Continuity - Marrina's costume

[rplass]

Happy New Year, all...Here's a continuity oddball...

Marrina got her new costume in Alpha Flight #14. This costume featured a more demure look that covered her up to the neck, a new necklace with the central element being her Alpha Flight call signal, and spirally arm thingies. It can be seen here: http://www.alphaflight.net/character...a_gallery6.jpg .

It lasted all of 1 issue, as it was torn to shreds in #'s 15 and 16 (see http://www.alphaflight.net/character...a_gallery7.jpg ). When last seen in #16, it was tattered, and the spirally arm thingies were all torn off. That was in late 1984.

Then in Power Pack #'s 9 and 10 in 1985, her next appearance, she's wearing the beautiful new costume (see same link, gallery10.jpg) ! Did she go back to Namor's tailors without him knowing about it? Unstable molecules? Why did it take me 20 years to notice this?

Is this a continuity oddball or am I mistaken? The only theory I can think of is that the more demure look may have been chosen to be more appropriate for the younger age group of the Power Pack readership.

Love,
rplass

Note: MTU Ann #7 was in early 1984, so she still had the old costume when fighting The Collector with Spidey.

[Le Messor]

Maybe she can sew?

The Power Pack issues say they take place -after- 15 & 16, don't they? 'coz I was thinking of saying maybe they went before, but that's unpossible. The Spider-Man (one of the better AF appearances, imho, and Alan Davis art! Yay!) definitely takes place after the Power Pack - it follows on from the story in there.

Oh, and I read Anne McCaffrey, too!

- Le Messor
"Californians are not without their faults."

[cmdrkoenig67]

Maybe it's a cartoon-like situation....where the character gets blasted by dynamite and is all charred, but in the next scene...he looks normal, like nothing happened.

OR...maybe Marrina(like any fashionable alien girl) has a voluminous, undersea wardrobe full of frilly green couture. The Atlanteans made her so many outfits, they wouldn't be aware that one was missing, if she snuck in and grabbed one....no? It's just a thought.

Dana

[rplass]

I'm pretty sure that the order of chronology from oldest to newest is the same order as the publication dates:

1. MTU Ann 7 - cover date is 1984, but it was published early in the year, in the Winter. It is chronologically right after the events in Alpha Flight #12, and we know this for sure due to a direct reference in the text.
2. Alpha Flight 14, 15, 16 - cover dates are in the Fall of 1984
3. Power Pack 9, 10 - cover dates are in the Spring of 1985

So, I don't think that you are correct regarding the chronology of MTU Ann 7 ocurring after Power Pack. However, it is probably the best AF appearance (or you can argue regarding MTIO #83-4 elsewhere on the board...), and yes the art and story are really amazing. Regardless, we are in agreement that PP 9 and 10 occur after AF 16.

Love,
rplass

[kozzi24]

Who said she was only given a single garment of the new costume. Namor was around long enough to understand superheroing. She was probably given a couple dozen copies of the same costume.

[Le Messor]

You're right - the Power Pack comes after the Spider-Man. In MTU, they release an alien snake into the ocean. In Power Pack, they capture it.
I put the two together, after AF 14-16, because it doesn't make sense to me to wait to recapture the thing. I'm pretty sure there's a reference somewhere... Now I've got to get up...

Hmm... In MTU, she's in her original costume. Oh, Paul Neary, not Alan Davis - I always associate the two.

Hey, in Power Pack, she mentions 'I've had my powers since I was small', but in her origin in AF #3 (I think), she was a teenager when she got them.

There's no compelling reason to think it couldn't be MTU - AF - PP, but Marrina seemed to be alone in between MTU and PP; she sounded depressed in the latter. PP had to take place after AF, though. Marrina used her blindness power in PP, and only learned about it in AF.

- Le Messor
"Over-analysing -is- the fun of comics."

[kozzi24]

I had ordered mine as:
AF #13
MTU Annual #7
Crystar #11
AF #14-19
Power Pack #9 & 10
AF #20 - 22
Made sense at the time, probably to spread out Marrina's appearances as she was not all that active, maybe due to some reference in some issues, combined with publication dates. I think the reasoning is that Power Pack would have happened about simultaneous to the Talisman introduction in Alpha.
Made sense to me at the time, but certainly open for debate