How Many Universes Can You Hold?
Right now, the Marvel Universe has at least two: the comics, and the movies. The movies have also expanded into television with the advent of Agents of SHIELD, the Peggy Carter show that’s coming, and the Netflix series which is currently filming. This doesn’t include the cartoons, of course.
After watching a Marvel movie, I have to explain the differences between what happens in the movies and what has happened in the comics. I don’t see the movies as canon, except for within their own universes. Like most comic book readers, I can hold several different universes within my mind with no real problem.
Archie Comics is bringing Life With Archie to an end, and they’re doing it by killing Archie. That’s fine. I can respect that. However, one of my coworkers who used to read Archie in her childhood, couldn’t understand that Life With Archie isn’t the main line of Archie. It’s its own pocket universe, and it is coming to an end. I tried to explain it as best I could, usually using soap operas and real life: the soaps mimic real life as best they can, but veer off into craziness as the story demands; the regular Archie is like real life, and Life With Archie is like a soap opera.
She didn’t get it.
As comic book readers, we generally hold several universes in our heads at one time: one for Marvel, one for DC, possibly the Marvel Cinematic Universe, maybe the DC Filmic Universe (DCFU!), the pre- and post-Crisis, the New 52, and then whatever other books you’re reading, like the Vertigo titles, or books from Image or maybe even ComixTribe.
How many universes can you hold and keep it all straight?
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Category: Columns, The Daily Dose
