The New What If Batch
September 13th, 2008 by Gavok | Tags: captain america, doctor doom, elseworlds, hulk, iron man, Marvel comics, runaways, scarlet witch, secret wars, superman, what ifThe December solicitations are on the horizon and what better Christmas present for me than a heaping helping of new What Ifs? I had heard a couple brief mentions of this year’s batch, but just today I finally got to reading what they’re all about. Let’s give it a look.
– What If? Spider-Man: Back in Black, written by Steven Grant: Rather than Aunt May, Mary Jane is the victim of the Kingpin’s hit. Apparently, this deals more with Spider-Man vs. Kingpin than anything involving Mephisto, which I’m glad to see.
– What If? Captain America: Fallen Son, written by Marc Sumerak: During the aftermath of Civil War, Captain America isn’t the one who gets assassinated. This time it’s Iron Man. If anything, I’m interested in this comic for the can of worms that it brings. They’ve pushed the idea that Iron Man’s been putting too much responsibility on himself to the point that once he’s dead, the world is fucked. Now we’ll see where that avenue would lead us. Plus it would be cool to see what kind of impact Cap could have on World War Hulk.
By the way, here’s the cover.
– What If? World War Hulk, written by Greg Pak: Hulk wins. Now what? I’m wondering if the tangent point will be the Sentry deciding not to interfere or just Hulk beating the crap out of him with no problem. It also is set to have several pages of a WWH Mini Marvels comic, which is always a plus. Despite that, Pak’s on board so it has to be good.
If they go for the depressing “everyone dies” ending, I’d love it if Sorcerer Supreme Doom just happened to show up out of nowhere at the end.
Speaking of Doom…
– What If? Secret Wars, by Karl Bollers: Remember when Doom stole the Beyonder’s powers? This is what happens when he holds onto it and moves upwards by going for the Infinity Gauntlet. The concept and the cover lead me to Boner Town.
– What If? Runaways, by CB Cebulski. Iron Lad comes back from the future in hopes of fighting Kang the Conqueror. He never does discover Vision’s Avengers fail-safe program and never goes after Patriot and the others. Instead, he puts together a team based on the children of the Pride. It does fit well, considering Iron Lad himself is a runaway of a different flavor. This won’t be a single issue, but will be told as a backup across the other five issues.
That leads us to one more…
– What If? House of M, by Brian Reed and Jim McCann. Replace “No More Mutants” with “No More Powers”. Considering the writers, I have faith in it, but at the same time, I feel a bit cautious due to the DC take. A few years ago there was an Elseworlds called Act of God where a black shroud covered Earth and took away everyone’s powers. Even guys like Superman and Martian Manhunter, who aren’t even human, lost whatever made them special outside of appearance.
While a good idea, the miniseries was worth reading because of how ridiculously dumb a lot of the characters reacted towards losing their powers. Superman and Kyle Rayner became the whiniest bitches known to man, leading to Lois and Jade leaving them. Wonder Woman immediately hit the Superman rebound (Elseworlds rule #6). Booster Gold and Blue Beetle had to fill in for the Justice League to the point that they were constantly exhausted. Steel was mankind’s most powerful hero. Aquaman had a buzzsaw hand and, my favorite part, Martian Manhunter changed his name to The Green Man and started using exploding skulls as weapons.
Not to mention, this panel.
I need to review this one one of these days.
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Act of God was so damn stupid it was almost good. Only people with Tech based powers still have them. Except for Green Lantern. Because of all his inborn powers that involve using an alien artifact. No wait…
So.
Dumb.
Green Man ? Exploding skulls? Did John Jones think he was Norman Osborn all of a sudden ? I doubt that his maniacal laugh was as good.
Maybe Green Lantern rings are semi-sentient enough for the power-stealing whatsit to see them as living things with extranormal power? Or it’s one of a handful of bad decisions made when writing the story. I like to use my imagination.
This batch of What Ifs is looking pretty good, and I really am most interested in the No Powers one. Hopefully they’ll use common sense picking what a power is and which Strange might or might not save.
that Doom cover is the most horrifying nightmare vision I’ve ever seen sweet Jesus mercy
Uh… Act of God was just plain painful. Not only were Superman and Kyle horribly unrecognizable but Wonder Woman was a such a dependent.
I think Spidey will die in WWH, Secret Wars and maybe House Of M.
I’ll see that bet and add in a death in Back in Black where MJ dies and he does something dumb.
Good guess, but my money’s on Gwen Stacy reappearing in that one.
Looks like instead of What If: World War Hulk they’ve solicited WHAT IF? NEWER FANTASTIC FOUR!!! Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Wolverine versus Thanos & the Infinity Gauntlet!
Sweet! Looks like a direct sequel to the Wieringo tribute issue, only with Ghost Rider tagging out and Iron Man tagging in.
I really loved that issue, so I’m completely down with their further adventures.
I bet the WWH still comes out, but probably in a few months.