You know, where an author (usually John Byrne ) decides that they’re going to “fix” a character–and then everyone ignores the fix. Not ‘undoes’ the fix–that shows that there’s at least a modicum of respect for the retcon–‘ignores’ the retcon as though it never happened. Note, I’m ignoring Bob Haney comics–Haney did whateverthehell he wanted: he wasn’t trying fix continuity or change continuity, he was just telling stories and didn’t give a damn about continuity one way or the other.
Here’s some that come immediately to mind:[ul]
[li]Byrne’s idea that the Metal Men are actually made of plastic that takes on the properties of the metal they’re programmed to imitate. That didn’t make it past whatever early post-Crisis issue it appeared in.[/li][li]The later Metal Men retcon that the Metal Men aren’t acutally robots, they’re people trapped in robot bodies–that, and Doc Magnus is trapped in a robot body made out of a magic alien metal. I think that made one or two appearances after the mini-series, but it’s gone now.[/li][li]The Zatanna series where Zatanna decides that speaking backwards is degrading to womyn and becomes a magic-femyle-empowered bad-grrrl who uses a staff to cast spells. That Zatanna appeared in one or two Suicide Squad appearances and was promptly ignored after.[/li][li]I think Byrne tried to get rid of the Alan Moore “Etrigan is a Rhyming Demon” thing by saying that Etrigan just rhymed because of a spell by Morgan Le Fay–but other writers have had him rhyming since.[/li][li]Byrne’s SPIDER-MAN YEAR ONE revisions–Uncle Ben knew the burgular beforehand, Peter got his power from the spider-bite AND getting caught in a nuclear explosion in downtown Manhattan, Sandman is Norman Osborn’s cousin, etc. .This was so hated that it was ignored while it was coming out.[/li][li]Clark Kent’s glasses exude a low-level super-hypnosis that fools people into seeing Clark and Superman differently. Never mentioned after the issue it appeared in.[/li][li]Someone (Byrne’s?) idea that Sub-Mariner’s complex character that couldn’t easily be classified as hero or villian was caused by brain-damage. Apparently if he stays underwater OR out of water for too long, he goes nuts. I don’t think that one was ever mentioned again.[/li][/ul]
Anyone else have any suggestions/ideas?
Not so much a retcon as a character revison, I see Major Disaster is back to having the power to cause natural disasters. For a while, he had the power to see the weakness in any person or system and thus could cause a Rube Goldberg type chain of events to bring it down (he once started a tidal wave with a piece of cheese). As a power “upgrade” it’s a mixed bag. It’s cooler to read about, but it’s unclear exactly how it’s more powerful than the ability to summon a tornado or an earthquake.
This isn’t a retcon, but what is up with Barbra Gordon not regaining use of her legs? Sure, a cybernetic Batgirl would suck, nso why not just give her back use of her legs and have her not go back to being batgirl. In the DC unverse, every Dean Kamen who comes along invents an artificle walking device that allows that allows the handicapped to become super-villians. Are they trying to claim that the Justice League has no captured technology from any super-scientists?
On top, I have nothing. Typing in “danglers” into rec.arts.comics.xbooks, however yields a list of dangling plotlines, but I can not find any I remember.
:smack: I just thought of one I always hated, and it was done by the characters themselves. The Avengers were founded by the Hulk, Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Thor. At the time, the Hulk was not tearing apart buildings because he was insane with rage, but merely because he was angry at the time. He could speak in full sentences as well. Later, they rescued the living legend of WWII, Captain America and made him a member. Sometime after the Hulk took up a career of rampaging mindlessly, the Avengers made the Captain a “honorary founder.” They probably took Hulks name of the “founding of The Avengers” publicity, too.
[QUOTE=Fenris]
[li]I think Byrne tried to get rid of the Alan Moore “Etrigan is a Rhyming Demon” thing by saying that Etrigan just rhymed because of a spell by Morgan Le Fay–but other writers have had him rhyming since.[/li][/QUOTE]
He’s taking another stab at eliminating it with the new Demon series, I understand.
Didn’t Byrne also try to change Superman’s powers to telekenesis - which was ignored pretty much the minute he stopped writing the series? (But re-introduced in the person of Superboy.)
I dunno, the Superman TK stuff seems to have semi-stuck. It’s supposedly why he and J’onn can lift unwieldy large objects without tearing the objects apart, where someone like Power Girl tends to shred anything she lays her hands on, including her costume.
[QUOTE=Fenris]
[li]Someone (Byrne’s?) idea that Sub-Mariner’s complex character that couldn’t easily be classified as hero or villian was caused by brain-damage. Apparently if he stays underwater OR out of water for too long, he goes nuts. I don’t think that one was ever mentioned again.[/li][/QUOTE]
That one I kind of liked, and went well toward explaining why one month he’s teaming up with Captain American and the Avengers and the next he’s back to invading the surface world.
[li]The later Metal Men retcon that the Metal Men aren’t acutally robots, they’re people trapped in robot bodies–that, and Doc Magnus is trapped in a robot body made out of a magic alien metal. I think that made one or two appearances after the mini-series, but it’s gone now.[/li][/QUOTE]
The robot Magnus appeared at least as recently as the final issue of Arcudi’s Doom Patrol run a year and a half ago, albeit only in a dream sequence. Though I didn’t read it myself, I understand that Gold (who was killed in the retcon) recently appeared in Identity Crisis, and no one is sure why.
I saw a reprint of an old Superman comic from the 50s where Superman had the ability to change the way he looked by using his hands to alter his face, as it it were made of modelling clay. He used this to impersonate an alien who was holding him hostage. He also had the telepathic ability to influence guards to open up the cell he was in.
But back then, continuity wasn’t all that important.
Barbara Gordon is still Oracle because Oracle is cool. That, and the Bat-folks sometimes like to pretend that they’re in a separate, more realistic, corner of the DCU than the rest of the line. I recall Nightwing once musing on the myth of Atlantis (during the earthquake nonsense, I believe), which is odd for a guy who used to hang out with Aqualad every weekend and has probably been to Atlantis on more than one occasion.
Even Superboy’s TK is separate from Superman’s. At first, it was because he wasn’t a clone of Superman at all. Now he is, but he also has TK to hold a place for true Kryptonian strength and invulnerability, which he’s still growing in to.
Hypertime, which I thought was a nifty idea, seems to be utterly ignored after its introduction after an arc in Superboy and another in The Flash.
After the Crisis, the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 was retconned into being a bunch of Qwardians. Qward itself has been the antimatter counterpart of Eath and Oa and differnet points.
Now, The Qwardian CS is forgotten and replaced by a CS on the antimatter earth which is distinct from Qward but (per Busiek) in the same universe.
Almost every single major retcon employed by Byrne’s Post-Crisis SUPERMAN revamp has been overturned, forgotten and downplayed. The only exceptions I can recall: The Kents still being alive, Clark Kent was never Superboy and therefore never in the Legion, except as some manifestation of the Time Trapper), the fact that Lana Lang knew he had super-powers and her husband, Pete Ross, still doesn’t. In Byrne’s comics, Clark Kent was a major football hero in Smallville. In comics since and TV, Clark is nerdier but the show acknowledges his gridiron skills. Jimmy Olsen is downplayed. Cat Grant, gone. Morgan Edge is not a stooge of Darkseid. Nobody in Smallville remembers that they were all alien thralls in service to the Manhunters.
Also, a lot of pre-Crisis concepts have returned.
Kryptonians are more passionate now.
Red Kryptonite is back.
Brainiac is now an alien intelligence.
The Fortress of Solitude is back.
Krypto is back.
A Supergirl is back.
A Superboy is back.
The Phantom Zone is back.
The Bizarro World is back (I’ve heard)
Kandor is back (admittedly no longer a Kryptonian city.
A Superman Family is back, including Steel.
Scott_plaid: Oracle not getting back the use of her legs is a personal choice on her part, and is an important part of the character. To admit that she is missing something without the use of her legs would be to admit that the Joker took something away from her, and she would never give the Joker that kind of satisfaction.
As for ignored retcons: It seems like Batman’s publicity (i.e. public knowledge of Batman’s existence) is used or discarded at the whim of the writer. Is he a criminal’s version of the Boogey-Man, or a high-profile member of the JLA? What about Robin and Nightwing?
Well, Superman is still a lot less powerful than he was pre-Byrne. However, he is a lot stronger than the post-Byrne version, so I guess we can say that Byrne’s de-powering has gained partial acceptance.
Let us not forget…or perhaps we should…the single old Superboy issue from the '60s in which he discovered Jor-El and Lara in another rocket in suspended animation. He learned that they had been exposed to Kryptonite and suffered irreparable radiation poisoning, so if he woke them they’d die immediately. Instead he opted for sending their rocket on an endless trip through space so they’d always be “alive.”
I don’t believe that one was ever mentioned again either.
Regarding Byrne, is there any chance his “Doom Patrol” will be forgotten in favor of the original one of these days?
) decides that they’re going to “fix” a character–and then everyone ignores the fix. Not ‘undoes’ the fix–that shows that there’s at least a modicum of respect for the retcon–‘ignores’ the retcon as though it never happened. Note, I’m ignoring Bob Haney comics–Haney did whateverthehell he wanted: he wasn’t trying fix continuity or change continuity, he was just telling stories and didn’t give a damn about continuity one way or the other.