Mapping the Sentinels Comics History

General GTG Sentinel Comics Lore
1

So one of my favorite things about this game is the rich history it creates.  I love the concept of having a multi decade history to the development of the comic line, introductions of characters, multiple comics, etc.

So for fun and out of boredom I started doing what I know many of you have talked about and have probably done much better then I and that is trying to map out what we know of this world from all the tidbits >G has revealed.

I'm just getting started but thought I'd post what I've fiddled with so far.  I've had to make a few assumptions and wonder if others would agree with them.  As of the initial post here I've started only with the First Appearances (FA)of all the characters as listed here on the website. I've organized it by each column representing a different comic line (Justice Comics, Arcane Tales, etc) and each row representing 12 monthly issues or one years worth of printing.

Assumption 1: The 12 monthly issues per year. This let me stay somewhat general with when things might line up and also fit in the annual issues with the regular issues.

Assumption 2: For comic lines that have nothing else yet seen to direct their start year they start at year 1 while those who have a possible reason for starting later I have listed later in time (with my reasoning listed). 

Assumption 3: Freedom Four Annual's numbering is separate from Freedom Five Annual's though they follow each other chronologically.

So here's what I have so far.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aq5Clu8S_TcHdERaNzVPSkFlY3M4bVlZZ0dYbnNpUUE

I know changes will be made to these as I know some card texts have Freedom Four Annuals past 2 which will drop the Freedom Five and others lower in time.

Whether this is totally off the mark or spot on, I'm having fun with seeing how certain characters compare or may compare to one another over the history of the comic line and thought I'd share.

The next step will be gleaning what I can from both card text and pictures to try and better line up when certain comics happen.  So if I see a card in plague rats deck with Ra in the picture, I may adjust things up or down knowing that First Appearances are one of the only concretes in comic history. Long process and I don't know when I'll do that or how well I'll be able to really corallate things.

Thoughts on assumptions or the method I'm following? Input into the findings?

2

That chart is great.  Makes me wish I could click into any of those cells and read the comics (which don't actually exist). :)

3

Wild!

4

It's fantastic. Thanks for kickstarting this.

5

Mr. Fixer and Bunker both have 2 First Appearance Dates for Black Fist and Tyler Vance respectively.

I don't know if Redeemer Fanatic, Ra - Horus of Two Horizons, Bomber Blade, Cosmic Omnitron or Young Legacy will ever get a First Appearance listing of their own...it would help connect story lines though if they ever do.

6

Fantastic work!

I will say, the Freedom Four Annual and the Freedom Five Annual are the same yearly ongoing book - it was Freedom Four for the first two, and then #3 was the first one to go to the Freedom Five Annual.

Hope this helps!

7

 

So is the flavor text on AZ's Isothermic Transducer which quotes Freedom Four Annual #7 a misprint?  Should that be from annual #2 or be Freedom FIVE Annual #7?

Maybe this has been fixed already in EE but I don't have it yet.

8

It is not a misprint. It absolutely should be Freedom Four Annual #7. This was discussed in another thread somewhere, but I don't have the time to look it up, and it doesn't really matter as I would just be quoting myself at that point.

*giant grin*

Enjoy your conjecture!

9

Also, does the Freedom Five comic start the same year the Freedom (insert number here) Annuals were renamed to Freedom 5?  I assume so since the 5 werent there but i did see a quote by Adam in another thread saying Justice Comics started near WWII with Freedom 5 starting shortly after, but with a different original lineup. 

http://sentinelsofthemultiverse.com/forum/topic/comic-numbering

So I guess that confused me on the history of what was the freedom four and freedom five as we know them, and what is the history of the freedom five previously.

Was it a different freedom 5...someone we don't know left or died...became freedom 4 and then went back to freedom five with the addition of AZ?

Or am I misreading Adam's hints?

10

http://sentinelsofthemultiverse.com/forum/topic/typos-game

Found your quote: "Secondly, and more excitingly, your suppositions are very much on the right track.  You've done a good job of mining the flavor text and backstories to piece together our timeline.  (I have always hoped this would happen!)  It seems like Freedom Four Annual #7 SHOULD be a Freedom Five book . . . but it's not!  There are Freedom Five Annuals #4 and #5, certainly, but for SOME REASON, #7 is a Freedom Four book.  On purpose and everything. Good catch!  I've been waiting for this very thing.  Let the speculation begin!  devilish grin"

So you've let us know that the numbering is consistent but the name changes from four to five between 2 and 3 and #7 is back to four again for one annual. So who leaves? Who's gone? is the 5 we know before and after the same 5? GHHHAAAAAHHH!!!
Freedom Four Annual 1

Freedom Four Annual 2

Freedom Five Annual 3

Freedom Five Annual 4

Freedom Five Annual 5

Freedom Five Annual 6

Freedom Four Annual 7

Freedom Five Annual 8

Freedom Five Annual 9

Freedom Five Annual 10

and so on… I'll have to see how many annual's I can account for across the cards.

And figure out how to show this on my chart.

 

11

Okay...Started with Legacy's deck today.  Most things lined up nicely, a couple new comics added, a few notes in whose in which comic elsewhere.

I now have the big question of art and text.

I found pictoral support of Adam's comment about Freedom Five starting before the current 5.  There is a Justice Comics quote on a card with Legacy punching Voss which as I had it is several years before Voss FA...therefore Freeom Five's start has moved up and starts before the current 5 we know are revealed.

First conflict...on "Bolstering Allies" in Legacy's deck it quotes him in Freedom Five Annual #8.

The picture is vague but I'd have said from left to right you see Ra, Haka, Tachyon, Legacy, Visionary, Fanatic, and Bunkers arm.  But Visionary doesn't have a FA until Annual 16 according to her bio page.

Also, I'd have to shift all the annuals down by several years to have this appear after Fanatics FA in Mystery Comics 368, which I haven't double checked all the consequences of yet.

So do I assume that picture is from that same comic?  Is it simply somebody other then Visionary? Are my 12 issues regular per 1 annual assumptions to far off? What do you think?

12

Something just struck me. The bio says that Legacy first showed up in Justice comics #1, which was around WWII. But Paul Parsons is only 47, so the Legacy in those comics was his father. And that is why it goes from 5 back to 4 in Annual # 7, sometime that year is when the current Legacy's father died.

 

13

Also the current Paul Parsons' birth day is listed as 1973, and his age is listed as 47. That would place the "current" year at 2020.

14

Now those are some interesting thoughts.  I hadn't considered that element at all.  I like your thinking here.

15

(Sorry for back to back posts...can't edit)

You are timing things based on the concept that all the comics live in real time.  That isn't usually the case in a comic book world.  Some comic heroes have been the same for years and years on end.  But what you say about Paul Parson's father being the first legacy in Justice Comics #1 with Paul joining later after the first legacy dies could line up nicely.  We have more history/backstory to the Baron Blade/Legacy rivalry then we have anything else.  The Freedom Four Annual #1 that kickstarter supporters will be getting in pdf format may shed some light on this. We'll see which legacy is in it and that will either support or disprove your theory.

16

True, but the current Legacy is the only one I have found a birth year for, I find that significant.

17

Plus, we don't know how the >G guys are handeling time, they may very well be doing the year for year progression. I, for one would really like if that is the case. I am so tired of the constant need to update a characters background to keep  them the same age.

18

 

Some comics simply stay the same with no explanation. Some do age over time at a regular rate.  Some have separate series for the same hero showing different points in their life (think of all the old Batman comics there are). Some age but gradually…say 10 real years is 1 year in comic time.  Lots of possibilities so its hard to say what >G is going for.

What I find signifcant about a year is that they have said that the Justice Comics line started near WWII.  So they either had comic lines set in the future of the time (Stories of the 80s or 90s [when Paul would be old enough to be a super hero] "written from the 40s or 50s), or at least some evolution or retelling of origins must have happened.  And with comics its impossible to say. 

Previously I said the only thing I feel anyone can concretely say is when did the Character have a first appearance?  Though even then a story written later could be set in their past and line up with earlier chronology.

And then when you add time travel and multiverses…all bets really are off.

19

Okay, I've done Legacy, Haka, Wraith, Bunker, and Mr. Fixer (I'm starting with Heroes in the comics that seem to start at year one.

2 cards thus far causing me problems...

1) Legacy's Bolster Allies, as cited above...visionary in picture on a card before her appearance and I may need to shift whole comic down because fanatic is in the picture.

2) Mr. Fixer's Meditation card has a visionary quote from Freedom Five Annual #15...who as noted above is listed as a first time appearance in Sentinel Comics in Annual 16.  So I'm having trouble lining up the First appearance on the website with 2 cards thus far in other decks. 

20

I've done Ra and Fanatic now.

New problem card from Fanatic: Smite the Transgressor. It is Fanatic quoted from Mystery Comics #368 which is also listed as her FA in Sentinels Comics. But Apostate is also in the picture and his FA is listed as Fanatic #25.  If this is her First Appearance, her personal Fanatic comic line shouldn't start until at least the same time and #25 would be 2 years later on a monthly release schedule but either way it looks like Apostate's FA should be the same comic as Fanatics cause he's in the picture.