Pinning Down Some Ages

[Flightpath07]

So, here is an interesting question for discussion; what age would you think the various Alphans are at?

To me, this is difficult to pin down in the world of comics, as we are not usually too sure how much time passes each issue.

Here' s my take on this question, see if you agree with me or not.

I think Mac is about 38 to 40 years old, and Heather is about 26-28 years old. Mac was significantly older than Heather when they met, and Heather got the job at Mac's company fresh out of high-school I do beleive. After marriage, they went quite a while before they had Claire.

Mind you, this is factoring out that Mac was blown back in time and then put in suspended animation for eons!

Snowbird is ultimately impossible to figure out, as she did not age naturally. To me, she LOOKS like she is about thirty years old, but has far less actual live experience than that.

I figure Shaman to be in his early to mid-forties, and Talisman to be about 20.

Northstar and Aurora looked to be about 21 or so when they were first approached by Mac, so i am guessing they are now in the 28 years old range?

Marrina looks to be about 19, as of Volume 4. Seems like she'd have to be older than that, though!

Puck...again, thanks to the demon-inside-him thing, impossible to tell his true age, although I think Mantlo put him in his 70's? If i recall that correctly, that is.

I'd guess Madison Jeffries to be in his early thirties, although he looks closer to forty at times.

Walter Langkowski would be close to Mac's age; 35-ish? Football career, scientist, researcher, super-hero...can't fit that all into a 22-year life span! Besides, this helps me to figure out that his feelings for Aurora have a lot to do with him being in mid-life-crisis range.

What does everybody else think? Am I way off?

[Mokole]

I'd say, being that this is all fiction:

Mac - 32 (I doubt he aged as a cyborg or when he was in space)
Walter - 30
Heather - 27
Puck - 90
Marrina - 21
Snowbird - doesn't count, but 35.
Shaman - 45
Northstar/Aurora - 27
Talisman - 22
Feedback - 21
Many others would still be teens

[Garry/Al-Fan]

I'd say, being that this is all fiction:

Mac - 32 (I doubt he aged as a cyborg or when he was in space)
Walter - 30
Heather - 27
Puck - 90
Marrina - 21
Snowbird - doesn't count, but 35.
Shaman - 45
Northstar/Aurora - 27
Talisman - 22
Feedback - 21
Many others would still be teens

I really agree with the Snowbird entry - her age is always going to be difficult to pin down and not very relevant, given who she is.

Since Shaman spent 10 years in solitude, and was a renowned physician prior to that, 45 years is a pretty good age for the good doctor.

While "Mac" may be younger than Shaman (and Heather definitely is), I would think that Mac is pushing 40 more than 30 [entertaining the "time in space"/cyborg stuff doesn't help IMO]; if Heather was 28 in vol. 1 # 13 - 14, and 7 years have elapsed from vol. 1 and vol. 4, I would think Heather is 35, at the most.

The twins should be youngest of original group; Walter around the same age as Mac (40ish).

I don't have a clue about Judd.

Drafting children/teenagers to be part of Dept. H is something a responsible party should take a look at.

[Le Messor]

Okay then, here is another question: How much time has passed (in comicbook land) since AF Vol 1 Issue 1 until the end (issue of Volume 4?

The official word from Marvel is that it's always seven years after the F4's rocket flight.

Drafting children/teenagers to be part of Dept. H is something a responsible party should take a look at.

The youngest would be Marrina, at eighteen - so old enough to be 'drafted'. (I'm not sure the draft is how Dept. H works; I imagine it's a choice if they're not actively criminal.)

Also, in-universe, it might make sense to examine these things, but out of universe it's the kind of story that bores me - that has to overthink the concept and drag it down to a pedantic and ultimately dull level (the kind that throws out the heroism with the bathwater). Personally, I'd rather just accept the fantasy side of the whole sitch and enjoy it as a story.

- Le Messor
Buffy: If this place is a trap, we give the signal, you guys come in, guns a-blazing.
Xander: So, what's the signal?
Buffy: I'm thinking lots and lots of yelling.

[Garry/Al-Fan]

...



The youngest would be Marrina, at eighteen - so old enough to be 'drafted'. Ouch! I wasn't as clear as thought I was: the original 6 ["Mac", Aurora, Northstar, Sasquatch, Shaman, and Snowbird] Not to slight either Judd or Marrina, but how old they are is probably going to be as hard to pin down as Snowbird: Marrina, in the egg, is over 40,000 years old; it is my assumption that with the Plodex genetic imprinting still in effect as of the original run, her "hatching" was just part of how old she is. Puck has a lot of magical stuff connected to him, so really... G/A-F

(I'm not sure the draft is how Dept. H works; I imagine it's a choice if they're not actively criminal.)

Also, in-universe, it might make sense to examine these things, but out of universe it's the kind of story that bores me - that has to overthink the concept and drag it down to a pedantic and ultimately dull level (the kind that throws out the heroism with the bathwater). Personally, I'd rather just accept the fantasy side of the whole sitch and enjoy it as a story. Double-ouch! I'm just saying somebody should have (had) a reservation about the legacy children (at the least), and Goblyn and Laura's story could be interesting if told well [their own father nearly killed them in the womb].

- Le Messor
Buffy: If this place is a trap, we give the signal, you guys come in, guns a-blazing.
Xander: So, what's the signal?
Buffy: I'm thinking lots and lots of yelling.

BTW, I'm pretty sure the way the legacy children were treated (in vol. 2) constitutes "drafted." G/A-F

[Sypes]

I've often wondered the same....

Guardian - 42
Heather - 28
Sasquatch - 40
Shaman - 40
Snowbird - 30
Northstar / Aurora - 31
Puck - 90
Marrina - 25
Box (Madisson) - 38
Talisman - 25
Persuation - 25
Pathway / Goblyn - 17
Manikin - 27

[Le Messor]

Hmm... this has been discussed in the deep past somewhere.
I notice Sypes skews much older than Mokole.

It is difficult to narrow down, but I'll add that Byrne gave ages for three of them:

Heather "will be eighteen next month" during Mac's origin,
Snowbird was (chronologically) six at some point - can't remember exactly where
Marrina was eighteen in #2.

- Le Messor
"If this is timesharing, give me my share right now."

[Ben]

The problem here is that when Heather was grown up, working for the Canadian government, I was...4, now I'm 34, and suddenly she's hot....this is so wrong!

[Flightpath07]

Okay then, here is another question: How much time has passed (in comicbook land) since AF Vol 1 Issue 1 until the end (issue of Volume 4?

I'm guessing 7 years.

BTw, Sypes, i just can't see Persuasion as being 27, since when she first showed up in Volume 1 and was pursing Northstar she was mid-teens, like 15 or so.

[Flightpath07]

"The official word from Marvel is that it's always seven years after the F4's rocket flight."

Well...and we KNOW how reliable Marvel's word is...

[-K-M-]

FYI, Puck was born in 1914 (confirmed), so he's 98.

[Flightpath07]

FYI, Puck was born in 1914 (confirmed), so he's 98.

I understand that, but, the problem is, will he be 99 years old in January? If so, that implies that time in comics moves at the same pace as time in the real world. In which case, Mac would be in his mid-60s right now.

Don't get me wrong, it is good to know what year they were born in, but that really doesn't help much with figuring out how old they are, if you get my drift.

[Le Messor]

I understand that, but, the problem is, will he be 99 years old in January? If so, that implies that time in comics moves at the same pace as time in the real world. In which case, Mac would be in his mid-60s right now.

Not necessarily. (Forgetting that it'd be more accurate to say he'll be 99 at his 2013 birthday); the idea of the Marvel sliding scale of time is that the F4's flight moves up with us; so, while in the original comic it took place in 1964, it now took place in 2005; next year in 2006.
I'm not saying that's not really silly, but it's the conceit Marvel go by.
So: Mac would still be in his 40s. Or whatever. But Puck is now 99.
Being effectively immortal, the rules don't have to apply to him.

- Le Messor
"Why do we emphasise the importance of home ownership when life itself is only leased?"
~ P.K. Shaw

[Flightpath07]

Not necessarily. (Forgetting that it'd be more accurate to say he'll be 99 at his 2013 birthday); the idea of the Marvel sliding scale of time is that the F4's flight moves up with us; so, while in the original comic it took place in 1964, it now took place in 2005; next year in 2006.
I'm not saying that's not really silly, but it's the conceit Marvel go by.
So: Mac would still be in his 40s. Or whatever. But Puck is now 99.
Being effectively immortal, the rules don't have to apply to him.

- Le Messor
"Why do we emphasise the importance of home ownership when life itself is only leased?"
~ P.K. Shaw

So, the problem that THEN exists, is that if Mac only created the Guardian suit several yeaers ago, or only formed Alpha Flight less than seven years ago, then how did John Byrne write the series in the 80's?

To me, i don't know why some new comic book company (actually, DC could have stolen this idea for their re-launch) doesn't start out every issue of every series with a date ; the date the issue takes place in that company's continuity. All other issues and series would have to keep track of dates. Thus, as an example, if comic series A during issue 13 got involved in a battle that took place over two days, those days being the 5th and 6th of June 1991, then if series B anted to use a charcater from series A in a storyline (during the same publishing month) it would have to make sure that said storyline fit either before or after the two dates listed, and state so, or use a character that was free duing that time period.

In other words, screw the times/dates that we the readers read the comics at, and create your own times stamped right into the comics you produce and keep them the same always. You could start a series right now, having it take place in the 80's, you could state exactly what year(s) and date(s), and then there would NEVER be any of this confusion!

[Jason Eberly]

To further illustrate the point, Captain America still grew up in the depression and fought in WWII. However, the date in which he got thawed out of ice will continue to be approximately seven years ago.

(Of course, this scenario isn't absolute, as Reed Richards and Ben Grimm used to have been known to have fought in WWII, but now that has pretty much been eradicated from continuity.)