Board Thread:Administrative/@comment-61022-20160711220926/@comment-61022-20160712161210

Flashbacks:

I think what I need to clarify is that these divisions are for flashbacks that have not been seen before (ie: not a recap of an event that has been previously seen)

Examples of what I mean are: Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards Vol 1 where the story is being told by Reed Richards to his son Franklin. There's the narrative that takes place in the "present" and set at Pier Four, and the story from Reed's younger days. Also X-Men: Deadly Genesis Vol 1 which has two narrative points, one in the "present" and the other around the time of.

In both cases you have at least the primary antagonist (Mister Fantastic and Cyclops) who are active in both points in time and are at different points of continuity. Using the APN tags (Which allow a user to plot the characters previous and next appearances in a given comic summary) separating the two time periods would be a benefit in terms of easy organisation.

Example:

It clearly shows where the characters are going in different time frames and which character/location/item appears in each point in history.

The, and  aren't quite so helpful if your using the APN tags on a character appearance because if you are putting in a character appearance you can't identify more than two appearances: the character's previous and next chronological appearances. When you have multiple continuity points for the same character in story, I feel it helps to differentiate.

In some cases the appearances are between panels and pages of various comics (Example: Spider-Man's many origin story tellings that add more information) so those are a little harder to quantify but in a lot of cases these are straight forward issue to issue instances (like the Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards series I mentioned above)

I think perhaps the only thing that could be altered in terms of the layout for doing appearance lists for different time periods is to only subheadings for things that are present.

So for example, if there is a villain that appears in the "present" we have the 'Villains: heading but if there isn't one in the "past" we don't have a heading for it. Ditto for races, supporting characters, items and vehicles.

Mentions:

When it comes to mentions... I suppose it boils down to the intention of mentions. Is there a context to a character being mentioned? Is it integral to the plot? Is it referencing another story line that has passed or is on going (in the frame of the story).

A lot of times, it's just characters quipping about each other. A comment by the Thing about being stronger than the Hulk for example. Sometimes it's relevant to the story, other times he's just cracking a joke.

Whereas a character could be mentioning someone as a reference to something else that has happened or is going on.

My point of view is this: If your writing an issue summary and you have to reference the mention in the body of the text to properly recap the story then it's a valid mention. For example: If Daredevil is fighting Deadpool and in passing Daredevil quips about how Deadpool talks more than Spider-Man that sort of mention is not integral to the plot.

Whereas, if the X-Men are examining the depopulations of mutants and one of them recounts how mutants are going extinct and mentions how the Beast is looking for a cure with the Inhumans -- and this is something that is going on in another title -- that's a worthwhile mention because it's integral to the plot.

Really the two mentions differ: One is trivia (Spider-Man talks a lot) and the other one is a Continuity point (Beast finding a cure).

I find mentions that are a point of continuity and plot are important to reference.

But I also don't think we should be tacking mentions or flashback appearances in "Other Characters" anymore. From a readability perspective, breaking things up into different headings makes it look better in my opinion.

Continuity Notes

Presently I'm adding them as a sub-heading in the notes section. I don't think that Continuity Notes necessarily need their own section. However notes can be broken up into two different categories:

Notes about continuity and notes about the publication itself.

Anything else that could be said outside of the plot of the story is trivia.

In lieu of adding separate continuity/publication notes to the summary template, I would recommend putting in subheadings that are there by default whenever a new template is created.