What If? Classic, Vol. 2

What If? Classic #2

by Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, Rick Hoberg (Illustrations)

The stories in this 'alternate reality' collection consider such intriguing scenarios as Daredevil's secret being exposed, the identity of Thor being passed down to another, and the existence of multiple Spider-Men.

Daredevil's secret exposed? The identity of Thor passed down to another? A new Hulk? Multiple Spider-Men? Some of the ideas that shook Marvel's foundation got their start right in the realm of remote possibility overseen by the wondering Watcher! But can even Uatu believe his eyes when Jack "King" Kirby rewrites himself and his fellow legends as the Fantastic Four? Plus: from a concept by Roy Thomas, the Avengers of 1958! Collects What If? #7-12.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Superheroes

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2005

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everybody loves a good “What If…” story, until someone calls the cops or pokes an eye out. Way, way back in time when Gutenberg (Johanne, not the dude from Police Academy) was doing the funny books on his movable press thing, the “What If..” stories were a real gas. This is volume two and, continuity obsessed kids, you don’t have to read Volume One to enjoy. I say this not only because I didn’t bother to read that volume, but, also, these are self-contained stories.

The issues are set up by The Watcher, the big bald headed creepy voyeur, who just watches stuff in the Marvel universe. He gets to look at other realities and ponder a thematic question per each issue.



The first issue here is “What if Someone Else besides Spider-Man Had Been Bitten by the Radioactive Spider?”

Colonel John Jameson is a decent choice, but gets manipulated by his dad, J. Jonah Jamison.



Flash Thompson has the will and the prowess, but he’s a moron.



Betty Brandt has compassion, but makes a costume choice that only a fanboy would love.



Yeah, pervy Parker, get plenty of leg “art”.

What if the World Knew That Daredevil is Blind?



Somebody figures it out and word spreads.



Well played, Electro. Well played.

What if the Avengers Had Fought Evil during the 1950’s?

But it wasn’t the Avengers. It was a collection of crappy heroes Marvel had during the ‘50’s.



Marvel Boy, from the planet Uranus. 3-D Man, who got his powers while watching the House of Wax with those 3-D glasses. Man-Ape or Ape-Man who got his powers because he uttered the phrase, “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle” one too many times. Robot-Guy, who was once evil, but somebody figured out to turn the switch on his back from “Evil” to “Good”. And, Venus, who’s a goddess/babe and has the powers of LOVE. Mmmmm, love….

And some random secret agent dude.



They rescue Ike because -> ‘50’s

What if Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?

From calling herself Thordis…



…to the horndog ogling she has to endure…





…to the resolution Blake, the real Thor (GAH), eventually got the hammer. Jane, for her part, got turned into a goddess and got picked by Odin for a bride. So, she has to spend eternity with a really old guy who smells like a cross between a keg of mead left out in the sun and an old goat. , this one will have you rolling your eyes.

What if the Original Marvel Bullpen had Become the Fantastic Four?



The lure here is that Jack Kirby wrote and drew this issue. He drew himself as the Thing and lovingly portrayed his pal Stan Lee as Mr. Fantastic.



Hmm.

What if Rick Jones Had Become the Hulk?



It’s Hipster Hulk.



Now I’ve heard of everything Daddy-O.

This volume also included the letters from the editor pages, which went like this.

“Dear Stan,
I know I’ll win a No-prize for this, but in issue #6, the Nazi minion is clearly wearing a Timex Z38 watch that wasn’t produced until 1970. What gives? Also, Bucky parted his hair to the left. In panel 5 on page 15, it was to the right. Please cancel my subscription post haste.

Yours truly,
Jeff
C/O his parents’ garage”
Little Rock, Arkansas


Bottom Line : There’s obviously some fun here, and some concepts that future writers mined and expanded on, but this is still a slow read for the modern reader, so….

For jollies, they did a twisty story where the spider gets bitten by a radioactive human.

[Gary Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

14th book read in 2019.

Number 483 out of 762 on my all time book list.

So much foreshadowing - Jane Foster as Thor, Spider Gwen, and Spiderverse.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good What If stories. What if different people were bitten by a spider? And what would happen if Daredevil could see? These are the ones that stood out for me. All the others were interesting, and different reads. Surprisingly engaging. A very good read.

[Audrey Hacker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best story in this book was "What if Jane Foster found the hammer of Thor?" I died laughing, I think it was better than the original. Everyone who is a fan of Thor comics should read it!

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second collection of the original 1970s What If?, featuring:
- "What If Someone Else Had Become the Amazing Spider-Man?" Specifically, we get three variations: Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, and John Jameson. Neat ideas, but we might have gotten even more interesting tales if we'd focused on just one of the three. (Maybe others thought so too - we got two more takes on a Flash Thompson Spider-Man in later comics.) It also seems kind of lazy to give all three stories functionally the same ending.
- "What If the World Knew Daredevil Was Blind?" An OK story with a surprisingly happy ending.
- "What If the Spider Had Been Bitten by a Radioactive Human?" A backup parody story featuring "the 'Mazing Man-Spider." Not as funny as it thinks it is, though I recall liking this better when I read it as a kid, so YMMV.
- "What If the Avengers Had Been Formed During the 1950s?" Pretty neat, for the deep dive into 1950s Marvel lore if nothing else. Here they're coy about whether or not this is actually an alternate universe, but the idea later became canon (more or less) with the Agents of Atlas in the 2000s.
- "What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?" Another story that eventually kinda-sorta became canon. This particular tale is OK, except for the very off-putting fate for Jane at the end (which the writers somehow assume is a good thing).
- "What If the Fantastic Four Were the Original Marvel Bullpen?" A borderline parody story that feels pretty self-indulgent (I'm sure we readers missed a ton of in-jokes), but it's actually entertaining enough to work. Also of note: written and drawn by Jack Kirby himself.
- "What If Rick Jones Had Become the Hulk?" I can't tell whether or not the Rick Jones Hulk's over-the-top beatnik slang is meant to be taken seriously or not, but it certainly gives this Hulk a distinctive voice! The story itself is good enough, but would have benefited from straying further from canon. (B+)

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects What If? issues #7-12

As far as I remember, an issue of "What If?" was the first comic book that I bought off of the spinner rack. Because of that, and my love of parallel universe stories, this series has always been a favorite of mine. Whenever I go to a comic book convention, I try to buy one (or more) issues of "What If." Inside this collection, I own the original issues of Issues #9 and #11.

This book opened up with the best issue in the collection, but I also really enjoyed Issue #9. The rest of it was good, but not great. Enjoyable, but not fantastic.

Issue #10, "What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?," is an interesting issue to read with hindsight. This issue likely came out in 1977 or 1978, so it is fun to see this "What If?" find some reality in modern story-telling. I know of other "What If?" stories that eventually become true reality in the Marvel Universe, and reading this issue got me wondering how many times this had happened.

Here are the stories in this collection, with my rating:

-What if someone else besides Spider-Man had been bitten by the radioactive spider? (Issue #7 - 5 stars)
-What if the world knew that Daredevil is blind? (Issue #8 - 3.5 stars)
-What if the Avengers had fought evil during the 1950s? (Issue #9 - 4 stars)
-What if Jane Foster found the hammer of Thor? (Issue #10 - 3.5 stars)
-What if the original Marvel Bullpen had become the Fantastic Four? (#11 - 3 stars)
-What if Rick Jones had become The Hulk? (Issue #12 - 3.5 stars)

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent collection, but a mixed bag. My favorite is probably the Jane Foster/Thor story, in part because it directly influenced what's going on in Thor currently. Except they call her Thor instead of Thordis, thank goodness. The alternate Spider-Man story is good, too, and evokes comparisons with Spider-Verse, of course. The 50's Avengers I had to force myself through since I don't really know any of the characters well and...3-D Man? Really? His presence totally dates the story. FF/Bullpen was amusing, but, fell flat. Rick Jones/Hulk was all right, but kind of scattered. the Daredevil story was so-so, but the story didn't really hold up to the premise. And "What if the spider had been bitten by a radioactive human?" was hilarious.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the What If? idea (just as I love DC’s Elseworlds) but I often don’t love the execution — the stories tend to be on the poor side, with sometimes dreadful art. Curiously, the worst entry might be the best reproduced here — Jack Kirby casting himself, Stan Lee, Sol Brodsky and Flo Steinberg as the Fantastic Four. It’s interminable, misogynistic, and generally just laughable.

Reproduction in the book is often very questionable, too.

[Yalın · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best issues in this volume were #7, "What if someone else had been bitten by the radioactive spider?"; #8, "What if the world knew that Daredevil is blind?" and #10, "What if Jane Foster had found the hammer of Thor?"

The others were not that interesting.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

The theme of this volume is “replacements” - for Spider-Man, the Avengers, Thor and the Hulk. I bought these issues off of the newsstand as a kid,and they were the ones that really hooked me on the What If concept.

[Mhorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special

Some real so-so stories in here with some really poor artwork. I collected this series when it first came out, but this trip down memory lane hasn't been that great.

[David Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these were great. Others bad. Must have been old extra-size comics because they were usually 30-plus pages each.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

What If? was Marvel's 1970s magazine taking a look at how many of Marvel's most notable stories and characters could have gone another direction. At this point, each issue is hosted by the Watcher as a Rod Serlingesque guide to these alternate realities.

This second collection of What If Tales has some extra fun features. Chief among them is the inclusion of Why Not? the letters page which gives key insights as to what writers were thinking and how readers reacted. The only downside is that some of the letters have to do with Issues 5 and 6 which were in the last book, but still there's some great insight.

With that said, let's get to the stories:

Issue 7: What if Someone Else Besides Spider-man Had Been Bitten by the Radioactive Spider: Three different alternate timelines where Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, and Colonel John Jameson were bitten by the radioactive spider. It's a solid story, with the John Jameson story having the most startling deviation in the timelime. It also had a great message about what it takes to be a hero. Overall, I'll give this story a B+.

Issue 8: What if the World Knew Daredevil Was Blind? and What if the Spider Had Been Bitten by a Radioactive Human: The first story, which takes up the bulk of the issue, is just stupid. It's far fetched to imagine Electro guessing that Daredevil is blind. And the way he proves it (because DD can't tell the color of Electro's uniform) is stupid because that could mean that Daredevil's color blind which is something else entirely. Even if Electro did believe Daredevil was blind, the odds of him convincing other supervillains of that is slim. It's also stupid to suggest that this would destroy his effectiveness as a crimefighter. This was just a dumb story all around. The second story is an okay and slightly amusing funny animal superhero parody, but it can raise this issue above Grade: D+.

Issue 9: What if the Avengers Had Fought Evil During the 1950s?: This was a Don Glut script based on a Roy Thomas concept and it was a good idea that would later become Agents of A.T.L.A.S. as this 1950s Avengers team was made up of characters that were published in ATLAS comics such as Venus and Marvel Boy as they fought 1950s villain The Yellow Claw. This was a decent concept marred only by the end which suggested that the Avengers couldn't make it because the 1950s were so evil and paranoid and everyone was scared of everything having to do with superheroes which is why Adventures of Superman was a ratings hit during that decade. Lame. Grade: B

Issue 10: What if Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor: The story involves Jane Foster rather than Donald Blake finding the hammer of Thor and Foster becomes Thordis. This is a fun concept with a lot of great scenes. The story's weakness is an ending that really tries to have the story end with traditional continuity come back in one change that's a little bit creepy but not too much. Grade: A-

Issue 11: What if the Original Marvel Bullpen Had Become the Fantastic Four: This story imagines Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Saul Brodsky, and Marvel Secretary Flo Steinberg getting the powers of the FF and trying to find out who caused them to get the powers. The story is actually pretty good and played fairly straight. It was written and drawn by Jack Kirby and as the letters page this was the first FF story written by Kirby and it works fairly well. Grade: A

Issue 12: What if Rick Jones Had Become the Hulk?: This story asks the question of what would have happened if Rick Jones had saved Bruce Banner from turning into the Hulk. The result is actually a solid tale. The one weakspot is that Rick gets trained by Captain America who voluntarily gave him a new Bucky costume. That's a pretty radical departure from cannon and we'd need some explanation to make it work well. Still, it's an alternate universe, so they can probably get away with it. Grade: A-

Overall, another fun and solid collection.

[Sean Brennan · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10

Pretty poor collection as Don Glut's dialogue was that corny it was painful, artwork mediocre. Does get better.

[David Sanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Más flojo, pero algunas historias tienen interés.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the What If? series of comics. Most of the odd ideas I wondered about my favorite heroes get given their own story. Here I can see the other choices explored. Very recommended