In this feature, I spotlight storylines that have been, well, left unresolved. Click here for an archive of all storylines featured so far.

Today we look at dropped mystery of why Dazzler can't seem to die...

In X-Men Annual #11, Chris Claremont and Alan Davis had the X-Men be challenged by a series of "What If...?" scenarios, tempting them with their secret fondest wishes. Storm's was to run free with Yukio, Havok's was to cut loose with his powers without fear, Psylocke's was to be like a robot, Rogue's was to own slaves (just this once, I will throw in "I am just kidding around, I don't seriously believe Rogue's desire to live the life of a Southern Belle in the Pre-Civil War times means that her fondest desire is to own slaves. It's just a joke") and Dazzler's, well, her fondest wish was almost as messed up as Psylocke and Rogue's...

That's some dark stuff right there.

Anyhow, when Claremont began working the Siege Perilous into Uncanny X-Men during the X-Men's time in Australia, where the X-Men could enter a portal and find new lives for themselves, Claremont revisited this idea, only now with a twist, all of Dazzler's possible paths in life ended with her death!

The previous issue, there was ALSO a hint that Dazzler was going to die...

This is because she WAS going to die, but Chris Claremont changed his mind, so the the next issue, Rogue "dies" instead. Eventually, Dazzler does go through the Siege Perilous and after one final story with her in Uncanny X-Men #260 (one of Marc Silvestri's final issues on the series - Silvestri was a fan of the character, so it is nice that he got to draw her final issue in the book), she is written out of the book for the rest of Claremont's run on X-Men. But since she didn't die, that made that whole Siege Perilous thing not really make much sense, so it was ripe for someone to pick up the idea later on. Luckily, there was one writer at Marvel who particularly enjoyed picking up old Chris Claremont plots - Chris Claremont.

In New Exaclibur #1 in 2006, Claremont (and artist Michael Ryan) has Dazzler (who was doing a show in London) get attacked by an alternate reality evil team of the original X-Men and, well, killed...

If you asked yourself, "Wait, did Claremont just reference Dark Willow, which was, itself, a riff on his own story, the Dark Phoenix Saga?" then yes, the answer is yes.

Anyhow, while things looked bleak for Dazzler, it turned out not be all bad...

So she joins the newly reformed Excalibur, but there is no answer to how she can be alive.

Issue #6 even opens with a question that you would think they wouldn't ask if they weren't going to answer it, and yet...

they didn't in that issue.

In fact, instead it ends with Black Tom Cassidy killing her yet again (Dazzler is not looking like the most competent superhero here)...

And then, in the next issue...

Actually, I think Claremont honestly WAS intending on addressing the mystery, as the original solicits for New Excalibur #8 were for a story that used the title of #6, but then Claremont suffered a setback with his health (ostensibly just "exhaustion," but I have no idea what it was beyond that) and he had to take a break on the series, with Chris Yost stepping in. That, as it turns out, might have been the only time the story could have been resolved.

Go to the next page to see what happens next when Claremont returns to the title!

So Claremont returns and in New Excalibur #16, Dazzler dies once again (seriously, this is not saying a lot for her abilities as a superhero)...

So yep, once again, she dies and returns back to life. New Excalibur ends with #24, but Claremont does not address it again before the series ends.

Okay, so Claremont is given the chance to wrap up the plots in both of his now-canceled series, New Excalibur and Exiles in the mini-series X-Men: Die by the Sword (I believe that this was first meant to be a crossover between the two books but was instead turned into a standalone series with the X-Men name on it to help sell it better). Okay, while it is not absolutely certain, it APPEARS as though Dazzler is killed one more by Merlyn...

But, of course, comes back to life. Dazzler's story in this series was not about her mysterious immortality, but instead about her reunion with Longshot, who showed up for the first time in quite a while, only suffering from amnesia (he and Dazzler had gotten married at one point before he got amnesia). He can't remember her, but they get a happy ending anyways as he still has feelings for her, even if he doesn't remember her...

(As you might imagine, they later break up, as he doesn't know her).

Dazzler eventually shows up again in the pages of Uncanny X-Men and has been in various X-Men books ever since, but with no promise of this story ever getting addressed again.

If YOU have a suggestion for an interesting comic book story that was left unresolved, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (not in the comments section)!