A quick question

[Syzygy42]

Before I ask my question (or what very well could be more than one question) I just want to thank all of the hard-working chronologists out there. I appreciate the time and effort you put into this site, and without you guys I wouldn't have any order in which to read Spidey, other than the indica dates. Anyway, I just have a few questions

1: How often are chronologies updated on the major marvel characters (ex: when will the next Spidey update be?)
2: This one is directed more towards Paul, are you continuing work on your already awesomely awesome Marvel Calender?
3: If there's no direct refrences to other works, then how in the world do you guys decide where in a time-line to place it?

I apologize if this is in the wrong area or if I sound rude, believe me, I don't mean to be! I'm just curious and super impressed by all the hard work. Once again, thank you guys!

[Paul Bourcier]

I'll answer question #2. The short answer is "yes." I continue to take calendar-style notes on new comics each week, but these days, I lack the time to weave them all together and place them on specific dates. The current calendar is need of a rehaul and, of course, updating to reflect the last few years. One challenge is that I lack information on comics I don't have, and you never now when a fundamental clue for chronological placement may crop up. The other challenge is finding the time; work on the Official Index to the Marvel Universe (not to mention life in general) is competing for attention.

Thanks for the interest!

[Russ Chappell]

1: How often are chronologies updated on the major marvel characters (ex: when will the next Spidey update be?)

Regarding Spider-Man, the short answer is, it's going to be a while.

A few months ago, we updated Spider-Man to be concurrent with the Spider-Man Index TPB, up to about ASM 600. Spider-Man is currently the most up-to-date of all our characters, and we won't go much beyond that, until everyone else has caught up. You can get a sense of where we stand by studying Spider-Man's chronology.

We use the [ ] notation to indicate that, although that particular character's appearance in that book has been placed in his chronology, the book, as a whole, has not been analyzed yet. The most recent major update, about a month ago, brought us up to Spider-Man and Fantastic Four #4, which occurs somewhere in the huge gap between ASM 524 & 525. The next books to be added (that contain Spider-Man) will be a couple of Sentry books. And then Wolverine, and then Spider-Man/Black Cat, and so on. So before we get to another true Spider-Man update, we have to wade through the next 75 issues of ASM, in addition to the hundreds of other books that he's appeared in, and the hundreds more that he hasn't appeared in but someone else has....get the picture?

If you're talking about characters other than Spider-Man, your question doesn't really have an answer. Spider-Man (& Iron Man, and very recently, Captain America) have been exceptions, because of the Index, but we don't update on a character basis, we update on a book basis. So Wolverine and Hulk and Daredevil and Human Torch get updated as we analyze the next book, not on an en masse scale.

And like Paul, sometimes the updating has to take a back seat to my work on the Index, not only because we get paid for it, but because it provides a much greater service to the fans, and because ultimately, it makes our work at the Project easier.

[Syzygy42]

I thank you both for taking the time out of, what is clearly, your very busy schedules. I was just curious on how you guys managed to juggle this massive monstrosity of chronology and appearances. I knew a lot of work went into this thing, but I never knew how much. So once again, thank you both very much!

[Norman Rocks]

3: If there's no direct references to other works, then how in the world do you guys decide where in a time-line to place it?

I am curious about this one. Do you have to read every appearance of a certain character to place any given issue?

[JephYork]

Depending on the complexity of the issue being placed -- yeah, sometimes.

-Jeph!