Every year, Beloit College puts together a list of facts regarding the mindset of the class entering college this Fall—the Class of 2013. Their list, as always, is well worth a read, but this is ComicMix, and we’re here to talk about comics, by gum.

So as we get ready to send them off to college, we wondered: what constitutes the comics status quo for them? What’s normal to these kids born in 1991 (he asks, knowing that being born in 1986 puts him in largely the same boat)? So glad you asked.

1. The guy who did the above strip had already ended his daily strip and retired by the time these freshmen started reading newspapers.
2. There has never been a Miracleman (or Marvelman) comic published in their lifetime.
3. They have no idea who Don Thompson or Carol Kalish were.
4. Gambit has always been on the X-Men.
5. Spider-Man was always married to Mary Jane… until One More Day.
6. There wasn’t a DC multiverse until the end of Infinite Crisis.
7. Wally West was always the Flash, and his first sidekick was Impulse.
8. Adam West has never been Batman—he’s best known as the mayor on Family Guy.
9. Wolverine never wore a brown costume, and has always had a solo book.
10. Barbara Gordon has always been in a wheelchair.
11. Sandman has always been that pale-skinned goth guy with the hair.
12. Batman has had three Robins: Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne.
13. Lex Luthor has always been a businessman.
14. Image Comics has always existed.
15. So has Wizard Magazine.
16. New Mutants was a short-lived series from 2003-2004, until the recent relaunch.
17. Hank McCoy’s always been blue and furry.
18. Elektra has always been dead.
19. Frank Miller is the guy who did Sin City, and he never worked with Klaus Janson.
20. There’s never been a character named “Streaky the Supercat.”
21. The only composite Batman-Superman was a giant robot.
22. The original Dove has always been dead.
23. Thanos has always been searching for the Infinity Gems, so he can impress Death.
24. Death has always been a goth chick.
25. Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes has always been War Machine.
26. S.H.I.E.L.D. has always stood for Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate.
27. Kyle Rayner has always been a Green Lantern.
28. Starman has always worn goggles and a leather jacket.
29. John Romita. Jr. has always been known as a regular penciller for Amazing Spider-Man. John Romita, Sr. never was.
30. Ghost Rider was Danny Ketch.
31. Jean-Luc Picard was the first captain of the Enterprise.
32. Cerebus the Aardvark was always a classic.
33. Grendel has always been a Dark Horse title, except for that DC crossover.
34. Cassie Sandsmark was the first Wonder Girl.
35. Roy Harper was only known as Arsenal up until the current volume of Justice League of America.
36. There’s never been a First or Eclipse Comics. Comico only did some of those soft-core Elementals books.
37. There were originally four Justice League titles on the stands.
38. The original Teen Titans were comprised of a de-aged Atom (Ray Palmer), Risk, Argent, Captain Marvel, Jr., Omen, Prysm, Fringe, Arsenal, and Joto.
39. Julia Carpenter was the original Spider-Woman.
40. The two Avengers teams were the East Coast and West Coast branches. None of this New, Mighty, Dark, Pet, and Caramel Covered.
41. There’s always been a comic called Love and Rockets.
42. The superhero cartoons of choice were Darkwing Duck and Fox’s X-Men. For live action, it was all about the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
43. Kraven the Hunter has always been dead.
44. Northstar has always been out of the closet.
45. Kevin Conroy has always been the animated voice of Batman.
46. Jim Shooter was the guy behind Valiant, then Defiant, and then he wrote the Legion for a while. Wait, he was at Marvel, too?
47. Phoenix is Rachel Summers, not Jean Grey.
48. Karate Kid was Ralph Macchio, and Ralph Macchio was the guy editing X-Men.
49. There have always been Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novels.
50. Disney never had a major successful comic book franchise.

What’s yours?

(Alan Kistler and Glenn Hauman contributed to this list.)