What If? Classic Vol. 1 (Marvel Heroes)
by Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter, Don Glut, Jim Craig
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Book Summary Information
Author: Don Glut, Jim Craig, Jim Shooter, Roy ThomasIllustrator: Herb Trimpe
Illustrator: Gil Kane
Illustrator: Frank Robbins
Illustrator: George Tuska
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-12-15
ISBN: 0785117024
Number of pages: 216
Publisher: Marvel
Book Reviews of What If? Classic Vol. 1 (Marvel Heroes)
Book Review: "What If?" asks some fun questions
Summary: 4 Stars
Marvels "Classics" series continues to offer more Bronze Age fun and nostalgia as they give us What If Volume One, reprinting the original series from Issues 1 thru 6. This was an entertaining series when it first came out and reading it again almost 3 decades later; I can honestly say that most of the stories have aged well.
What If was narrated by The Watcher who posed questions regarding what might have been regarding the fate of our favorite Marvel heroes. Issue one asked "What if Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four?" This is a fun story with a surprisingly melancholy ending as we discover that the fates have apparently decided that the famous heroes are destined to be a quartet.
Issue 2 asked "What if the Hulk had always had Bruce Banners brain?" Well, for one thing it clears up a whole lot of misunderstandings. Banner finally earns the respect of Thunderbolt Ross for one thing. But it also has ripple effects that lead to the Avengers never being formed and the disbanding of the Fantastic Four!
Issue 3 asked "What if the Avengers had never been?" This isn't just one of the best "What If" stories ever written, it's also one of the best stories to come out of the Bronze Age. It also boasts some of the most beautiful Gil Kane art ever.
Issue 4 asks "What if the Invaders had stayed together after WW2?" This was the Roy Thomas story that launched the Invaders series from the 70s. In this story we see a new Cap and Bucky replacing the apparently dead originals, teaming up with Namor, Torch, Toro, Spitfire, Union Jack, Whizzer and Miss America. The story takes us from Hitlers death at the hands of the Human Torch at the end of WW2 up to the Kennedy era.
Issue 5 asks "What if Captain America and Bucky had both survived WW2?" Well, it would be a lot like what we've been reading in the current Marvel universe. Steve Rogers would be director of Shield and Bucky would take over as Captain America. Sound familiar?
Issue 6 asks "What if the Fantastic Four had different superpowers?" This is probably the least entertaining entry out of the 6. In this story, its Sue Storm who gets the power to stretch, Johnny Storm gets powers similar to that of the X-Mens "Colossus", Reed Richards becomes a disembodied brain and Ben Grimm gets...dragon wings? Oh well, they can't all be winners.
Over all, the stories are entertaining, light hearted fare, well written and adequately drawn and reprinted in a colorful, glossy package. Vol 1 includes several of the original Editorial pages from the series and a check list of all What If issues. I had a lot of fun revisiting these stories.
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