The Abandoned An’ Forsaked – Maybe We Should Just Forget This Issue of Excalibur…

Every week, we will be examining comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically “overturned” by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An’ Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Based on a suggestion from Matt Bird, we examine how Alan Davis handled an ersatz issue of Excalibur in the time before he returned to the title to take over as writer/artist.

Matt originally suggested this as a Meta-Message, but I think it fits here better.

In early 1991, Marvel released a one-shot issue of Excalibur titled Excalibur Special: The Possession. It was written by Michael Higgins and drawn by Tom Morgan.

It opened with Nightcrawler and Meggan sparring. They were interrupted by Captain Britain…

Then Alistaire Stuart (a friend of Excalibur who works for the Weird Happenings Organisation) got reamed out by a bureaucrat…

It turns out Meggan is possessed by a lost spirit. An old man helps the group. First they go to Braddock Manor…

Eventually the old man reveals himself to be Merlin, who was thought to be dead.

This one-shot came out very soon before Alan Davis returned to Excalibur with issue #42 to take over as the writer and artist of the book. Davis’ run was delayed for awhile (it was originally going to start nearly a year earlier) and he had plans for the book that the one-shot got in the way off, so in #47, Davis does one of the more aggressive abandoning and forsaking of a storyline that you’ll see…

Yep, he just takes the story apart, bit by bit. Davis had his plots ready for nearly a year and the main Excalibur book was written by Scott Lobdell during this time to specifically not conflict with Davis’ stories, so when this one-shot DID, Davis felt he had to address it.

Thanks for the suggestion, Matt! If anyone else has a suggestion for a comic book story or plot or idea that was both abandoned and then specifically overwritten by a later story, let me know at my e-mail address – bcronin@comicbookresources.com