Chronology: Defeat of Galactus to Master Plan of the Mandarin

[StrayLamb]

Amazing Spider-Man 43 (4:6) is listed twice, and ASM 42-43 are also listed completely after their breakdowns.

Thanks DotStinks, and welcome to the MCP! Corrections have been implemented.

[DotStinks]

Defeat of Galactus to Master Plan of the Mandarin
...
Amazing Spider-Man 37 [Spring?]
Thor 132 (14 - 16)
Daredevil 16-19
Thor 133 (1 - 5)
Amazing Spider-Man 38
Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man 1-3
Amazing Spider-Man 39-40 [Spring]
...
Amazing Spider-Man 41
Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3
Daredevil 20
Amazing Spider-Man 42 (1 - 8:2)
Daredevil 21
Amazing Spider-Man 42 (8:3 - 19)
Daredevil 22 (1 - 3:2)
Amazing Spider-Man 42 (20)
Amazing Spider-Man 43 (1 - 4:6)
....

Amazing Spider-Man 41 is currently placed with the Green Goblin Unmasked arc (which has a calendar reference in ASM 39 -- "a clear spring night" on page 17, panel 2 -- ASM 37 was a few weeks ago so that's probably spring too), and separated with the next issue via a summer break. However, it can't be separated by that many months, considering Rhino's lawyer is still being picked out in ASM 42 (this takes a lot of time but it's all written as shortly after), and at the end, Aunt May arranges for Peter & MJ to finally meet next Sunday. It doesn't make any sense for a roughly six month gap between the two. I would move Amazing Spider-Man 41 to just before Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3, since there's no indication of how much time passes between ASM 40 to 41.

[RobinHoodMtl]

Engagement of Reed and Sue to Defeat of Galactus:
...
Tales of Suspense 74-75
Tales of Suspense 76 (1 - 12:3)
Avengers Spotlight 22/2 [History of the Swordsman]
Avengers 48 (12:1 - 12:2)-FB
Marvels 3 (5)
Amazing Spider-Man 657 (3 - 10)-FB
Amazing Spider-Man 29-33 [Peter begins classes at ESU][September]
...
Daredevil 10-11 [DD vs The Organizer; NY pre-elections, prior to Nov 2]
... (many many issues)
Strange Tales 160-161-FB [November 9-10]
...(many many issues)

Defeat of Galactus to Master Plan of the Mandarin
Fantastic Four 50 (15 - 16)
Fantastic Four 50 (17:1 - 17:3) ~ Marvels 3 (42:1 - 42:2)
Fantastic Four 50 (17:4 - 20)
Thor 131 (3:3 - 20)
Amazing Spider-Man 36
Tales of Suspense 76/1 (12:4 - 12:6)
Tales of Suspense 77
Tales of Suspense 78 (1 - 11)
Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4)
Tales of Suspense 78 (12)
Tales to Astonish 81
Tales of Suspense 79-80
Tales to Astonish 82
...

In Tales of Suspense 76 (1 - 12:3), Iron Man cures the Freak, aka Happy, takes off his armor to show up as Stark, gets subpoenaed by Byrd who takes him prisoner, vanishes from the senator's car and materializes into the Mandarin's castle. 12:1 - 12:2 is a double panel recapping a fight between those two, and last panel of that sequence, 12:3, shows the Mandarin zapping the briefcase out of Stark's hand.

Tales of Suspense 76/1 (12:4 - 12:6) shows the briefcase flying outside the window, the Mandarin activating a lever to unleash Ultimo and the briefcase at the bottom of the moat.

In between you have a few dozens of stories, and assuming Parker started school at the end of September, your time references seem to imply that at least 12 days have passed between the moment the briefcase leaves Stark's hand and the moment it falls down into the moat. That's a bit of a long flight!

I know that your break down is trying to comply with Marvels 3 which fvcked it up a bit. In Marvels 3 (4:3 - 4:5), the news announce that Stark has disappeared and the Byrd has issued a subpoena summoning him to appear before an investigative committee, your placement for this is good, as it occurs somewhere between TOS 73 and 74.

The arc with Happy getting injured and turning into the Freak has to be kept close up until the point where Harrington arrests Tony Stark. Yet, in the meantime, in Marvels 3, many events unfold: Attuma's attack, the FF's battle against Dragon Man, the Hulk's attack at the White House, the arrest of Ka-Zar, then the threat and defeat of Galactus.

In Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4), Sheldon learns that Byrd has cancelled all of Stark's contracts with the Government, and that his plants will closed by the end of the week. TOS 77 (12:3) shows that the plants are already closed, so this you placement is a bit off for this scene. I will get to that later.

That said, it's impossible that everything that happened in Marvels 3 occurred while Stark's briefcase was making its way towards the window. BUT... Tales of Suspense 76 (10:5) shows Byrd alone in his car, shocked that Stark has vanished. Tales of Suspense 76 (11:1) has Stark traveling through a space-time continuum caused by the Mandarin. It is quite plausible that Stark remained in that space-time anomaly only to reappear in the Mandarin's castle a few weeks after he vanished from Byrd's car. Even if the separate events in Marvels 3 occurred simultaneously, Byrd had to make his way to Washington, cancel Stark's contracts, then take a few days to get his plants shut down. I know that my hypothesis that Stark got caught in a space-time continuum for that long is a bit of a stretch, but it is no more of a stretch than a briefcase that flies out the whole time.

As for the placement of In Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4), it should occur way before TOS 77 (12:3) and not during TOS 78. Here is what I suggest:

Tales of Suspense 74-75
Tales of Suspense 76 (1 - 12:3) --> Tales of Suspense 76 (1 - 10)
Avengers Spotlight 22/2 [History of the Swordsman]
...
Amazing Spider-Man 36
Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4) <-- MOVE TO HERE
Tales of Suspense 76/1 (12:4 - 12:6) --> Tales of Suspense 76/1 (11 - 12)
Tales of Suspense 77
Tales of Suspense 78 (1 - 11) --> Tales of Suspense 78
Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4) --> MOVE FROM HERE
Tales of Suspense 78 (12) --> DELETE
Tales to Astonish 81

[StrayLamb]

Amazing Spider-Man 41 is currently placed with the Green Goblin Unmasked arc (which has a calendar reference in ASM 39 -- "a clear spring night" on page 17, panel 2 -- ASM 37 was a few weeks ago so that's probably spring too), and separated with the next issue via a summer break. However, it can't be separated by that many months, considering Rhino's lawyer is still being picked out in ASM 42 (this takes a lot of time but it's all written as shortly after), and at the end, Aunt May arranges for Peter & MJ to finally meet next Sunday. It doesn't make any sense for a roughly six month gap between the two. I would move Amazing Spider-Man 41 to just before Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3, since there's no indication of how much time passes between ASM 40 to 41.

Yep, good idea.

[StrayLamb]

That said, it's impossible that everything that happened in Marvels 3 occurred while Stark's briefcase was making its way towards the window. BUT... Tales of Suspense 76 (10:5) shows Byrd alone in his car, shocked that Stark has vanished. Tales of Suspense 76 (11:1) has Stark traveling through a space-time continuum caused by the Mandarin. It is quite plausible that Stark remained in that space-time anomaly only to reappear in the Mandarin's castle a few weeks after he vanished from Byrd's car. Even if the separate events in Marvels 3 occurred simultaneously, Byrd had to make his way to Washington, cancel Stark's contracts, then take a few days to get his plants shut down. I know that my hypothesis that Stark got caught in a space-time continuum for that long is a bit of a stretch, but it is no more of a stretch than a briefcase that flies out the whole time.

As for the placement of In Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4), it should occur way before TOS 77 (12:3) and not during TOS 78. Here is what I suggest:

Tales of Suspense 74-75
Tales of Suspense 76 (1 - 12:3) --> Tales of Suspense 76 (1 - 10)
Avengers Spotlight 22/2 [History of the Swordsman]
...
Amazing Spider-Man 36
Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4) <-- MOVE TO HERE
Tales of Suspense 76/1 (12:4 - 12:6) --> Tales of Suspense 76/1 (11 - 12)
Tales of Suspense 77
Tales of Suspense 78 (1 - 11) --> Tales of Suspense 78
Marvels 3 (42:3 - 43:4) --> MOVE FROM HERE
Tales of Suspense 78 (12) --> DELETE
Tales to Astonish 81

Okay, i'll buy that for a dollar!

It's quite plausible for someone to get stuck in a space-time anomaly for a few weeks. I think that happened to me one time in the 70's.

Updates applied in BOLD.