Dividing Marvel Comics up into "Seasons" (or "Phases")...
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 10:45 pm
Hey there. To some of you, long time no see. Others here, nice to meet you.
I've been thinking on something a bit lately, and figured I'd toss this out to all of the "Marvel chronology" lovers out there: As you all probably know, Marvel's taken to dividing their movies up into "Phases". "Avengers: Endgame" was supposed to be the end of "Phase 3", though Kevin Feige later said that "Spider-Man: Far From Home" was the end of Phase 3 (I guess it could be the "epilogue"). At Comic-Con last month, Marvel announced their plans for "Phase 4" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But I got to thinking on this, and...could this "dividing Marvel films up into phases" work for the comics?
To be clear, this is NOT the same as "how many years have passed since Fantastic Four #1?". This is more along the lines of "how many phases (or "seasons" or "chapters") have their been since Fantastic Four #1, and where are the dividing lines?
A few years back, I remember reading a quote by Joe Quesada (or someone) that from "Civil War" to "Siege" was all one storyline, one "season" of Marvel comics (and I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it). From Civil War dividing the heroes, to World War Hulk and Secret Invasion breaking the heroes down further, to the Dark Reign leading to the reuniting of all the heroes and the defeat of Norman Osborn in "Siege", that's all one season. Or phase. Does that sound correct?
Another example: The conclusion of the Clone Saga in the 90's, along with Marvel's bankruptcy and the "Onslaught" story-line, and the "Heroes Reborn" debacle, I always thought that was the end of an era (or "season" or "phase") and "Heroes Return" (or maybe "Heroes Reborn") was the start of the new era.
Where are the dividing lines, the different chapters to this thing we all know and love called "Marvel Comics"?!? Thoughts?
I've been thinking on something a bit lately, and figured I'd toss this out to all of the "Marvel chronology" lovers out there: As you all probably know, Marvel's taken to dividing their movies up into "Phases". "Avengers: Endgame" was supposed to be the end of "Phase 3", though Kevin Feige later said that "Spider-Man: Far From Home" was the end of Phase 3 (I guess it could be the "epilogue"). At Comic-Con last month, Marvel announced their plans for "Phase 4" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But I got to thinking on this, and...could this "dividing Marvel films up into phases" work for the comics?
To be clear, this is NOT the same as "how many years have passed since Fantastic Four #1?". This is more along the lines of "how many phases (or "seasons" or "chapters") have their been since Fantastic Four #1, and where are the dividing lines?
A few years back, I remember reading a quote by Joe Quesada (or someone) that from "Civil War" to "Siege" was all one storyline, one "season" of Marvel comics (and I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it). From Civil War dividing the heroes, to World War Hulk and Secret Invasion breaking the heroes down further, to the Dark Reign leading to the reuniting of all the heroes and the defeat of Norman Osborn in "Siege", that's all one season. Or phase. Does that sound correct?
Another example: The conclusion of the Clone Saga in the 90's, along with Marvel's bankruptcy and the "Onslaught" story-line, and the "Heroes Reborn" debacle, I always thought that was the end of an era (or "season" or "phase") and "Heroes Return" (or maybe "Heroes Reborn") was the start of the new era.
Where are the dividing lines, the different chapters to this thing we all know and love called "Marvel Comics"?!? Thoughts?