In every installment of Abandoned Love we will be examining comic book stories, plots and ideas that were abandoned by a later writer without actively retconnng away the previous story. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today, we look at how Hawkeye went to take over the Great Lakes Avengers…and then gave up on that idea.

The whole thing started in Avengers West Coast #45 (by John Byrne and Mike Machlan), when Hawkeye gets pissed that the United States government insisted that USAgent be allowed to join the West Coast Avengers. Hawkeye picks a fight with Agent and when he gets decked out, he quits…

The next issue, Mockingbird manages to find him and decide to help him fly to Milwaukee to take his mind off of things by investigating a new team of heroes who are calling themselves the Great Lakes Avengers…

Hawkeye and Mockingbird lay a trap for the Great Lakes Avengers and they quickly see that the team is a bit of a joke. However, Mister Immortal then seemingly dies and it freaks them out until they realize that he, you know, is immortal. This then leads toe Hawkeye deciding that he and Mockingbird will take over this team…

Two issues later, Hawkeye hears that the Avengers are in trouble so he brings his new team to save the day…

And sure enough, Mister Immortal’s powers DO save the day in Avengers West Coast #49…

Anyhow, the Great Lakes Avengers make a couple of other appearances, but Hawkeye and Mockingbird also show up for “Acts of Vengeance” by themselves. Still, they’re clearly still in Milwaukee with the GLA, but then Byrne’s run was cut short after Avengers West Coast #57.

After two fill-in issues (one completely unrelated and then one sort of a tie-in to the plot involving Immortus), Roy and Dann Thomas take over the series with Avengers West Coast #60 (art by Paul Ryan and Danny Bulanadi) and see how Hawkeye returns to the fold….

It’s funny how the Thomases didn’t skip a beat in getting a character they wanted on the team right back on to the group!

That’s it for this installment. If anyone else has a suggestion of an interesting abandoned comic book plot, drop me a line at [email protected]!