Comic Book Review: What If? Classic Vol. One
July 14th, 2009Categories: Comic Book Reviews, Sam Christopher
By Sam Christopher
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
Available at Amazon.com
Anyone reading Marvel in the ‘70s should remember this title. DC Comics had a long tradition of doing what they called “Imaginary Stories” in which they could show things that could never happen within the regular run of any character at the time. The death of Superman, Superman and Lois Lane marrying, Superman splitting into Superman-Red and Superman-Blue were just a few of the completely outrageous (for the time, anyway) things they depicted in these stories, which they always prefaced by saying they may or may not ever happen. The heyday of this type of story was in the ‘60s, and whereas DC’s characters had been around for awhile and appeared to need a little “break from reality” Marvel’s mainstays were new and still fresh in that decade, their mythology still being set. By the ‘70s, though, Marvel had more writers with more ideas and more thoughts about what had gone before, not to mention fans who, as typical sf geeks do, were always asking, “Why did this happen instead of that?” or “What if this other thing happened rather than that?” So Marvel did what the House of Ideas did best at the time: Took DC’s template and made it better. Instead of “Imaginary Stories” Marvel had The Watcher invite readers to look in on alternate realities, other dimensional planes in which a slight change, in decision or in circumstance, could lead to radically different outcome. This tpb is a collection of the first six issues of this title.
The Stories: “What if Spiderman had joined the Fantastic Four?” in which Reed Richards changes his answer to Spidey from Amazing Spiderman #1, and then we follow the FF with their new member as their adventures are slightly different, until the Big Difference in the ending. Fantastic first issue (no pun intended)! “What if the Hulk had always had Bruce Banner’s Brain?” is an excellent story following its central premise very logically until badly marred by a slipshod ending. “What if the Avengers had Never Been?” is a bit of a misnomer in that we are shown a reality in which the original Avengers break up at the end of what was their second ish, only to have Iron Man do something totally in character that would give that world an Avengers anyway. The sixth story, “What if the Fantastic Four had Different Super Powers?” is also a very good, very logical follow-through on the career of the FF after each of them gain other, different powers for very logical reasons.
I skipped the fourth and fifth stories for a very good reason: they’re my favorites and I wanted to talk about them a little more. The fourth story in the series, “What if the Invaders had Stayed Together after WWII?”, has the distinction of being the first story in this series which could have occurred in the Marvel Universe itself rather than an alternate reality (and it would later be determined that it had in fact been set in the MU). The Invaders was a great super-team consisting of CA & Bucky, Namor, Human Torch & Toro, with other hangers-on like Spitfire and Union Jack from time to time. They had a great book with great stories that I loved as a kid (they even fought the greatest character in the Universe, Thor, in a two-issue set). This story is exactly what it sounds like. At the end of the war, after Cap and Bucky had been lost and presumed killed in the explosion of the Nazi drone launched by Baron Zemo, President Truman decided, even as the war was winding down, that Cap and the Invaders should go on. He has the Whizzer and Miss America join them and they take the name “The All-Winners Squad”. This story is about their exploits over the next year or so until a fateful vacation in ’46 leads to triumph and tragedy. My second favorite story of the set.
So what’s my favorite? The other side of the coin: “What if Captain America and Bucky had Both Survived WWII?” In this story, as Cap and Bucky speed along beside the drone plane, their motorcycle moves slightly faster, allowing Cap to reach the plane and deactivate the bomb. This allows them both to survive (this was written long before Marvel lost their senses completely and allowed the recent insipid “Bucky was a Hit Man for the KGB” storyline to be written) and continue to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way (I know that’s Superman’s tagline, but how can it not fit Captain America?). They continue into the ‘60s until Buck is no longer able to live in Cap’s shadow and quits the costume before becoming the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (because in this reality Nick Fury was killed in Korea). Later, Steve Rogers would give up the costume and allow Buck to take it, with Rogers becoming the Director. This is just a great story, one that I read over and over again when I bought the issue originally and still love today.
Not sure how far they’ve gone in this series—I know there’s a second volume—but if they follow the pattern set by this one of each subsequent volume reprinting the next six issues in the series, I can say without doubt that this will be my favorite of the series. There were other great stories in the first series run of 47 issues, but no other run of six in the series could match this one for sustained excellence.
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