Fire the Canon!

by Brian Martin

In my last rant, I talked about the impending release of a new Star Wars film and why the so-called “Expanded Universe” needed to be put out to pasture in favor of a wholly original plotline for Episode VII – Die Jar-Jar Die.  Building off of this idea, differentiating between what, as far as the Star Wars universe is concerned, is “real” and “apocryphal”, I will be talking about two “C” words in this article, both of which are tied to one another and perhaps more important to nerd culture than just about anything else (including original concepts and quality storytelling).

The first of these “C” words is Canon.  As far as fiction is concerned, “canon” refers not only to what’s important or culturally relevant, but what “happened” as far as an ongoing narrative is concerned.  The canon consists of the stories the reader perceives to have been a part of the overall narrative.  It’s what causes a fan to look at 75 years of Batman stories and ask, “Which of these stories is a part of Bruce Wayne’s life?”

If there’s one thing that matters more to geek culture more than quality storytelling, it’s the other “C” word: Continuity, the idea that all of the stories you’re reading/watching are part of a larger whole, a reflection of our own day-to-day lives.  Continuity is the life of the character, as the character perceives it, built out of the stories of the past.

Just about the worst thing you can tell a geek is that his/her favorite stories “didn’t happen anymore,” the effect of a retcon (shorthand for “retroactive continuity”).  This is, of course, purely relative to the character(s) in the story and not our reality, since one of the nicer aspects of fiction is that once it’s published, it tends to stay around in one form or another, freely available for future enjoyment.

Of course, when one takes a step back from this, the sheer lunacy of the idea is pretty evident.  Star Trek, Star Wars, Spider-Man, and hell, even Twilight have stories both canonical and non-canonical.  But what do ALL of these stories have in common?  They are ALL works of fiction.  None of them REALLY happened to begin with.  This begs the question: if a story is good, does it really matter if it’s part of accepted canon?

Survey says: NO, on BOTH counts

Ever feel a connection with a fictional character?  For geeks, these connections tend to be very deep, almost familial.  There are people out there who care more about Peter Parker than they do members of their own family.  This sort of devotion is born from decades of storytelling and the fact that most readers grew up (and, in many cases, entered adulthood) reading about whether or not Pete could get Aunt May’s gangrene medication to her in time or which unnaturally hot woman he’d choose to date.  It’s this sense of kinship that leads fans to hold the stories of the past in high regard, often treating them as though they actually happened in real life, despite how good or bad they are.

As far as Spider-Man’s history goes, it has certainly had its share of ups and downs, both personally for Peter and creatively for the series as a whole.  Perhaps no slice of Spidey’s history is more universally reviled than that gargantuan pastiche of all things ‘90s, “The Clone Saga”.  It’s a story so overblown and lousy, the writers were throwing self-deprecating in-jokes into the story before it was even finished, a trend which continues even today.

The jokes don't make it any less painful

However, as loathed as “The Clone Saga” is among fans, if Marvel attempted to erase it from continuity those same fans would rebel against the idea.  To even suggest such a fundamental change to a beloved character’s life is just…WRONG.  As an example, look at what happened when Peter's marriage to Mary Jane was written out of Spider-history.

It was this

This trend of slavish devotion to continuity is not unique to comic fans, but it is perhaps more widespread among them than fans of any other medium.  Because of this, Marvel has treaded lightly around “soft reboots” for decades, attempting to avoid alienating longtime fans while simultaneously making books accessible for new ones.  DC Comics, on the other hand, kicked the door down last year with “The New 52”, which was virtually a line-wide continuity reboot.  Now, a year later, the biggest question among DC fans seems to be not, “Which characters have benefited from the fresh start?” but rather, “Where is Wally West???  Where is Stephanie Brown???  Did ANY of those stories actually happen?!”

Sorry, Spoiler fans: the answer to that last question is, “No, they didn’t.”  But don’t fear!  Remember, we’re reading fiction here!  So if you want to read those stories again, they still exist!  So, for YOU, yes, they DID still happen.  The funny thing is, nerds can be incredibly selective about this sort of thing.  For around 25 years, The Dark Knight Returns has been a shining example of the comics medium and has been almost unanimously praised by everyone (except possibly present-day Frank Miller, who probably wishes he had gone a little more overboard with it).

Case in point

The Dark Knight Returns maintains this status despite the fact that it takes place outside of established continuity.  This proves that fans CAN, on occasion, accept a quality story for its own merits without trying to cram it into a large, unwieldy history, and that creators can craft not simply good stories, but GREAT stories, when given the freedom to do so.  Everyone is happy.

But, like I said, this is not a phenomenon exclusive to comics, and perhaps no other entertainment franchise represents the pitfalls of sticking to your own long-winded continuity than Star Trek.  Star Trek is a series that became so weighted down by its tropes and audience expectations that increasingly large portions of every series from The Next Generation onward became boring and predictable.

"...to tepidly go where no one has gone before."

When you have to write AND publish a chronology of events for your fictitious universe, you’re not only making it harder to tell stories that don’t rely on the past, you’re also making your series virtually impenetrable for new fans.  Giving a character a backstory is one thing.  Characters should come with a degree of baggage; stories, however, shouldn't.  It took until 2009 for the Star Trek train to get set back on its proper course, and it took a reboot to do it.  Even then, the fact that J.J. Abrams made an awesome movie that both fans and non-fans could enjoy was irrelevant; without that time travel, alternate universe subplot, about 50% of the audience would have hated the movie on principle alone, because it would have contradicted accepted canon.

You mean this didn't happen anymore?!  BLASPHEMY!

How important is canon?  Is the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars canonical?  What about the Star Trek novels?  Is Crisis on Infinite Earths still something the DC heroes had to deal with?  The truth is it doesn’t really matter.  It’s a story.  At the end of the day, the only question that matters is: “Is the story any good?”

NEXT: Wayne Spencer IS alive! And he IS going to talk about the next great civil war of our time: Nerds vs. Nerds.