What If? Classic, Vol. 3 by Gary Friedrich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


with more obscure characters and far weaker premises. This book collects Issues 14 and 15 of the Series (Issue 16 was a Masters of Kung Fu comic Marvel has lost the license to) and Issues 17-20:

1) What if Sergeant Fury and His Howling Commandos had Fought World War II in Space?: As a letters issue in this volume pointed out, this whole scenario was a betrayal of the very idea of the, "What If?" comic which was predicated on asking What if events went differently in established Marvel continuity. This one was founded on Leonardo inventing airplanes. And the writers don't seem to get that World War II against generic space aliens is nowhere near as compelling as World War II. Story is dull and dumb. Grade: D

2) What if Someone Else had become Nova?: This book asks what would have happened if four different people ended up getting the powers of Nova. I get that write Marv Wolfman was coming for a study on the effects of power but the whole story seemed kind of obvious: If different people got these powers they'd do different things with them. It doesn't help that three of the alternate Novas were total unknowns to the Marvel Universe. Still, I'll give it a grade: C as a meditation of the corrupting effects of power.

3) What if Ghost Rider/Spider-Woman/Captain Marvel remain villains: Another three short story tale and my thoughts on each: The Ghost Rider tale is depressing but not that bad. The Spider-woman tale is a bit dumb. I have to admit I enjoyed the Captain Marvel story if for no other reason than the pleasure of seeing Yon-Rogg get get his comeuppance even it's in a What If? Tale. The title's a bit of misnomer as the last two don't stay villains for long. Still, I'll give this one a Grade: C-.

4)What if Doctor Strange were a disciple of Dormammu: A kind of confusing story where Doc Strange joins the forces of evil so easily and is shown to have no real redeeming qualities that to me it makes the choice between good and evil too simple for plot convenience reasons. Grade: D+

5) What if Spider-man had stopped the burglar that killed his Uncle: And finally a good one. In this stories, Spidey stops the burglar for good publicity and decides to make his career in showbiz, falling out with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and going Hollywood, becoming an agent for the most of Marvel superheroes including the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. I loved the end of the story that suggested the lesson about great power coming with great responsibility was one he'd always have to learn and it's in the face of another tragedy because he continued his entertainment career with unbroken arrogance. A nice twist. Grade: B+

6) What if the Avengers Fought the Kree-Skrull War without Rick Jones: Writer Tom DeFalco gives an alternate end to the Kree-Skurll war story that is enjoyable as a space epic and filmed with all Marvel's big guns coming out to crush this invaders. Whether you know anything about the actual Kree-Skrull war or not, this story is very good on its own right. It's a wonderful epic that made a giant sized comic worth buying. Grade: A

Overall, the first 2/3 of the book is mostly forgettable, but the last two stories make this worth reading



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