retcon

/retkon/ [short for retroactive continuity , from the Usenet newsgroup
rec.arts.comics ] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. comics or
soap operas) where a new story reveals things about events in previous
stories, usually leaving the facts the same (thus preserving continuity)
while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that
a whole season of Dallas was a dream was a retcon. 2. vt. To write such a
story about a character or fictitious object. Byrne has retconned Superman's
cape so that it is no longer unbreakable. Marvelman's old adventures were
retconned into synthetic dreams. Swamp Thing was retconned from a
transformed person into a sentient vegetable.