What If? Classic Vol. 6 (What If? by Danny Fingeroth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Issues 33-38 of What if? Are collected in this book.

Issue 33 features two stories:

What if Dazzler had become the Herald of Galactus?...A plot turn that makes more sense than what happened in the mainstream continuity. Surprisingly good and a bit poignant. Grade: B+

What if Iron Man had been trapped in King Arthur's Time?...Essentially, what would have happened if Tony Stark had been doublecrossed by Doctor Doom when they teamed up to escape the time of King Arthur. A compelling story with some great twists. Grade A-

Issue 34 is the humor Issue. It reads a bit more like Marvel's parody comic What The? However, it's filled with pages of rapid fire jokes with multiple joke what ifs on some pages and no concept take up more than a couple pages. Some are now politically incorrect, and some are stupid, but there are enough funny ones to keep you laughing through the stupid ones. Overall, not bad. Grade: B-

Issue 35 features three stories:

What if Bullseye had not killed Elektra?...Drawn and written by Frank Miller himself. This is a decent story. May have inspired the end of Dark Knight Rises. He even gives the watcher a Noirish feel. Overall, a decent if not spectacular story. Grade: B

And Thus are Born the Cat People: An untold tale of the Marvel Universe, like was done with the Eternals in another collection. This was in fun, kind of B Movie sci fi with a Marvel twist. Grade: B+

What if Yellowjacket Had Died?: Yellowjacket (the then latest superhero identity of Hank Pym) continued attacking after a villain surrendered, leading to his eventual court martial. What if he had died? Then my friends, there would have been Avengers drama. It's a somewhat believable take on what might have happened with a strain on the team and his wife Jan ( who would divorce him) becoming desirous of vengeance. Overall, okay, but not spectacular. Grade: B-

Issue 36 featured two stories:

What if the Fantastic Four had not gained their powers?: This one lays out the very reasonable scenario of Reed Richards deciding to be reasonable and wait for an appropriate ship to go into space, which means no one gets powers. However, what happens when the threat of the Mole Man emerges? It's a story that shows what makes the Fantastic Four heroes and it's not their powers, it's their hearts, minds, and family feel. Grade: B+

What if Nova had not given up his powers?: This book asks what would have happened if the original Nova (Richard Ryder) had chosen to remain on Xandar to hold on to his powers and then tried to escape back to Earth with him rather than surrendering him as the Xandarians required if he went home. This story illustrates the problem with What If? stories. There's only a range of stories which are believable. Twists of fate and choices that are within their personality you can do, but if you stray too far from who these people, they're no longer recognizable, and this is the case here as Ryder's behavior is totally inconsistent with the heroic persona. The story is a boring battle scene with a stupid attempt at a moral. Grade: D

Issue 37:

What if the Thing continued to mutate? The first of a doubleheader on continuing mutation finds a mutation continuing far beyond what happened in the main continuity. It's a well thought out story with a very nice ending. Grade: A-

What if the Beast continued to mutate? This story takes a different direction, as the mutation that turned the beast Blue goes even further turning him into a real beast. The way the X-men handle it is consistent and the ending is intriguing. Grade: B

What if Galactus had turned the Silver Surfer into Norrin Radd? And Reed Richards had actually made it possible for him to return to Zenn-la. File this one in the, "The Silver Surfer can't win," file along with the, "Ain't Galactus fickle" file. Grade: B-

Issue 37 focused on possible future:

First are the Avengers, as the Scarlet Witch is in her last days and the Vision is trying to cope with it. Never a big fan of the Vision-Scarlet Witch relationship but this story becomes a beautiful tale of love and sacrifice. Though, the imagination put into future Avengers was bit lazy. Grade: A-


What if Sharon Carter had not died?: A look at what if Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter had a family. It features the Red Skull to boot. It's another enjoyable tale. Grade: A-

Daredevil 2013!: An over the hill Daredevil is working at the U.N., where his old love Natasha comes for an official visit, but they both are drawn in when an old enemy attacks. The art's not great, but the story is well-done and has a very solid conclusion to the volume. Grade: B+

Overall, I think (with the exception of the Nova story), this is one of the strongest What If? Classic volumes with many enjoyable favorites for fans of classic Marvel comics.



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