10 Jaw-Dropping Comics Cancelled Before They Were Published

9. Morning Dragons

What if Viking longships arrived in 12th century Japan? Warren Ellis and Steve Lieber planned to answer that question with this series at Image Comics. Ellis, a science-fiction writer, researched the Vikings and feudal Japan carefully, generating a 14-page synopsis, but couched the series in science-fiction terms. "It's a first contact story. It is two utterly alien civilizations, divided by a huge gulf, meeting for the first time." But the book never got to the scripting stage. Ellis called it "a victim of certain business events out of both my control and Image's." What does that mean? If neither Ellis nor Image killed it, what did? Your guess is as good as ours. How Regrettable Is Its Loss? Oh, man. That attention to research, Ellis' gifted, uncompromising imagination and Lieber's stark, sharp artwork could have made this quite a sight to behold. By now, it could've been a major motion picture. However, as Ellis now owns the rights to it, it could still find its way back on the schedule someday.