2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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retcon
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/retkon/ [short for retroactive continuity , from the Usenet newsgroup
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rec.arts.comics ] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. comics or
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soap operas) where a new story reveals things about events in previous
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stories, usually leaving the facts the same (thus preserving continuity)
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while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that
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a whole season of Dallas was a dream was a retcon. 2. vt. To write such a
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story about a character or fictitious object. Byrne has retconned Superman's
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cape so that it is no longer unbreakable. Marvelman's old adventures were
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retconned into synthetic dreams. Swamp Thing was retconned from a
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transformed person into a sentient vegetable. [This term is included because
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it is a good example of hackish linguistic innovation in a field completely
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unrelated to computers. The word retcon will probably spread through comics
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fandom and lose its association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for
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the record, it started here. ESR] [1993 update: some comics fans on the net
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now claim that retcon was independently in use in comics fandom before
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rec.arts.comics , and have citations from around 1981. In lexicography,
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nothing is ever simple.
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