Discussion Main / ComicBookTime

There's something I think either I or many editors are misunderstanding about the concept. From what I understood from the usual definition of a floating timeline, it's about characters not aging even though a significant amount of time passes *in-universe*; with that passage of time being indicated by the work always being contemporaneous with publication.

For example, the Simpsons has a floating timescale, because Bart Simpson is still 10 years old, even though he lived *in-universe*, through the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s. He's still 10 years old even though he saw both Bush Sr. and Trump be president. Same with most comic book characters. Most comic books explicitly take place in the present, so characters not aging throughout is weird, and requires a floating timeline.

The Incredibles, on the other hand, is not a floating timeline. Characters are still the same age in the sequel, made 15 years later; but that's because the sequel takes place immediately after the first. If time didn't pass in-universe, it's not a floating timeline just because time passed in the real world

However, some examples from this page seem to indicate that any long-running work where characters don't age is a floating timeline, even though there is no in-universe indicator of time passing. Some even have some flimsy logic. Look at the Super Mario series, for example. It is given as an example because the characters don't age in the 35+ year of the series history. However, nowhere in the series (other than some throaway fourht-wall jokes) does it indicate that 35 years passed in-story. The text says "Let's assume that Mario ages one year with every generation", but why do we need to assume that at all? It could be ten years between games, or it could just as easily be one week. If every Mario game took place a week after the other (not unthinkable in a world of adventure), the entire series would take place in less that two years, and characters not aging would be perfectly natural.

Because the Mario series doesn't take place in the real world present, and since there's no in-universe indicator that any significant amount of time actually passed, we can't say the Mario series uses a floating timeline, it's just static.

What do you guys think? Did I misunderstad the concept, or am I making sense?

Not sure if such a question belongs here or not, but is this trope compatible with Retro Universe?

Isn't the limited potential for this the reason why a fair few franchises seem to have to take the nuclear option and go for a Continuity Reboot?

"At some point in the mid-1960s, Stan Lee is said to have stated that, as a general rule of thumb, they were trying to keep the then-new Marvel Universe on a one-to-three timeline — every three years that passed in the real world would be a year of Comic-Book Time. Deliberately or otherwise, Marvel actually managed to stick pretty close to that right up until the early 1990s when, during one of the X-Men's 30th Anniversary comics, Professor Xavier mused about the things he'd been doing for the past 10 years — starting with the founding of the X-Men. Considering it's been just over 15 years of Comic-Book Time since the Fantastic Four made their flight (or just over 16, by keeping the ratio strict), they could easily slip back into the 1:3 ratio just by cleaning up some problematic characters."

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Your Obedient Serpent posted the original version of this example, citing a "Stan's Soapbox" entry. He has since been unable to corroborate the existence of that entry, or Stan's original statement. As of December of 2011, every online reference to Marvel's one-to-three ratio ultimately refers back to this TV Tropes entry.

Your Obedient Serpent hereby states for the record that this is in no way a verifiable claim, and does not wish to be responsible for further propagation of erroneous information.

Technically Homer and Marge have been aging slowly, while the kids haven't.. Originally Bart was conceived in Marge's senior year, making her 28-ish (and Homer the same age plus however long he was held back), and over time they've gained about a decade of age.

"Lampshaded in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. During the Wake, we see Clark Kent, Batman, and J'onn J'onzz discussing their dreams. Clark mentions that he has a recurring dream where he gets infected with a virus that forces him to only move one direction through time."

Is that really a reference to comic book time (which typically does only pass in one direction, just r-e-a-l-l-y slowly)? When I first read it, I assumed it was more likely a reference to this, just as his other dreams are references to actual Silver Age comic books.

How has no one mentioned Power Pack? Four kids who were all about the same age (8-11?). Since then, two have remained kids, Alex Power seems to be about 18 now in FF 4, and Julie Power was easily a young adult in The Loners.