A lot of these lost projects have involved creators that are on the lesser-known side of the comic biz, interesting and creative minds who took a chance on some experimental ideas that didn't quite gel with the Big Two. Then there are the unpublished or unfinished works by the big name talents like Alan Moore. Moore has presided over more iconic comic book stories than perhaps any other, having been the one to pen Watchmen, The Killing Joke, Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?, From Hell, V For Vendetta, and countless other oddities and gems throughout his career (prior to his retirement) (he's still claiming he's retired, isn't he?). Great though all of those feted works are, however, it's possible that his master work will forever remain unfinished. Big Numbers was an especially bold collaboration with the aforementioned artist Bill Sienkiewicz, set to be a twelve-issue mini series than only ever made it to issue two. Printed on high-quality paper in an unusual square format, Big Numbers moved away from the genre deconstruction of Watchmen (which was being published at the same time) to more direct cultural commentary, with the building of a large shopping mall by an American corporation in a small English town serving as a microcosm of the changes wrought by Thatcher on the country in the eighties. It could easily have been Moore's masterpiece if he'd stuck with it. Instead it was abandon ship and it'll probably remain unfinished.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
