Post by swankivy on May 15, 2010 20:55:18 GMT -5
Over the course of the comic's run, several people have expressed confusion or concern over how much time is passing in the Negative One storyline.
This is partly lazy storytelling on my part, because I hate tying the comic to specific dates and thereby, by definition, "dating" it. But since things do happen in times and places, it's important to acknowledge it when it's relevant, and it seems it's time for me to do that.
A couple private messages have involved wondering why cell phone videos of Ivy flying around aren't on Facebook or YouTube, or why Meri Lin didn't do anonymous research about advice for raising her telekinetic baby on the Internet. Well, many of you have probably figured this out by now, but this comic takes place in the mid to late 1980s. There was no Internet.
The week I'm posting this, my latest update finally specifically dated the comic. A photo dated August 21, 1987 was in the Portal tabloid.
Because of this, a confused commenter wrote this:
"But it had been only a month since her vanishing that she got to the point of making up the 'falling game'? Damn, telling multiple stories can screw with one's perspective of the time frame within."
He's right. It IS confusing. But since Ivy's baby perspective was very moment to moment, it seemed like a lot more time was passing in those early Ivy comics.
For the record, I wanted to show you how the dates worked out with respect to the comics in Ivy's storyline. (This is only her storyline; it's the only one where dates are obvious right now.)
Being that Ivy's second birthday would have been July 31, 1987, we can conclude that her date of birth was July 31, 1985.
We can also conclude that Meri Lin is living in the year 1988 because she saw the Portal article in January.
Dax and Weaver were drawing calendars in the sand literally the same day Ivy disappeared. In #0216, Dax points with a stick and says "this is today!"--he's pointing to July 16. (His rendezvous date with the hippies was July 14.) Since that episode, they have lived through one winter and are now into summer all over again when they meet Alix. I don't know what month it is.
That leaves Adele. Her timeline's pretty much a complete mystery, and I don't know how long she's lived in the library or when she arrived in the human world because a date of arrival would have been meaningless in reference to her world. I think I am just playing it safe and avoiding nailing her down to a specific time yet because eventually her events will have to coincide with some of the other events.
As far as location goes, if you were curious, Ivy and Meri Lin are in New York City (obviously), Adele is in Illinois, and Dax and Weaver are in Connecticut. . . .
This is partly lazy storytelling on my part, because I hate tying the comic to specific dates and thereby, by definition, "dating" it. But since things do happen in times and places, it's important to acknowledge it when it's relevant, and it seems it's time for me to do that.
A couple private messages have involved wondering why cell phone videos of Ivy flying around aren't on Facebook or YouTube, or why Meri Lin didn't do anonymous research about advice for raising her telekinetic baby on the Internet. Well, many of you have probably figured this out by now, but this comic takes place in the mid to late 1980s. There was no Internet.
The week I'm posting this, my latest update finally specifically dated the comic. A photo dated August 21, 1987 was in the Portal tabloid.
Because of this, a confused commenter wrote this:
"But it had been only a month since her vanishing that she got to the point of making up the 'falling game'? Damn, telling multiple stories can screw with one's perspective of the time frame within."
He's right. It IS confusing. But since Ivy's baby perspective was very moment to moment, it seemed like a lot more time was passing in those early Ivy comics.
For the record, I wanted to show you how the dates worked out with respect to the comics in Ivy's storyline. (This is only her storyline; it's the only one where dates are obvious right now.)
| comic # | date | Notable Events |
| 1-5 | July 16 | Ivy went out the window and spent the night with the older couple Nora and Marty. |
| 6-13 | July 17 | Ivy leaves in the morning, plays on the playground, meets Melanie but gets abandoned, and is taken to the shelter by Karen, where she meets Theresa. |
| 14-22 | July 18 | Theresa and Melanie meet at the playground and discuss taking care of Ivy, including toilet training. Melanie makes the rooftop home and leaves Ivy there overnight. |
| 23-30 | July 19 | Theresa finds out Melanie's stolen to make the building home, and makes her go to church. Ivy flies away after getting frustrated, steals a cake, gets found and escapes a restaurant, finds Melanie again, and confidently sleeps on the building. |
| 31-36 | July 20 | Ivy discovers how to keep track of her building, steals an orange from fruit merchant Keith, gets slapped by Melanie in the fountain bath, and spends the night with Theresa in the shelter. |
| 37-40 | July 21 | Ivy goes back to the orange merchant and meets Keith and Ernie, has her bad experience with the storm, and spends the night in a department store with Melanie. |
| 41 | July 22 | Theresa lectures Melanie about cutting school and suggests she might have a job soon. |
| 42 | July ? - August ? | Montage episode showing all the different activities Ivy engages in, and by the end of the issue her bangs have gotten very long. |
| 43 | Mid August? | Theresa got her job and Melanie cuts her hair, and Ivy gets her bangs cut. |
| 44 | August 21 | Ivy plays the dropping game and is spotted by observers who photograph her and later sell the story to tabloid Portal. |
| 45 | Late August | Melanie sulks about going back to school; Theresa is despondent about not getting a grant. Ivy discovers her ability to create wind with telekinesis. |
Being that Ivy's second birthday would have been July 31, 1987, we can conclude that her date of birth was July 31, 1985.
We can also conclude that Meri Lin is living in the year 1988 because she saw the Portal article in January.
Dax and Weaver were drawing calendars in the sand literally the same day Ivy disappeared. In #0216, Dax points with a stick and says "this is today!"--he's pointing to July 16. (His rendezvous date with the hippies was July 14.) Since that episode, they have lived through one winter and are now into summer all over again when they meet Alix. I don't know what month it is.
That leaves Adele. Her timeline's pretty much a complete mystery, and I don't know how long she's lived in the library or when she arrived in the human world because a date of arrival would have been meaningless in reference to her world. I think I am just playing it safe and avoiding nailing her down to a specific time yet because eventually her events will have to coincide with some of the other events.
As far as location goes, if you were curious, Ivy and Meri Lin are in New York City (obviously), Adele is in Illinois, and Dax and Weaver are in Connecticut. . . .
