Telling a story is like pulling a heist and as any supervillain will tell you: there are plenty of reasons why you might give up mid-plot. Maybe you can't find the wi-fi password for the quantum accelerator. Maybe there's a tell-tale sonic boom, accompanied by a big blue blur—or worse, a large bat lurking among the clouds. Or your best pal decided to "try a new direction."

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Comics can be that way, too. Consider these examples of sagas that, for a variety of reasons, got out too soon, too late, or before the going got good.

10 Superior Spider-Man Found Its Legs - Then Lost Them

superior spider-man returns in Spider-geddon

It didn't generate the outrage that other Spider-Man tales have, but fans were nonetheless shocked when Otto Octavius' malevolent consciousness devoured Peter Parker's body. More shocking? That this self-described "Superior Spider-Man"—with Parker's residual personality lingering Jiminy Cricket-style—proved such a compelling web-slinger in his own right.

While this Spidey has enjoyed a revival in recent years, it was harder than expected at the time to see the status quo return. We weren't ready to say goodbye, Spider-Ock.

9 This Secret Invasion Should Have Stayed Secret

secret invasion

One of the next, big splashy Marvel series, of course, is Secret Invasion, presumably inspired by this cross-over event in which we learned the shape-shifting Skrulls had infiltrated the planet and body-snatched many of Marvel's heroes. Who was a Skrull and who was the real hero?

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For a thriller with so much promise—it even reunited Hawkeye and Mockingbird—the climax proved decidedly lackluster, leaving some fans to wonder if a sinister force had swapped out a much more satisfying story for the one that got published.

8 The New Teen Titans Grow Up

Robin Dick leading the New Teen Titans

Marv Wolfman and George Perez's classic run on The New Teen Titans is rightfully beloved. A smash upon its 1980 debut, it immediately became one of DC's top titles, rivaling the popularity of Marvel's X-Men franchise. Expertly weaving drama, romance, and angst with dimension-spanning action, the series earned raves for years.

But as difficult as excellence is to achieve, it is tougher to maintain. And by the latter part of the decade, with much of the roster gone or changed, the now-not teenage heroes had passed their adolescent prime—a sad fact personified by the introduction of the much-loathed boy genius Danny Chase.

7 Secret Wars II: Beyond the Mullet

the beyonder battles marvel's villains

What is a sequel but both a new ending and a beginning? Regrettably, as far as most fans were concerned, Secret Wars II did not so much as give up as not even bother to show up. Rather than another all-star extravaganza, this 1985 follow-up focused entirely on the God-like being known as the Beyonder, who years earlier had pitted Marvel's heroes against its villains.

This time, he returned in human form, complete with an '80s hairdo and attire, to contemplate what it means to be human. Sort of like what would happen if, after tormenting Marvel's mightiest, Thanos got his own TV show and they called it Resident Alien.

6 Chris Claremont's X-Men Original Run Gets SNIKT'd

X-Men explodes in popularity

By any measure, Chris Claremont's 17-year stint as X-Men scribe-in-chief is an accomplishment to be heralded. It was just shorter than expected. As most fans know, Claremont and then-artist Jim Lee had conflicting notions about the direction of mutantkind as the 1990s got underway.

With Lee's stardom on the rise, fueled by the industry's then-embrace of image over script, Claremont left the newly launched X-Men after three issues. While there are reports about what Claremont had planned—including dramatic turns for Magneto and Wolverine—fans will never really know how his soap opera would have ended.

5 Ben Reilly Does What a Spider Can - & Then Doesn't

ben reilly spider man

Poor Ben Reilly. What did we say about disliked Spider-Man storylines? Enter the Clone Saga. In brief, Peter Parker discovers he's a clone while the "real" Parker has been living under the name "Ben Reilly." Plentiful Parker clones proliferated—and Reilly became a new Spider-Man as Parker retired with his wife, Mary Jane. Fans balked and Reilly was promptly—arguably unjustly—jettisoned.

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Say what you will about Reilly's original run, but readers will never know what a continuity-free Spider-Man would have meant to the title back then. Moreover, he was single—without a solitary, sulfur-tinged spell.

4 Death of the Family (Kidding)

Joker Batman A Death in the Family

Calling a Batman story "Death of the Family" conjures dread. After all, it's a clear reference to "A Death in the Family," which saw Jason Todd's Robin bludgeoned to death (or so readers thought) by the Joker.

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But the latest rampage by the Clown Prince of Crime proved decidedly anti-climactic, leaving fans feeling they had just been told, "It was all a dream." If that doesn't feel like a story just gave up, what does? At least readers didn't have to call a 1-800 number.

3 Xorn is Really Magneto... Really

Xorn stares intensely, from Grant Morrison' New X-Men in Marvel Comics

Grant Morrison's spellbinding relaunch, New X-Men, streamlined the franchise just in time for the 21st century, delivering fresh concepts, sharpened characterizations, and, for once, a comic that didn't feel like any other X-Men book you'd ever read. He killed off Magneto right away, for example. And he introduced new characters such as Xorn, a mutant with "a sun in his brain," who contained his power with a particularly painful-looking helmet.

When it turned out Xorn was really a not-dead Magneto intent on a genocidal mission of his own, Morrison's run suddenly felt like almost every other X-Men book you'd ever read.

2 Bruce Wayne Takes Back the Bat After (Briefly) Dying

Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne gliding though the sky as Batman and Robin.

A high point of Morrison's epic Batman run was their Batman and Robin title, which saw Dick Grayson assume the Bat mantle after Bruce Wayne's presumed death, with Damian Wayne becoming Robin. With Grayson, there was more empathy than anger brooding behind the cowl. And with Damian, fans met a Robin who was violent, obsessive, and out of control.

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Not only was it fresh and compelling, but it offered an unexpected emotional undercurrent. To paraphrase Jor-El, "The father becomes the son and the son becomes the father." Too bad it didn't last, with Bruce soon back, the chance to create a cross-generational mythology beyond him was once again set aside.

1 The New Gods End Up in a Forever War

Darkseid from New Gods Hunger Dogs 3.

There are many "what ifs" in life, and few actually involve beings at the Nexus of All Realities. Case in point, what if Jack Kirby had completed his plans for the New Gods in the early 1970s? Although those characters endure to this day, Kirby's original intent was reportedly to conclude the war between Apokolips and New Genesis—with many of the characters meeting their doomsday.

But those plans stalled with the end of the book in 1972 and Kirby's own time at DC ended in 1975. Since then, the New Gods have become staples of the DC universe, but you have to wonder what denouement Kirby had in mind—and how it would have impacted his creations all these decades later.

NEXT: 7 Great Comic Titles That Knew When To End