All throughout December, 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.

Today we look at Bill Mantlo's odd revelation regarding Northstar and Aurora's parentage...

Leading up to Alpha Flight #50, Northstar was feeling quite ill. I've heard stories over the years that Mantlo's original intent was for Northstar to have AIDS. Anyone ever see a confirmation on that? It'd make for a good Comic Book Legend.

In any event, whether Mantlo was forced to change his original plot or not, the end result was that in Alpha Flight #50, Loki reveals that Northstar and Aurora's mom was an elf...

At the end of the issue, Northstar leaves Earth to be with his elf brethren...

Thirty-one issues later, Northstar returns, and then-writer James Hudnall deals with the elf stuff very quickly...

"Yeah, he lied."

And it has never come up since!

On an unrelated point, check out the last panel of Alpha Flight #50. This is one of the shittiest internal monologues I recall seeing in a superhero comic book...

Wow, that is awful.