Newsflash: I’m proud to be a geek. I can’t imagine life without comics, hobby games, dice, science fiction, movie soundtracks, and the people who love them. Well, I can imagine it, but it’s just about the most boring goddamn thing I can imagine.
When we were younger, it was cruel and hurtful to call someone a geek. These days, though, it’s a badge of honor, and I’d like to think that I’ve been able to play a very small part in the geek pride movement.
So with that in mind, I now post the geekiest link I’ve ever posted on my blog, everything you ever wanted to know about Retconning, but were afraid to ask.
Retconning comes from "retroactive continuity," meaning "taking the
continuity of your storyline and retroactively changing part of it so
things didn’t happen the way they happened," and there are many ways to
do it. Let’s talk about them together, shall we?
I’ve posted some geeky stuff in the past, but I honestly think this is the geekiest of them all.
(5d12 GP to DJE for the link)
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Funny, I’m trying to figure out why it is geeky, let alone “the geekiest” – isn’t this just regular life?
Wa-hey geeks! I like that I have no idea what your geeky link was about. That’s PROPER geek. Of course, that’s the best thing about geeks: there are so many different varieties…At work, we have a group of us geeks, all geeky in different ways: one guy has his wife’s name tattooed in Klingon on his arm, another guy totally gets off on Excel programming, and me, well, I once had a mahousive crush on Wesley Crusher. Alternately, the guy with the Klingon tattoo is also really into seeing live bands, the other guy’s a big five-a-side footie fanatic, and I used to be a cheerleader. So there you go.
PS. When are you coming to the UK, Wil?
Retconning? Like *claiming* that dilithium channels antimatter and not the actual energy flow of the warp field?
Wow. I know exactly what that entire post was about… and the empathy flowed. :: re-evaluates self-realized geek cred ::
Spidey and MJ never married!? I had to stop reading ; that is just wrong.
If anyone has paid attention to Torchwood, they’ll notice that the amnesia drug they use on the show is called “ret-con” as well, specifically after this piece of geeky behavior.
Someone seriously need to do this for the 3rd Matrix flick.
My favorite part about retconning is that Torchwood named an amnesia drug after that. I laughed a little too much when I first heard that.
What third Matrix flick?
(I’ve already retconned it out of my own personal storyline.)
I’m mad that I don’t post here more often.
But other than that, and in other news (I’ve had two fingers of vodka in case you’re wondering), it’s so fucking awesome to be a geek. It’s like, heaven, not afraid to do what you like and it’s dorky, sure, but who gives a fuck? You control. You decide. Enjoy life however you like, even if it’s not “cool”, per se.
Rawk.
I realize now that the retcon of the JLA in the 80s is what made me stop reading comics. I was in college and very busy, but when they made everything I knew about these characters, no longer so, I was completely deinvested and never went back.
What is funny about the article that I actually understood 80% just from seeing the occational cover and putting the comic back on the rack.
The retcon that happened on ST: Enterprise with the borg was the reason I stopped watching Enterprise in season 3, dispite my undying love of Brent Spiner.
I wish these kids who are writing would have some value for the fans who love the shows and not make us walk away, shaking our heads.
So Wil, speaking as the most Peter Parker-ish nebbish I know of, what do you think of this Spider-Man thing?
Retconning? Is this like saying that Greedo shot first?
John August blogged about retconning a while back. http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/retcon
I’d say you’re in good company.
So wait… did they pre-emptively retcon the intelligence data for Iraq? Somehow that makes sense, and yet doesn’t at the same time.
🙂
They never made any sequels to The Matrix. I live my life based on this fact.
yeah, i guess that’s pretty geeky. but, to be honest, i’m sure you have a mighty arsenal of geeky posts yet to be written. and why stop yourself. geeks are totally sexy now. which is a great relief since i am nearly bankrupt from having my lunch money stolen from me by the “cool kids”.
hi-5!
I love retconning! Enjoy a small except from my retconned biography:
“After serving two terms of duty as a special forces operative in Vietnam, I had successfully achieved genocide against the entire Dalek race. Returning home I earned my third PhD (this time in genetic engineering) and puttered around Europe genetically engineering the perfect spider. Later that summer, I broke up with my girlfriend who turned out to be my long lost twin sister. Too bad too because she was a totally hot nympho who ended up doing a movie with John Belushi and some midgets. Nuff said!”
To be continued…
Ah! Retconning… Something I first became quite familiar with having read the Magic: The Gathering novels back in the day (and the past few recent ones).
Also:
“I can’t imagine life without comics, hobby games, dice, science fiction, movie soundtracks, and the people who love them.”
That sentence could be truer. Though you could just add a nice video game controller and that’d be perfect for me… A product of being younger I suppose. 😛
I saw the word ‘retconning’ and threw up a little in my mouth.
Yes I am one of those gamers who prefer to be on a RP server. Yes, I could do without the use of the word ‘retcon’.
Hence, I don’t play ORPGs anymore.
For example, instead of Wesley being abducted by an intergalactic pedophile he instead went adventuring with a slightly lost time lord who had an unfortunate regeneration.
I have frightened myself periodically by busting out “retcon” in conversation, which somehow seems even geekier than sending it through the intertubes. heh.
Like, in the evening soap opera Dallas, Pam wakes up from a dream and many events are wisked away? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077000/faq#.2.1.2
Great post. Retconning was mostly the reason I had a hard time with the Ultimates line-up. I didn’t like hitting restart on the characters I grew up with.
@Dan yep, Greedo shooting first is pretty much a classic example of a terrible retcon.
As for the Spider-man One More Day/Brand New Day retcon, it seems to be a cack-handed attempt by Quesada to force the story back to his idea of ‘classic’ Spider-man because younger readers couldn’t relate to a married Peter Parker.
I don’t know what comic book stores he’s stepped into lately but I’ve found they’re mostly populated by 20/30-something geeks many of whom have significant others in tow with them.
Wil, my 11 year old son had to write a first person paper for class and he mentioned in his paper that he was hurt by people calling him a geek. I explained to him that being called a geek nowadays is not as bad as it was when I was young. I told him to say “Thank you” when someone calls him a geek because it is exactly what you said “a badge of honor” that I wear VERY proudly!
Retconning? I just call it “rewriting history”. The soaps have been doing it for years. Fur instance on “All My Children”, Erica Kane’s abortion is now a hunky 30ish doctor. It’s sad that I know this. Shoulda mentioned Superman & Black Zero instead. D’oh!
But this isn’t your geekiest post – this is just a writing post. I would nominate the one on the numbers readers you hear/heard on the radio.
Anyway, it’s just a streetlight.
First Time poster, long time lurker. I just had to after finding this link this morning (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/24/batman_rumour/)
and then seeing your post, Wil. (Great article) Why can’t they leave the good superhero’s alone? How long has Spidey been married anyway? Sheesh, let the guy live in marital bliss.
Wil, love the Blog, been reading for years (and I liked Wesley, I’m 34 so it was cool to see a kid my age on such an awesome show.)
Like, in the evening soap opera Dallas, Pam wakes up from a dream and many events are wisked away?
Yeah, but the even better retcon that riffed off it was the finale of the sitcom “Newhart”, where Bob woke up in bed with his wife from his previous sitcom “The Bob Newhart Show” and mentioned the crazy dream he had where he was an innkeeper ….
And 5d12 GP – good that you’re giving some love to the loneliest die in the bag …
See, retconning is the very reason I’ve had such a hard time getting into comics. I pick up an X-Men, or a Spiderman, or a JLA, and I, as an interested reader, have NO idea if the comic I picked up a few years ago is part of the same storyline or not. And then, going to look online for back story does no good because there are so many possible stories. Why even bother.
This is, funnily enough, also why I’m so into Neil Gaimen’s Sandman. It’s one cohesive story, better told and in more depth than any previous incarnation of the sandman.
@eleventeen: The Ultimates line is not a retcon; it’s an alternate universe. You’re allowed to do whatever you want in an alternate universe. (FWIW, I know many Marvel fans who intensely dislike the Ultimate books.)
It was the Frank Miller rolling a natural 20 on Daredevil that pushed it over the edge of geekieness for you, isn’t it?
I guess it’s geeky. I mean, it’s not figuring out all the forms of entertainment that are part of an austic kid’s imagination geeky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall), but it’s a little geeky.
Would it be safe to say many if not all geeks probably ‘retcon’ their growing up to obliterate wedgies, swirlies, & noogies received while still geeklings?
Could I add, Wil, your penchant for hyperbole is… hyperbolic.
This is why Trekkies hate TPTB and believe (most of us, anyways) that RICK BERMAN IS THE DEVIL!!!!
Anytime he comes across a continuity problem, he simply retcons it out of existence….
Have you heard about the massive Retcon they just did to Spider-Man?
They took the last 20+ years of his story and threw it out the fucking window. I can’t even begin to explain how bad it is. Check out his Wikipedia article if you’re interested, it will boil your blood… if you give a shit about Spider-Man like I have since I was 5. If not, it’s no big deal.
i gotta say no matter how random it is i LOVE just a geek i have not been able to stop reading it at all its just incredible i relate to it in so many ways its almost like reading what i experince how ways that i can help solve it
keep rockin wil
So I’ve been away from comics (except for The Watchmen, which I only read last year) so long that the best examples that popped into my head of the “what you thought you knew was wrong” retcon were “St. Elsewhere was an autistic daydream in a snowglobe” and the infamous “Bobby in the Shower.” Which is sad. (That’s not gay porn, by the way, it’s a monumental ripoff from Dallas, and yes, that makes me old (40), but I digress.)
Point is, I’ve been thinking of testing the comics/graphic novel waters again, and Eric Burns’ post threw me into this weird dimension where I really want to do so, and I really don’t.
I tried to sign in to ask this in Eric Burns’ comment thread and found myself in a “you are not signed in” loop. So I headed back here. My question:
What comic/graphic novel title do you fanboys recommend to someone looking to join your ranks? Where’s the best place to invest some emotional capital and not get shafted by bad retcon?
@ReadReadWrite
Depends on what you are a looking for – superheroes, scary monsters, strange indy comics – there is a lot of stuff out there.
For superheroes, you can’t go wrong with Astro City – since it basically is a retconn of every major hero out there under different names, it’s unlikely to be retconned itself. You can never go wrong with Sandman, if you haven’t read it. I really liked the Gotham Central series from a few years ago – set in Gotham, but focused on the police dept. – I think there are probably trades available.
Hellboy and the related series are awesome if you like folklore/mythology/Lovecraft.
For indies Skeleton Key and Blue Monday are excellent. (In fact, Wil, if you haven’t read Blue Monday, run out and buy the first volume – you would love it).
ReadReadWrite:
I came back to comics after a long absence, and I was looking for something similar to Watchmen, so I sort of know where you’re coming from. Hopefully, these suggestions will help out:
You can’t go wrong with Sandman. If you can afford it, pick up the Absolute editions.
Fables is fantastic, as well. The premise is that the fairytales are all real and living in New York alongside what I guess you’d call Muggles. It’s one of the most original things I’ve read since Sandman, too.
Alan Moore’s Top Ten is brilliant, and was one of the most satisfying Superhero books I’ve read in years.
Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan and Planetary are also brilliant, and his new book Doktor Sleepless keeps impressing me.
From Hell is supposed to be great, but I’ve had it for months and haven’t had a chance to read it, so I can’t speak from personal experience.
The movie was shite, but the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen trades were a lot of fun, and deeply satisfying.
If you’re looking to get back into an evolving Supers storyline, I’d suggest Batman, starting whenever Grant Morrison started his run, around issue 559 or something. That story just keeps on impressing me, and it’s one of two books I read before it’s collected into a trade.
I did a Geek in Review for Suicide Girls about Great Graphic Novels you may have Missed, and I did a post here last week that linked to a ton of first issues from great books that are online for free. Fables, Sandman, and Y: The Last Man are all in there, so you can take a risk-free shot at finding something you’ll enjoy.
Let us know what you read and what you think!
I’m a Gargoyles girl myself. I watched the animated series in the 90’s because half of ST:TNG was in it (Jonathan, Brent, Michael, and Marina)and when Greg Weismann came out with the comic to bring the stories back I was hooked. They are by Slave Labor Graphics.
ReadReadWrite:
In adition to the comics mentioned above, I would also recommend Dynamo 5, Powers, Fell, Starman (coming out with a nice omnibus later this year).
See if your local library has some trades or Graphic Novels you can look at before you invest money.
Retconning is pure evil, and I hope you never succumb to the temptation of its dark promises.
Personally, I never forgave Asmimov for retconning the Mule in Foundation’s Edge. And of course, from there, he just went whole hog and retconned the whole Empire and Second Foundation.
Never do it.
I haven’t done too much thinking about it, but Highlander: The Series seemed to do the best job of handling knotty storylines without having to resort to any nasty retcons. With characters that “never” age, they didn’t have to seriously mess with continuity to give someone a new girlfriend, new job, new nationality, etc . . . and I think they did a good job of doing “now it can be told” or “the story as you thought it was” tales that fit pretty well into the continuity.
Now, the movies were another story!
Wil, edgore, Celtic Mama & lauren:
Thanks for the shopping list!
I’ve noticed at least one Gunslinger graphic novel (“Gunslinger Born”), and I’m tempted. A retcon extravaganza though, I’m sure.
Which reminds me that I’m finally reading The Dark Tower (the actual book) now, and come to think of it, darned if King isn’t retconning dozens of own books–and hey, even his own life–into a state of “Dark Tower related”-ness. He ain’t half bad at it though, and so far it more than works.
(I can’t believe how far behind I am on everything.)
I’m pretty sure the term “retcon” originated in Doctor Who fandom.
I loved Strazynski’s run on ASM. I have been a Spider-Man fan since I was 8.
The One More Day/Brand New Day storyline is *the* worst story they could have done. I’m glad to know the JMS was horrified and tried to take his name off it.
I should probably add that I’m in my 30’s now.
Well, I liked the LSH v4 pre-Zero Hour version. Terra Mosaic was pretty awesome. They almost brought back the original teen Legion for real with the SW6 batch until Zero Hour toiletized the entire shebang.
This doesn’t belong here, but it’s the closest thing I can find related to the item I wanted to share: The Queen likes the Wii! That is geeky, right? http://people.decenturl.com/queen-wii