Product Description: It's alternate-Earth anarchy as Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Ghost Rider, Spider-Woman, Nova and Shang-Chi are turned against humanity when fate is tossed a twist by that infamous question mark! Plus: The Howling Commandos fight for Earth, and Spider-Man fights for... ratings!? Featuring the Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Hellstorm! Collects What If? #14-15, 17-20.
More what if ^ This is of course the third volume in the Marvel What if series that collects issues 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, and 20. This edition has good content in it.
What if Sgt. Fury had fought World War 2 in outer space?: This is more of an alternate timeline. Where the plot begins during the 15th century. Da Vinci creates designs for an airplane but was never built until the Wright Brothers built one in the 20 century but what if Da Vinci did build the plane. We would flying in the 1500s, in space soon after and in the 19th century we would be across the galaxy. So instead of being at war with Japan and Germany we would be with an alien race after they attacks a space station called Pearl (after Pearl Harbor) so this story has the same battles we saw during WWII but in space. This was actually a good story. Kind of makes you think what if this did happen.
What if Nova had been four other people?: Ok this is a 4 part story...of course with each story involving a different person becoming Nova. One involves a woman who's husband was murdered and she abuses the power to kill thugs including the Kingpin. The second story takes place in a world without heroes or villians (except the Skrulls) and a homeless man finds it. The third has 2 what ifs in it. What if the radioactive spider got a bigger dose of radiation and nearly killed Peter Parker. Then in that story Peter becomes Nova instead of Spiderman. The 4th is what happens when the villian Sphinx finds it and takes out every hero. Good story, each has a different result. 2 abuse the power, 1 cant bare it and one becomes a hero. This is a good one to read.
What if Ghost Rider, Spider-Woman, Captain Marvel were villains?: This is a 3 part story telling us what if these 3 heroes at the moment they went from almost bad to good instead went just bad. 2 of the stories end bad and the other ends good. The problem is Ghost Rider really became the only villian while Spider-Woman and Captain Marvel still did things with kind of good intention. This was an ok story, I wish they had done more with this consept.
What if Dr. Strange were a disciple of Dormammu?: What if Dr. Strange didnt become Sorcerer Supreme and instead join the dark side of magic? Well this is what this story focuses on. Very good story, this was truely a good one. The only exception is the ending since really nothing was different then the Dr. Strange we all knew. But still a good story.
What if Spider-Man had never become a crimefighter?: This was a great concept, what if Spiderman had stopped the thief that would kill Uncle Ben but weak plot throughout the comic. Spiderman of course doesnt become a superhero but a celebrity/superhero agent. I wish it had him still become a hero but without the burdan that he let the man who killed Uncle Ben go. That would have been a better story but this was mostly a comedy comic then a true alternate universe.
What if the Avengers fought the Kree-Skrull War without Rick Jones?: Before this comic, I had never heard of this war in the comics. In the comic Rick Jones helps the Avengers in the war but what if he was killed? What happens? Nothing different, they won with the help of every super hero and villian joining forces. Still a good story still.
This is was an ok book. If you want it, buy it as cheap as you can.
I'm giving up ^ For the most part, I had been enjoying the WHAT IF? CLASSIC series, even though Marvel Comics seemed to have every intention of making me avoid it. Let's face it - in this age of affordable black and white Essential collections, a color trade of only 6 issues for twenty-five bucks is not a good bet. Still, I stuck with volumes 1 and 2 to relive some of the better stories of the series - among them, the post-WWII Invaders, the 1950s Avengers, and the Marvel Bullpen as the Fantastic Four. That all ends with WHAT IF? CLASSIC VOLUME 3, which skips a couple of issues and leads me to believe that Marvel doesn't have much invested in this particular series of reprints.
WHAT IF? CLASSIC VOLUME 3 contains issues 14, 15, & 17 - 20, posing the questions:
What if Sgt. Fury had fought World War 2 in outer space? What if Nova had been four other people? What if Ghost Rider, Spider-Woman, & Captain Marvel were villains? What if Dr. Strange were a disciple of Dormammu? What if Spider-Man had never become a crimefighter? What if the Avengers fought the Kree-Skrull War without Rick Jones?
These stories range from very good to barely acceptable. Unfortunately, the issues excluded from this line-up, #s 13 and 16, had two of the better stories in the series. I suppose that #13 (What If Conan the Barbarian Walked the Earth Today?) was excluded due to Dark Horse Comics having the rights to reprint all of Marvel's Conan comics; however, as I doubt DHC would ever reprint this particular story, surely something could have been done. #16 (What if Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, fought on the side of Fu Manchu?) was not included due to Marvel losing the rights to use Fu Manchu in the '80s. My problem with these exclusions is, if Marvel saw fit to acquire the licenses and incorporate these characters into their universe at one time, then why in the world couldn't they work out some kind of a reprint deal? It seems very lazy on Marvel's part. If you're going to reprint a series, reprint the whole thing! (Especially when the previous volumes still contain copy promising an upcoming Conan story)
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