. Problem is, they don't even bother staying internally consistent. If they need to change something, they just whip up a big event through which they can sell more issues, change things... and then do it all over again a few years later. I understand they're a business, but there are plenty of comic buyers who are more interested in the story than in giving up a ton of money for a plotline that has more pointless twisting than a Gordian knot

I hear you there. Which is why I DON'T buy Marvel any more. "Inferno" was my last straw. As I said, if I ever do my own Superhero stories I'd work out the multiverse AHEAD OF TIME and tell the stories in that framework. That wasn't even thought of back in the Old Days, and so Marvel and DC are stuck with 40 years of accumulated "Hey Wouldn't THIS be NEAT!" stuff which holds boobytraps for the consistency-aware.