As comic book stories often take place in massive Shared Universes, creative team changes, Crisis Crossovers and other hazards of the format can sometimes lead to planned arcs being lost in the shuffle.
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- Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) :
- As a Long Runner, the comic gets this a lot, but two memorable aborted arcs include the mystery of Tails' destiny as "Chosen One" (a prophecy of him being a bigger hero than Sonic or Knuckles combined that faltered several times, due to arguments over exactly what that was supposed to mean), and the Eggman-backed Dingo invasion of the Echidnas' homeland (which petered out when the story shifted to an equally-aborted arc regarding a civil war in the Dark Legion). Both stories were hyped up something fierce, but disappeared so quickly and completely that even the writers have no idea how exactly they were supposed to end.
Tails' "Chosen One" destiny was resolved either when he stopped Mammoth Mogul from destroying The Multiverse or when he was used by A.D.A.M. to gather all the Chaos Emeralds in the galaxy in one place and fuse them together. And the Dingo invasion/Dark Legion civil war stories were interconnected (as the latter allowed the former to gain more ground), and were both brought to an end when Knuckles was tricked into becoming Enerjak. - A lawsuit by former Sonic writer Ken Penders for continuing to use his characters even after he left the comic meant that Archie had to write them all out — and since Penders had created or helped create dozens of characters, this ultimately resulted in the implementation of a Cosmic Retcon that cut short numerous plot lines, some of which had been building for years. In fact, the only ones that got any closure at all were Silver's attempt to fix the past (which got quickly resolved pre-retcon, and then reworked into something different but similar post-retcon) and Ixis Naugus' reign as king (which is almost ridiculously resolved by him running away immediately following the retcon).
- When the title and its spin-off series, Sonic Universe, was ultimately cancelled due to various factors, this left a lot lingering plot threads behind that the writers were hinting to explore later in rebuilding the new universe.
- Breezie and Honey's deal which they made at the end of the "Champions" arc. It was obvious Breezie was starting to plan something and Honey would likely end up involved.
- Wendy looking into finding another conch shell: After Wendy joins Eggman's empire (somewhat unwillingly), Eggman sends her off to find a replacement conch shell. Citing he had lost his initial one somehow (Which ended up destroyed at the beginning of the "Worlds Unite" crossover by a Sigma-possessed Orbot. Since the events of that comic were erased, he only has hazy memories of it).
- Snively and whatever ulterior motives he had in G.U.N: In the new universe, Sniverly defected from Eggman after the events of Sonic 3 and joined G.U.N as their resident science expert. But he was still planning something malicious, having deflected suspicion off him from his superiors. What's more he was now in possession of Eclipse's ship and the Black Arms technology within.
- Where Eclipse and his Dark Arms (basically Black Arm versions of Wisps) ended up as they were last seen fleeing Angel Island and crashing into an unknown area. Likewise his vendetta against Shadow.
- Where Silver, Gold and Von Schlemmer wound up after defeating the Second Devourer. As this story was a prequel before Silver meeting Sonic in the new universe was shown, that meeting will never be revealed.
- Some plotlines with a few of the Egg Bosses such as Tundra and Akhlut (two leader of their fractions at war with each other), Nephthys (an Egg Boss who only joined to make sure Eggman rule is undermined while not casting suspicion on her. The Freedom Fighters of that area actually being her friends and working with her with the main cast completely unaware), Conquering Storm (her taking over her homeland and the rising rebellion), Maw (Him being tested on with an secretive experimental power that not even the other Egg Bosses save Nephthys knew about and developing a new robotizicer for Eggman) and Cassia and Clove (two young girls who were tricked into serving Eggman when the latter willingly became a cybrog to save herself from an terminal illness. But unbeknownst to her is isn't cured and Cassia quickly finds this out but Eggman essentially holds her sister hostage by that point).
- The Setting Dawn Pirates returning and whatever was in that temple they had found with the Chaotix, Echo and Princess Undina in their last issue. Their story likewise tied into one of the Egg Bosses, Abyss.
- Nicole had been left in the backup systems of the Sky Patrol after her old computer was destroyed battling Phage during the final moments of the Shattered World arc. Had both continued, Sonic Universe would have had an issue where Tails and Sally went to Dr. Elidy to help repair the computer and get Nicole back.
- And Eggman trying to re-power his Death Egg with the implication he was going to go to the Lost Hex to acquire energy for it (which likewise in turn would lead to an another encounter with the Deadly Six, the first one was in the World Unite crossover but that was erased at the end of the event) and the threat of the adformentioned new robotizicer.
- As a Long Runner, the comic gets this a lot, but two memorable aborted arcs include the mystery of Tails' destiny as "Chosen One" (a prophecy of him being a bigger hero than Sonic or Knuckles combined that faltered several times, due to arguments over exactly what that was supposed to mean), and the Eggman-backed Dingo invasion of the Echidnas' homeland (which petered out when the story shifted to an equally-aborted arc regarding a civil war in the Dark Legion). Both stories were hyped up something fierce, but disappeared so quickly and completely that even the writers have no idea how exactly they were supposed to end.
- Cerebus the Aardvark: This occurred at least once in an early story arc where Cerebus and a band of mercenaries capture a commander named Krull as part of an elaborate military campaign. A later story even depicts them having difficulty keeping Krull imprisoned; seeming to foreshadow an upcoming conflict or complication. However, the author suddenly and unceremoniously dumps the story line, ultimately having it resolve itself offscreen. Not only that, it is never mentioned how (or even if) Krull affected the campaign's outcome.
- ElfQuest
- Several storylines used to be published in an anthology title from 1996 to '99. Future Quest, taking place some 900 years after most other stories, was put on hold indefinitely to avoid spoilers for other planned stories. Then the anthology was discontinued for financial reasons. Wolfrider wrapped up neatly in the trade paperback. Mender's Tale and Wavedancers had additional chapters been made available online in 2008, partly in script- or unfinished form; Wavedancers still has no conclusion.
- Similarly, the Summer Special Recognition was meant as a teaser for a new trade paperback, but then DC Comics bought the publishing rights for ElfQuest, and did not want to pick that title up. Additional parts are available online now, but there is no conclusion yet.
- Happened entirely too often with Rob Liefeld's creator-owned work. Most quarter bins will have issues from series that never went past the first couple of issues, set-ups for crossovers that never actually happened, storylines that were abandoned mid-plot... the list goes on. Some of the most prominent examples include:
- The 08' Youngblood (Image Comics) series introduced a back-up feature drawn by Liefeld in issue 8, involving Barack Obama assembling up his own Youngblood team. For some reason, issue 9 then totally did away with the ongoing plot, the back up feature taking over entirely and ignoring everything from the last eight issues in favour of an entirely typical Youngblood series. No further issues of the run were made. Curiously, Shaft's narration does bother to explain why Badrock was back in action after suffering injuuries earlier in the run. And nothing else.
- Supreme Sacrifice crossover, which would have involved the 90s-era Supreme escaping from Supremacy and wrecking havoc.
- Subverted with the Supreme: the Return storyline. Seeing as Supreme has been relaunched, it did continue from The Return storyline while featuring a 90s-era Supreme.
- The Malibu Comics Street Fighter series was rife with this, as it ended after only three issues. The final issue even hinted at a future crossover with the Malibu hero Amazing Man, and introduced a Canon Foreigner fighter named Nida, who had sworn vengeance on Ryu for some reason. The letter column of the issue gave a brief rundown of the various story beats that would have unfolded had the series not been cancelled.
- In 2010, the Transformers Collector's Club dropped their "Nexus Prime" plotline which had been running for about five years across various continuities, after Hasbro themselves took charge of stories regarding the thirteen original Transformers.
- The Transformers Megaseries:
- Spotlight: Blaster established the rivalry between the communications officers Soundwave and Blaster for the IDW continuity. Blaster was a significant Autobot soldier in charge of morale which caused Soundwave to attempt to assassinate him by brainwashing Beachcomber (which ultimately puts Beachcomber into a coma because of the brain damage). Blaster swears revenge on Soundwave and this is never followed up on. Beachcomber recovers completely offscreen, Blaster fades into the background, and Soundwave pulls a Heel–Face Turn with their rivalry never building to anything. The only thing the issue served to do was create a plot-hole around the Decepticon Bombshell which was dismissed with a hand wave.
- In Spotlight: Metroplex, Sixshot, a fairly important character for the first few years of the comic's run, was crushed by the titular giant while hunting the Throttlebots but shown to have survived, implying that he would return. He never appeared onscreen again, and the next appearance of the Throttlebots implied they'd managed to kill him or at least drive him off. This is rather conspicuous, as Sixshot was previously established as one of the strongest Cybertronians in existence.
- An early issue of Black Science explained the principle of the core of the eververse and teased that the team would have to go their to fix their problems. They got distracted and it never came up again.
- The first two Sasmira books had a storyline set in the present day where Stan and Bertille's friends were investigating their disappearance. They unceremoniously vanish in the last two books.
- Diablo (Chile): Apart of the cancellation of the comic books, in the first arc there was the story of the angelic lovers and their revenge against the Lord of Entropía. After the first arc, there's no mention of them in the rest of the issues.
- The Puppet Master comic series by Action Lab ended abruptly on "Part 2 of 4" of a storyline involving a rejuvenated Toulon infiltrating a cult based on his puppets, and the subsequent Curtain Call miniseries spent as little time as possible discussing how it was resolved.
- G.I. Joe (2019) had two cases of this. The second issue ends with the revelation that General Hawk has been forced to make a deal with Destro to obtain the weapons and resources needed to fight Cobra, while issue six ends with Jinx planning to join forces with Snake Eyes to fight Cobra on her own terms after being kicked out of G.I. Joe. Both plot points were quickly forgotten during the remaining four issues and weren't brought up at all in the G.I. Joe: Castle Fall one-shot that served as the continuity's conclusion.
- Star Wars (Marvel 2015): Greg Pak's arc introduced two new major characters, Leia's former love interest Dar Champion and Force-sensitive criminal Warba Calip. When his run ended after only eight issues and Charles Soule took over the reset series, both were dropped without mention.
- Gargoyles: Clan Building: "Reunion", a lost tale from the Avalon World Tour, was going to be the thirteenth issue. Unfortunately, it went unpublished due to the comic book's cancellation. The story itself leads into Coldstone's appearance at the beginning of Possession and why Angela seemed familiar with him —and not put off by his appearance.
- Hound: Cú Cullan's decision to visit Skye after the death of his only son by Eva seems to be building up to a payoff for Skye's comment to Eva that "What goes around comes around" upon his departure from the Isle of Skye. This plotline is dropped when he goes to Brunaboyne instead upon hearing that Emer is there praying for him.
- In Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose, the shocking tease in issue 80, when Raven recalls a potential future where she and Tarot will have Jon’s children, which is a traceback from Issue 39, but then Raven also revealed her mom as well would hook up with Jon. That potential future is certainly done away with years later in issue 115, where Crypt Chick kills Tarot and Raven’s mother, where she finally joins her late husband in the afterlife, the Summerland in their religion. A few issues prior Tarot’s mom had a talk with a medium where it was somberly shown how she wanted to meet with her late husband, so Jim may have been already preparing for her death and likely abandoned that part of Raven’s future where Jon got with her mom in the years that followed.
