrast, real-time comics find that history is an asset, not a liability. Note that early Marvel did not drag its history. There was no sliding or dragging of timescales. Events were fixed, tied to real-world events, like Reed Richards fighting in World War II. Events from more than ten years earlier naturally corrected themselves: Bucky was dead. The original Human Torch died. Colonel Fury had a completely different job. The comics moved on. Those were fast-moving, exciting times and their history made them feel real!

Marvel time destroys stories

The whole point of a story is “What happens next?” The whole point of a great novel is that the hero changes through the course of the book. Marvel time destroys that possibility.

Marvel time destroys excitement

Marvel time keeps heroes alive forever, so the hero population goes up and up. Remember the early days when Ben Grimm had to battle because nobody else could? That is no longer true. There’s always someone else, so why bother? And the longer they’re around, the more that power inflation takes hold; so not only are there plenty of heroes, but most of them can lift a hundred tons without having to break a sweat. Yawn.

Marvel time scares away new readers

Marvel time is confusing, so in an effort to make things simple, Marvel periodically reboots titles. But this just makes things even more complicated. Plus it dilutes the brand.

I took a break from comics between 1986 and 2004. When I came back, I wanted to read The Fantastic Four and find out what I’d missed. But I discovered there were multiple versions of the FF, each contradicting the other: Ultimate FF, Heroes Reborn FF, FF 2099, Marvel Adventures FF, Marvel Knights FF, etc., etc. I was too stubborn to give up, and I slowly pieced together the mess; but if I had been a new reader, I would have walked away in confusion. Marvel time destroys sales.

Tom Brevoort makes an interesting point about why people buy comics:

Question: Don’t you think the time is right to give Marvel Team Up and/or Two in One another shot? If not, why not?

Answer: I don’t think so, and here’s why. Back in the 70s, when those books had their greatest period of success, everything about the way that comics were stocked and sold was different from the way it’s done now. These days, with fans whose primary concern is whether a given story ‘matters’ [emphasis mine] and retailers who don’t tend to put a lot of stock in the rotating team-up concept, it’s something of a non-starter. This is quite different from the days when you’d just send an issue to the stands, and if it looked good or had an interesting guest star in it, people would buy it.

People buy comics because the story matters. Marvel Time destroys this because all stories will be retconned sooner or later.

Marvel time destroys repeat sales

Marvel sells reprints of back issues. However, Marvel time undermines and devalues the best stories. As Jerome Thomas wrote, “I wonder how ‘One More Day’ impacted the sales of the many popular married Spider-Man stories that are still available in reprint? Stories like ‘Kraven’s Last Hunt’ are now ‘wrong.’ [...] One of the most touching issues of Amazing Spider-Man ever written was the Death of Aunt May issue. Marvel proceeded to crap all over that story by revealing that it was a really a genetically modified actress hired by the Green Goblin to bla-bla-bla and the real Aunt May was alive and well. Had Marvel not chickened out and kept Aunt May dead like they should have done, I think that a Death of Aunt May trade paperback could have been a nice little seller for decades to come.”

Marvel will of course reply that old comics don’t sell so well... except for the 1960s stuff. And why does that sell? Because of a feedback loop. Readers constantly hear about those stories, so they have to buy them. Imagine if every great story was canon, and remained so. Everything would be connected. (And because death would be permanent, the back story would never become too complicated.) Over the years a reader would become aware of more and more connections between new and old stories, until every major story became a ‘must have’ just like the 1960s stuff.

Connections between comics form a positive feedback loop for sales. Marvel time destroys those connections.

Marvel time destroys brands

Historically, the core Marvel brands were created in real-time comics, in the 1960s, or during the X-Men’s real-time period. When Marvel time steps in, the creativity stops and the brands begin the decades-long process of dying.

TV soaps are more successful without Marvel-type time

Marvel is not the only continuing universe: TV soap operas are the same. The big difference is that TV soaps appears have to deal with characters who age and die. This forces creativity. Soap writers would love to keep their best stars alive forever, but as Marvel and DC have shown, that destroys any hope of meaningful events.

Manga sells better because it has no Marvel-type time

Marvel time equals stagnation. It bans change and avoids risk. But only risk and change can create exciting new ideas. This is from Paul Gravett’s ‘Manga: An Introduction’ (with emphasis added):

“Manga stay fresh and vibrant because they have to keep on finding new authors and winning over readers. Unlike in America, where Spider-Man or Superman are still wearing their underpants outside their trousers after forty, or sixty, years, in Japan not every successful series has to last forever. Manga engage you because they chart the lives and growth of characters and do actually come to a conclusion. It may take thousands of pages, but you can see genuine change going on, not just the ‘illusion of change’ found in most superhero soap operas, where even death is temporary in order to protect and preserve valuable properties. Manga stories can really end, because that way new stories can begin.”

The best-selling Marvel comics ignore Marvel time.

Marvel comics took place in real time during the company’s boom period, the 1960s. The long-term decline in sales began in 1968, when the first hints of Marvel time became apparent – that is, when fans started to complain about stretched-out stories. The Claremont/Byrne X-Men and other hot comics are effectively in real time. Look at the stories that attract the most people: the movies, the cartoons, the Essential collections, and the various Ultimate series. What do they have in common? They are from the Sixties or are recent retellings, so they ignore Marvel time. (As the Ultimate titles settled down into their own routine, they gained their own version of Marvel time, and sales subsequently declined.)

A simple solution: let the Fantastic Four run in real time.

It is a simple matter to have one comic run in real time, aware of the real world, while interacting with comics that exist in Marvel Time. She-Hulk and Deadpool both break the fourth wall from time to time, and the world does not end: other characters just think they are odd. The Fantastic Four could run in real time, using occasional ‘de-aged’ stories like that of FF #214 if readers want them to still look young.

The only change required is for the team to react to actual dates and the passage of time, just as we do in real life. This anchors stories in the real world. It forces events to have consequences. All I ask is for one comic where events matter. Is that too much to ask?