User blog comment:Nausiated/How to Write a Proper Issue Summary/@comment-11220539-20180813052634/@comment-61022-20180817035505

I would say that they are not really any hard and fast rules. It really depends on how it affects the flow of your summary. I usually ask myself a few questions before writing about a recap flashback:

1.) Are any of the differences from one version or the other topical? 2.) Are there any facts that are contradictions to other versions of the story, and are these errors of some kind? 3.) Will I spend more time explaining the difference than I will be telling the story? 4.) Do both versions tell the same general story?

I'll give you an example. I've written many many takes on Spider-Man's origins over the past year writing issue summaries for the various spider-books. There are versions that add new material to the origin story.

I typically write a summary of said flashback as it is told in that recap. I usually reserve the following things as notes:

1.) Referencing when the original story was told. 2.) Identifying topical references. (I generalize in the summary, and talk about the specifics in the note) 3.) If this version of the story presents something that contradicts a previous telling of the story, but can't be chalked up as a topical reference. In that case, I try to determine if it was an error of some kind or not.

Another thing I look at, and this doesn't necessarily apply just to flashbacks and recaps. If there are issues with how the story fits in with the sliding timescale. In a lot of those cases, it's typically something that Marvel hasn't addressed yet (like how a World War II character can be alive in the modern age) I sometimes offer a plausible explanation, as long as it is something that doesn't require a lot of speculation.

The best example I can give you is Dominic Fortune. He was an adventurer who was in his prime in the 1930s, yet still appeared in the modern age. They've never really explained how he could be alive and it becomes even more improbable the further the modern age slides forward. One plausible explanation is his associations with Nick Fury and Kraven the Hunter. Those characters had access to age slowing formulas, so it seems plausible that Dominic somehow had access as well. It's not an official explanation, but it's a plausible enough explanation that doesn't require a lot of speculative assumptions to make.