Thread:Hatebunny/@comment-1038387-20140709170916/@comment-3361105-20140709171319

The premise of that run is that after learning that he was a fictional character, Buddy suffered a kind of mental trauma and a coma which resulted in infinite possible worlds which would be different every time he woke up from his coma. The story takes place in one of those worlds, where thousands of Buddies have been dying over and over, and each time he dies, he resets the loop and wakes up again.

It's kind of complicated.

Anyway, it makes sense that the Milligan run takes place in another universe (even though it was published long after COIE).