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What If? (Publication Order) #186-190
What If?: Secret Wars
Marvel once again poses the question, "What If...?" What if the Scarlet Witch had said "No More Powers" instead of "No More Mutants?" What if Mary Jane was shot instead of Aunt May? What if Dr. Doom kept the Beyonder's power? What if the Runaways became the Young Avengers? Plus, two stories featuring Captain America and Hulk.
174 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2009
54 people want to read
About the author
Brian Reed
421 books19 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 21, 2011
Ugh. Like all collections, this has its ups and downs. At its best, it's mediocre--at worst, it's unreadable and downright offensive. A What If? collection should be inventive and fearless, exploring plots and character development that twist expectations and assumptions. Instead, the only differences between normal continuity and these stories are that these stories are just as boring, but they didn't get editorial approval the first time through. Not a one of them gives me a new take on a character, or an unexpected perspective on an event, or even anything I'd consider cataclysmic or shocking.
"What if Doctor Doom kept the Beyonder's Power?" Fine art, writing that doesn't make much sense. And the dialog...blegh. The last line literally is "Yes Galen...Yes, it is." FFS!
"What if Mary-Jane had been shot instead of Aunt May?" The artist (Gus Vasquez) is bad at people but good at action sequences. There isn't really much of a twist on the original One More Day/Civil War plot here--Mary Jane dies, Spider-Man seeks revenge against Kingpin and Iron Man keeps trying to protect Kingpin because he's a protected witness. Really, not much of a what-if.
"Newer Fantastic Four" The art is so terrible that I really couldn't bear to try to read this.
What little I could read was mostly just four random heroes working together, just like any other team-up in the history of comics. Not much of a what if.
"What if Iron Man had died?" A nice try at realistic art, although the faces are poorly done. The what-if is basically that Tony Stark dies instead of Captain America during Civil War, and everyone feels sad about it. Vague references to the coming Skrull invasion, but it doesn't seem like anything is really changed from the original storyline.
"What if Scarlet Witch ended the 'House of M' by saying 'no more powers'?" Apparently if there were no powers, everyone would grab guns and shoot the bad guys. Inspired! The art is as bad as the writing deserves.
I give you: what Paolo Pantalena thinks women look like!
Peter Parker being mauled/caressed by MJ! (check out Xavier's insanely stretched, unrecognizable face in the upper right)
Scarlet Witch's exploding basketball boobs!
"What if the Runaways became the Young Avengers?" This is basically the tale of two time travelers who each recruit their younger selves to kill each other and/or the Runaways, in order to ensure their own ultimate power in the future. Bored.
Also, I didn't even mean to notice this, because at this point I go out of my way to avoid things that annoy me about the comics industry, but--of the 60+ people listed in the front as editors, artists, writers, etc? Three are women.
Now, I think anyone in comics (or any other genre plagued by a lack of diversity) has heard the usual excuse that it would be unfair to hire people based on their gender/sexual orientation/race/ethnicity instead of on ability. But judging from the incredibly poor quality of this book, HR could literally hire high school students and hobos and get better quality plots, art, and writing than they've got now. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to start hiring people if they're good, not just if they've got a penis.
"What if Doctor Doom kept the Beyonder's Power?" Fine art, writing that doesn't make much sense. And the dialog...blegh. The last line literally is "Yes Galen...Yes, it is." FFS!
"What if Mary-Jane had been shot instead of Aunt May?" The artist (Gus Vasquez) is bad at people but good at action sequences. There isn't really much of a twist on the original One More Day/Civil War plot here--Mary Jane dies, Spider-Man seeks revenge against Kingpin and Iron Man keeps trying to protect Kingpin because he's a protected witness. Really, not much of a what-if.
"Newer Fantastic Four" The art is so terrible that I really couldn't bear to try to read this.
What little I could read was mostly just four random heroes working together, just like any other team-up in the history of comics. Not much of a what if."What if Iron Man had died?" A nice try at realistic art, although the faces are poorly done. The what-if is basically that Tony Stark dies instead of Captain America during Civil War, and everyone feels sad about it. Vague references to the coming Skrull invasion, but it doesn't seem like anything is really changed from the original storyline.
"What if Scarlet Witch ended the 'House of M' by saying 'no more powers'?" Apparently if there were no powers, everyone would grab guns and shoot the bad guys. Inspired! The art is as bad as the writing deserves.
I give you: what Paolo Pantalena thinks women look like!
Peter Parker being mauled/caressed by MJ! (check out Xavier's insanely stretched, unrecognizable face in the upper right)
Scarlet Witch's exploding basketball boobs!
"What if the Runaways became the Young Avengers?" This is basically the tale of two time travelers who each recruit their younger selves to kill each other and/or the Runaways, in order to ensure their own ultimate power in the future. Bored.
Also, I didn't even mean to notice this, because at this point I go out of my way to avoid things that annoy me about the comics industry, but--of the 60+ people listed in the front as editors, artists, writers, etc? Three are women.
Now, I think anyone in comics (or any other genre plagued by a lack of diversity) has heard the usual excuse that it would be unfair to hire people based on their gender/sexual orientation/race/ethnicity instead of on ability. But judging from the incredibly poor quality of this book, HR could literally hire high school students and hobos and get better quality plots, art, and writing than they've got now. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to start hiring people if they're good, not just if they've got a penis.
August 15, 2021
A set of What If? stories, half centered around then-recent storylines and about half going further back. Overall, they present interesting or fun concepts, but the execution falls short.
- What If? Secret Wars: Doctor Doom keeps the Beyonder's power. Probably the best in the collection, though there are a few dissonant moments.
- What If? Back in Black: Mary Jane is killed (instead of Aunt May being in critical condition). The portrayals of both Peter Parker and Tony Stark bugged me, but to be fair, it probably wasn't inaccurate for the Civil War era...
- What If? Newer Fantastic Four: Spinning out of the earlier New Fantastic Four What If?, this pits the New FF against Thanos during the Infinity Gauntlet crisis. This should have been way better (and I'm not sure if the author was writing this as a parody or not, considering some of the choices he made).
- What If? Fallen Son: Tony Stark is killed instead of Steve Rogers after Civil War. Probably the second-best in the collection, though mostly a mood piece.
- What If? House of M: Scarlet Witch says "No More Powers". Like the New FF story, this one is frustrating because it squanders the potential (though it's still OK).
- What If the Runaways Became the Young Avengers? Somehow comes off as both overly simple (in terms of character) and overly complicated (in terms of plot). (B)
- What If? Secret Wars: Doctor Doom keeps the Beyonder's power. Probably the best in the collection, though there are a few dissonant moments.
- What If? Back in Black: Mary Jane is killed (instead of Aunt May being in critical condition). The portrayals of both Peter Parker and Tony Stark bugged me, but to be fair, it probably wasn't inaccurate for the Civil War era...
- What If? Newer Fantastic Four: Spinning out of the earlier New Fantastic Four What If?, this pits the New FF against Thanos during the Infinity Gauntlet crisis. This should have been way better (and I'm not sure if the author was writing this as a parody or not, considering some of the choices he made).
- What If? Fallen Son: Tony Stark is killed instead of Steve Rogers after Civil War. Probably the second-best in the collection, though mostly a mood piece.
- What If? House of M: Scarlet Witch says "No More Powers". Like the New FF story, this one is frustrating because it squanders the potential (though it's still OK).
- What If the Runaways Became the Young Avengers? Somehow comes off as both overly simple (in terms of character) and overly complicated (in terms of plot). (B)
December 28, 2016
What if Secret wars is another take on on some old stories. It is not just about one thing as the title says. Right here we have what if Doom kept the powers of the beyonders, What if scarlet witch said no more power vs no more more mutants ect. Some of these stories are good and others are so so. it was a good read with its pros and cons.
September 20, 2009
Reprints What If?: Secret Wars #1, What If?: Spider-Man--Back In Black #1, What If?: Newer Fantastic Four #1, What If?: Fallen Son #1, and What If?: House of M #1. The Marvel Universe is observed if some of the bigger events in the universe had gone another direction. The stories are hit and miss. The Secret Wars issue is kind of interesting but feels like a rip off of the Dr. Manhattan Watchmen issue (and not as good). Back In Black was a bad storyline to begin with and the Newer Fantastic Four is really uninteresting. Fallen Son was a bad trade but it was one of the better stories in this book and House of M (also bad) did make a little more interesting What If than some of the others. The Young Avengers/Runaways story originally ran through all 5 issues of the comics and feels a little jarring due to that.
August 25, 2014
I will never get this time back.
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May 31, 2016Probably one of the most compelling Doctor Doom stories I've ever read. I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of empathy they made me feel for Doom.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews