In the classic comic Sandman, the Lord of Dreams has a librarian named Lucien. In Lucien’s library are all of the books that only existed in the minds of writers. From the book of poetry you never wrote to the Complete Dulouz Legend by Jack Kerouac. All of the works that can only exist in dreams. What you might not know is that Lucien also has a comic collection.

All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder by Frank Miller and Jim Lee

So close to the end, DC even went so far as to collect #1-9 in a trade to promote issue #10, expecting it would be a short trip to the end. With a cover date of August, 2008 it might be time to collect up 1-10 with an afterword and call it a day. A strange marriage of creators from the beginning, the most lasting legacy of ASBR is the meme “I’m the Goddamn Batman.”

All Star Wonder Woman by Adam Hughes

A text piece in the Before Watchmen books tells us this one is still a viable book, but I wouldn’t preorder it if I were you. First confirmed at San Diego in 2006, Hughes has said that a pile of pages exists. Hughes would both write and draw a retelling of Wonder Woman’s origin, which seems even more unlikely given we have just gotten that in the New 52. I can hope they come to their senses and re-purpose this for Earth One but that way lies madness.

Dune on-going

Bluewater Comics briefly had a license to do comics based in the Dune universe. They worked with creators Chris Garrity and Matt Bellisle who created a plot and some artwork (seen here on Bleeding Cool News) that would tell a parallel story of Freman on Dune but not about the Atreides family. The license has since gone to Boom! who announced that Dune would be their Free Comic Book Day offering for 2012. That also enters Lucien’s comic collection as a separate volume – it was swapped out without explanation for Hypernaturals and Dune is once again lost in the desert.

Honourable Mention:

Holy Terror, Batman! By Frank Miller

Finally published as an OGN in 2011, Holy Terror was originally planned to be a Batman book. DC had announced the book in 2006 (hmm.. seem to be a few vanished projects from that year) but it was later turned into a Batman-analogue character instead.

Recently Removed from the Library

Ultron War by Brian Michael Bendis and ? Bryan Hitch

April 2011 “Prepare for the upcoming high-stakes Avengers event with a battle between the Avengers and the Intelligencia, the return of SWORD, and the disappearance of Spider-Woman.” The last look we got was a few pages in December, 2011’s Point One special, which was to tease key happenings for 2012. We’re seeing solicits to October and still no war.

The ominous “This is War” teasers led to rumours that Ultron War was scheduled, but turned out to be a Punisher War Zone title. Now that Bendis’ Daredevil epic is finally seeing the light of day, Ultron War may just be coming into view on the horizon.

UPDATE: Ultron War of course was finally published as the continuity-impaired Age of Ultron.

The Complete Marvelman by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman et al

Yes, these do technically exist, but a collection is unlikely and perhaps impossible given the red tape mess that is the publishing of Marvelman/Miracleman. Read your leather-bound Sandman books in this world, wait for the land of dreams to see this one together.

UPDATE: Marvel Comics will begin publishing Miracleman in single issues and trades in 2014.

Supreme #63 by Alan Moore

Moore’s run of Supreme came to an abrupt 15 years ago with one script never turned into a comic. When Image wanted to relaunch the book, Erik Larsen worked on bridging that final script to a new storyline. Don’t worry, there will always be more to fill up Lucien’s collection.