In this feature we examine 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.

Today, based on a suggestion from reader Pawel P., I take a look at how the driving death of God Loves, Man Kills was later retconned...

In the graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills (by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson), the X-Men's adversary is the charming Reverend William Stryker, who is using television to whip people into an anti-mutant frenzy. He also, on the side, is rounding up mutants and killing them through the use of his team of "Purifiers."

Here he is debating Charles Xavier on national television...

Right after the telecast, Stryker and his men capture Xavier, Storm and Cyclops, forcing the remaining X-Men to team up with their old enemy, Magneto, to save their friends.

Later, Stryker delivers his origin story, of sorts, to the captured X-Men...

So yeah, killing his own mutant son drove Stryker to this mad crusade.

However, in the second X-Men movie, Jason Stryker is alive...

That, then, seemed to inspire writer Brian Michael Bendis to go a similar direction in the series All-New X-Men. Go to the next page to see what happened...

In All-New X-Men #19 (by Bendis and Brandon Peterson), the original X-Men (who have been stranded in the present day) fight against a religious nut..

The next issue, we learn that he is Jason Stryker, the son of William Stryker...

When the X-Men attack, he reveals that he is quite powerful...

In the next issue, Bendis brought in Brent Anderson to do a flashback showing the retcon - now William Stryker's son lived, and AIM just experimented on him....

The X-Men ultimately defeat Stryker.

Thanks for the suggestion, Pawel!

If anyone else has an example of a notable comic book retcon that they'd like to see featured in this column, just drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookrources.com.