Right so. The 1300s seem to be the moment where Jeph really becomes mindful of the passage of time:
- We open with a ~4 month time skip between 1302 (where Dora decides to grow out her hair) and 1311 (where she has two-inch roots).
- 1311 gives us our first image of dramatically seasonal weather. We see snow storms until 1395 and snow on the ground until 1423.
- Characters wear gradually lighter outerwear from the 1300s into the 1800s. By 1844, Jeph explicitly tells us "It's something like late-winter/early-spring in QC time", and that "[nobody] in their right mind would wear a fairy costume outdoors".
- By 1952-1970, it's warm enough for Marten to enjoy a beer on Tai's porch in a tee shirt, after dark. These events are also clearly indicated to be in early May, since Tai is celebrating the end of Smif's spring semester.
- In 2237 Gabby and Claire complain that it is a humid summer day.
- By 2291-2327, it's warm enough for a lake party.
This, combined with references to the passage of time in dialogue, is enough to map out strips 1311-2800 across about seven and a half months of comic time. But what can we do about the first 1300 strips? AprilArcus (talk) 22:50, October 13, 2014 (UTC)
I agree it's harder. For example, the characters are often wearing light clothing in the early strips though I've seen context clues to show it is late Fall which seems like it'd be pretty brisk in their climate. I have been trying to polish up the early timeline where possible. I'm one to believe that most skips in the early comic are one day unless explicitly noted otherwise. The events seem to indicate a tight timeline. At least in the first 200. Marsman57 (talk) 00:00, October 14, 2014 (UTC)
In 48, Marten and Faye discuss their thanksgiving plans, suggesting an early fall time frame.
Is there a way to make Dora's comment in 288 that Marten's "been letting [Faye] stay at his place for months now" work?
Ellen is our best anchor to the academic calendar in the early running — she describes college as part of her routine in 219, so classes must already be underway as early as that point. (at 17 it's hard to imagine this is anything other than her first semester, and hard to imagine she would speak about her studies that way if she were waiting to matriculate). Marten gets the library job (691) the same day that Ellen breaks up with Steve (712), claiming that she's doing ocean research "next semester", which all fits together if Marten started working at Smif a month or so into the fall semester, and Ellen planned to leave over the winter break. AprilArcus (talk) 00:57, October 14, 2014 (UTC)