Sometimes, our excited speculation over where a title might go is circumvented by publishing contingencies. But the stories our favorite creators begin sometimes have no other ending published, and inexorably our imaginations play with the remaining possibilities.

Steve Englehart's Doctor Strange run when he left Marvel in 1976, in the midst of the time travelling history of the occult in America, is one that intrigues me. Steve Gerber's Omega the Unknown remained true to its name; only Mary Skrenes has the original secrets there! I believe Alan Moore's plans for Supreme left a lot of excited fans wondering where could it all possibly lead...so many more.

Which is your favorite?

I wanted the 1963 annual from Alan Moore. That he never finished that still disappoints me.

"Christabel" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
"Tulip" by Dashiell Hammett.

HBO's Carnivale

Also, Supreme. I wish there was some way this series could be completed.

Two really huge disappointments for me are Supreme Power/Squadron Supreme and The Twelve by JMS. I've pretty much boycotted his work from here on since I can't be assured he'll finish a story.

(Also, it helps he's doing lame shit like his current Superman run.)

15 or so years ago I might've listed Next Men. Can't really be sussed to give a rat's ass these days.

+1

Agreed. Alan Moore seemed poised to make the entire Liefeld universe interesting, or at the very least, readable, before it all just up and died.

Yeah, even Moore couldn't save years' worth of bad business decision by Rob Liefeld.

I wish Perez had never left Justice League of America, he was just hitting his stride when he departed.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens. He died before finishing it.

Edgar Allen Poe invented the detective story with Murders in the Rue Morgue and two others with Dupin. He did not use the word "detective," and the term was not in common use yet.

Wilkie Collins, best friend and colleague of Dickens, is credited with coining the word "detective" when he wrote Moonstone (in 1863, I believe). It was a smashing success and, for a time, Collins got to enjoy some success that his friend Dickens should have envied.

Dickens was the world's most popular English language author. His stories were self-published in serial form, and he was the equivalent then of our most popular movie stars, television stars, and authors all rolled into one. What Dickens did, while literature, was the very definition of pop culture.

After Wilkie wrote Moonstone, Dickens saw the potential in this idea of a "mystery" story and "detective" fiction. He turned his considerable talents toward it. Died. The book is published today but never finished.

In terms of popularity, the next figure in the English language that compares to Dickens in popularity is Doyle's Sherlock Holmes tales. Sherlock Holmes placed an indelible mark on not only detective fiction, but popular fiction. Genre fiction, really. I view Sherlock Holmes as the first modern day superhero. Almost all of his stories are written from the perspective of Watson, who marvels at his powers. Sherlock's ability to overcome any situation was the perfect "tee up" for the heroic fiction that would dominate the pulps of the 20th Century, movies, and television.

I would really like to see what would have happened if Charles Dickens had started writing popular detective stories 20 years before Sherlock Holmes.

Charles Dickens bunked with Hoss and Little Joe. He was portrayed by Jonathan Harris (Lost in Space's Dr. Smith).

I kind of wish he could combine the 1963 finale with his "Awesome Universe" material. The final page of 1963 featured a reveal that Shaft had gone back to 1963 for some unknown reason.

And Shaft was also part of Moore's Youngblood revamp, and the cliffhanger in Moore's last issue of Youngblood involved all of them being sent back in time.

To go back to Lue's subject heading, that coincidence "inspires me greatly" to think that there's a way to weave those two threads together. If I ever become a fan turned pro, I must find a way to scratch that itch.

My fifteen-year-old self really wanted to see Jim Lee make good on his plans for adjectiveless X-Men up to issue 25. That 'Shape of Things to Come' two-page poster in the first issue whetted my appetite and fueled my imagination, but it was not to be.

Count me in as someone who would love to see Alan Moore complete his run on Supreme and Youngblood.

I always would have loved to see Claremont (I am sure Doot agrees on this one) would have concluded his Shadow King mega arc leading up to Uncanny X-men 300 - his return to the X-books and X-men Forever are just not the same...too bad.

Agree. I would have loved to see his take on the whole Awesome universe.

Yes.

If I had millions of dollars to burn, I'd buy the property from Liefeld outright and hire Sprouse to finish the series (assuming the scripts still exist -- if not, I'd have to ask Moore and promsie to donate money to whatever funnybook charity he wants or whatever his crazy demands are ).

On a related note, it was annoying when those Checker Books tpbs came out, and failed to fix all the egregious typos from some of those final Moore issues.

That issue with all the different Darius Daxes -- man, what an embarrassment.

This is my pick as well - I've never been so disappointed by a story being left incomplete as I was with this one. It was set up so perfectly, and I just enjoyed it so much, that I really wanted to read the conclusion: I just know it'd be a doozy, too. When I do re-read those issues, it's with a heavy heart because I know I'll never find out what happened.

The second on my list would be John Byrne's Incredible Hulk run, which was much too short. He clearly had a long-term plan, and I was looking forward to seeing it develop...and then it was just over as soon as it had started. There were some new ideas in the mix, and he was doing stuff with the character that was really original. That one also annoys me when I think about it, as it seemed clear that Byrne was "going somewhere" with it.

I was going to say that I've always wondered how Tara Tallan's "Galaxion" was going to turn out, but after a long hiatus she has gone back to work on it as a web comic. So we might still find out how it ends!