To jump in here...as much as I can, I always try to do my homework, and I'd
have to be the sloppiest writer in the history of...well, really sloppy writers
to not take into account the time factor in Spidey chronology, and deal with it
straight-up in the writing. And we do, about two issues down the road, address
this issue in absolutely straightforward terms.

The math not only works, in fact it becomes a major aspect of the story, as you
will see in about two months.

To the broader questions raised here...I don't generally believe in cheats. In
B5, we only did one time-travel story (across two episodes, showing both sides
of that story) and I went clear around the horn to make sure that there were no
cheats in that story.

This isn't a time travel deal, it's not an alternate history story, it's not a
hoax, it's not a clone story, it's not, in short, a *cheat*. I have too much
respect for the readers to do that. Is it what people are assuming it is, with
only part of the information? Yes...and no. All the information isn't out
there yet.

All I can say is...it isn't a throw-away, reset the button story, it's the real
deal.

The amusing thing has been watching some of the online critics who, being
themselves unable to think how it could be done in a way that isn't stupid,
come to the assumption that the story is going to be as stupid as those
assumptions...and go after it as a result, not understanding that it's the
parameters they're seeing inside their own head that they're reacting to, not
what's in the story...because the story hasn't been told in full yet.

There are four more issues to go in this story, and every one of them is a real
toad-strangler.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
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permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)