without losing the characteristics that make them special. This has led to the common use of floating timelines in the universes of Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Novels In the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by Scottish writer Ian Rankin, characters age in step with the publication date. Rebus is stated to have been born in 1947; in the 2007 novel Exit Music he reached age 60 and retired. References Narratology Ancient Greek theatre Cinematic techniques Novel forms Television genres Theatrical genres Film genres