retcon

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	This is the JargonFile (V4.00) entry for retcon - Next: RETI, Prev: restriction
: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 acharacter or fictitious object. "Byrne has retconned Supermans cape so that it is no longer unbreakable." "Marvelmans old adventures were retconned into synthetic dreams." "Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person into a sentient vegetable." "Darth Vader was retconned into Luke Skywalkers father in "The Empire Strikes Back". [This term is included because it is a good example of hackish linguistic innovation in a field completely unrelated to computers. The word retcon will probably spread through comics fandom and lose its association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for the record, it started here. --ESR] [1993 update: some comics fans on the net now claim that retcon was independently in use in comics fandom before rec.arts.comics. In lexicography, nothing is ever simple. --ESR]
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996 - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)