What If... 31 - Acts of Vengeance

What If... Spider-Man had kept his cosmic powers?

A common feature of What If... was to do a story where a major crossover event turned out differently. The first issue of the relaunched regular series asked "What If... the Avengers lost the Evolutionary War?" and later issues offered alternate outcomes for events such as "Secret Wars" (#114), "Fall of the Mutants" (#101), "Inferno" (#6 and #37), "Atlantis Attacks" (#25), "Infinity Gauntlet" (#49 and #104), "Operation Galactic Storm" (#55 & #56), "Age of Apocalypse" (#77 and #81) and the Spider-Man "Clone Saga" (#86). It's thus a surprise to see there wasn't one focused on the core of "Acts of Vengeance" and we only get a look at an alternate ending to the story of Spider-Man's cosmic powers.

What If... #31

Writer: Glenn Alan Herdling
Penciler: Scott Alan McDaniel
Inkers: Col. Sanders III & Sam Delarosa
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Colourists: Tom Vincent and Co.
Editor: Craig Anderson
Chief: Tom DeFalco

The opening scene with Captain Universe possessing the dog Casey features Glenn Herdling proposing to Laura - she said yes both here and in real life though I don't know which way round the proposals came. This scene helps the Watcher to (re)introduce the Uni-Power of Captain Universe and how it came to Spider-Man before explaining how in the regular reality the Uni-Power went on to mainly possess children and animals, leaving unexplored the potential of the power being held long-term by "a powerful, intelligent host. At least not in your reality...!" This story shows that potential.

The divergent point is straightforward - the power stays with Spider-Man after his battle with the Tri-Sentinel and as a result this story doesn't have to wade through retelling loads of existing comics. The only story I can spot from elsewhere is when Spider-Man teamed up with Avengers to fight Nebula, which is here handled in two panels as his powers provide both speedy resolution and concern for Thor and Captain America.

The theme is of the conflict between "With absolute power there comes absolute responsibility" and "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Over the course of this issue we see how cosmic Spider-Man steadily seeks to solve ever greater problems in the world, but things don't always go well. There's an early encounter with the Hobgoblin who, rarely for this era of Marvel, is presented as quite a serious threat, or at least he would be if not for Spider-Man's power level. Spidey tries to remove the physical changes made by demons, but only succeeds to turn Hobgoblin's face into Peter Parker's! (An existing spell by Doctor Strange means Hobgoblin thought he had a normal face and now thinks he has a monstrous one.) There's also a quick fight with Venom (who interestingly is drawn as he looked at the time of Acts of Vengeance rather than with the modifications Erik Larsen had made in the intervening two years), who is persuaded to reform and take Spider-Man's place as a street level crime fighter. This came over a year before the Lethal Protector phase of the character began, showing how many an idea was prefigured by What If... (but also perhaps that's where some ideas should have been left).

However Spider-Man taking on the role of the world's protector is bringing personal changes, with both Mary Jane and Venom's alien symbiote no longer recognising the man they once knew so well. This brings a very poorly handled moment when Aunt May inadvertently discovers Peter's secret. Although the cosmic powers are more shocking than just being Spider-Man, it's become a bit too much of a cliché that upon learning her nephew's secret she would suffer a heart attack. Even before this he has been neglecting Mary Jane terribly and the marriage nearly collapses but eventually proves to be more durable.

In the original stories Spider-Man did wonder if he could have used his powers to stop Gaddafi and end apartheid. However this dated quickly as in the two years between then and this story the world had moved on a bit with South Africa now clearly in the process of dismantling apartheid (one of the key steps, the National Peace Accord, was signed only a few days before the issue went on sale) and Gaddafi had been surpassed as the west's main target in the Arab world. As is so often the case in comics, the actual names of leaders and countries are not used but the area is explicitly identified as the "Persian Gulf" and as Spider-Man soars into a capital city and locates the bunker the dictator is hiding in with his "Republican Guard" the artwork doesn't fail to disguise and instead gives us the wonderful image of Spider-Man capturing Saddam Hussein.

Spidey eventually tries to solve the problem of drought in the Sudan, forcibly recruiting Thor and this leads to a confrontation between the two about whether gods should allow people to seek their own destiny or intervene all the time. For a story exploring the real-world implications of having beings with such great powers, it's good to also get a realistic explanation as to why they don't set out to wipe out famine and the likes in the real world.

The finale brings a confrontation with Doctor Doom, who brings a hostage, Captain Ray Coffin who was the original wielder of the Captain Universe power. And Spider-Man doesn't hold back, leading to Doom snapping Coffin's neck, triggering the eventual confrontation between Peter's true side and Captain Universe, fought out as energy forms before bringing revelations about both Doom and what must truly be done with the Uni-Power. Thus he makes the final sacrifice by using Doom's weapon to release the power, creating a moment of universal unity, linking all minds together.

This obviously isn't a substitute for "What If... the Avengers lost Acts of Vengeance" but it was never meant to be and so shouldn't be approached in that way. Instead it's a good What If... that takes the basic concept from a storyline and shows what more could have been done but also why the regular Marvel universe couldn't go there. Unlike a lot of What If... stories it doesn't wind up with the gratuitous killing of characters for the sake of it or else being so tame as to produce a simplified alternative where a few identities, costumes and/or team memberships have changed but otherwise things are much the same. Instead it gives us a good exploration of the fundamental philosophical concept behind Spider-Man, turned up to the absolute degree.

What If... #31  has been reprinted in:

• Nowhere at all it seems.

Omitted material: What If? Classic volume 7

And now for the final look at the relevant issues from the original What If? series.

#44: "What If Captain America Were Revived Today?", written by Peter Gillis and drawn by Sal Buscema, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 7

Before reading this, I'd heard multiple thing about it. To some it's the greatest Captain America story of all time. To others "this reads more like an anti-Ronald Reagan diatribe than a story". Spider-Man has a partial role in this story as part of a resistance movement and it's a reminder of his basic values of decency and also how compatible he is for team-ups with Captain America.

If this story had been published just one month later it could have had an even more spectacular title - "What If Captain America Were Revived In 1984?" The premise is straight forward - with the original Captain America never having come out of the iceberg, when his replacement from the 1950s was revived in the 1970s there was nothing to challenge him as he emerged as an influential political figure pushing a hard right message that labelled protesters and minority groups as helpers of communism. With the support of shadowy figures in the Committee to Regain America's Principles ("CRAP" - how on earth did that get past the editors?), the 1950s Cap is able to successfully push authoritarian candidates and legislation through, all in the name of putting America right again.

Then in the present day an iceberg containing a man is found floating by a submarine and the man is revived. The captain of the submarine is a veteran of the war who realises this is the true Captain America (many rumours circulate that the other one is an impostor). He is brought home to a New York very different from the one he remembers. The people have accepted "Fear of the unknown, some glib words -- and the American need to believe in a hero". Racist, anti-Semitic armed guides walk the streets of New York in helmets designed after Captain America's cowl. Walls have been built to divide communities, with black Harlem a land of poverty and despair. The press is censored into the token dissent thanks to lip service to free speech but J. Jonah Jameson is using the Daily Bugle crossword puzzles to inform a resistance movement. And that movement contains the likes of Nick Fury, Spider-Man (who wasn't duped thanks to Jonah!) and "Snap" Wilson (the counterpart to Sam Wilson aka the Falcon). Looming soon is the national convention of the "America First Party" and CRAP plans to use it to nominate candidates to completely take over America, and permanently install themselves, shredding the last constitutional rights.

At the convention the real Captain America leads the resistance movement against the fake, and the two images of very different visions of America square off. Inside the convention hall Spider-Man and other resisters take down Cap's allies (the Freedom Five - the other members are the 1950s Bucky, an actress playing the Golden Girl, Hawkeye and the Hangman!) and ensure the cameras keep showing the country what happens as a second revolution rises to tear down the walls. Meanwhile the two Caps trade their philosophies as one dismisses the other's outlook as "War is Peace! Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is Strength!" After defeating the impostor the real Captain America addresses the convention and the country: "I say America is nothing! Without its ideals -- its commitment to the freedom of all men, America is a piece of TRASH! A nation is NOTHING! A flag is a piece of CLOTH!!" He goes on about the need to bring back freedom, to heal the divisions in society and find America once again, but also to not succumb to leader-following. The story ends with a singing of the patriotic song (and peaceful alternative to the US national anthem) "America the Beautiful".

To many outside the US it's often extremely hard to understand its brand of political patriotism and the way the constitution and flag are elevated to almost religious levels. It's very different from the way things are done here where rampant flag waving is normally detached from political affairs and where there isn't really an "idea" of the country and a "British way" to appeal to. Such an approach just isn't the erm British way. So it's harder to relate to some of the core philosophical battles that underpin many Captain America adventures, and this is the ultimate one, pitting the embodiment of one vision of America against another. Also at a distance of nearly thirty years it's harder to immediately recognise parallels with early 1980s American political debate, so it's difficult to tell if the subliminal message of the story is "Don't Re-Elect Ronald Reagan!" However there always seem to be some who absolutely despise the current American President and want him defeated or impeached, and some conspiracy theory or other. Reagan (like Thatcher) did in part come to power after some very turbulent years in which people questioned whether or not the country could still be governed and there were certainly accusations thrown across the political spectrum that well-meaning radicals playing into the hands of shadowy forces. There was certainly a backlash against the protests of the 1960s. So I can well believe those who read into this Orwellian vision a political parallel with where they thought the US was heading in the early 1980s, with the 1950s Cap in the role of Reagan. As a story in its own right it has a particular problem of spanning a rather lengthy timescale, with the result the real Captain America doesn't get revived until halfway through and has limited time to establish himself before the showdown. But it's certainly a compelling tale that is almost 1984 in more ways than one.

Although limited in their roles it's good to see both Spider-Man and Jonah playing key parts in the resistance movement. For all his faults, Jonah is persistently portrayed in the regular universe as both a strong supporter of civil rights and a strong defender of the freedom of the press and it's unsurprising that he would do what he could to help the resistance. And I can see Peter Parker following Jonah's lead in politics, for all the hatred of Spider-Man. We get glimpses of a harder-edged Spider-Man who wears a huge cartridge belt, carries a gun and is willing to gun down a man if Nick Fury orders it. (Remember this was some years before the explosion of hard-edged gun carrying heroes in comics that came in the 1990s.) If there's one hero who the authorities could never relocate or take down other than Cap, it would be Spider-Man. 

#46: "What If Spider-Man's Uncle Ben had Lived?", written by Peter Gillis and drawn by Ron Frenz, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 7

This is yet another alternate take on Spider-Man's origin, with the premise that instead of Uncle Ben it was Aunt May who was killed by the Burglar.

The story briefly retells the events of the fateful night in the regular universe, showing more of what happened inside the house than almost any other telling that I'm aware of. And unfortunately it clashes with at least two other versions of that night, although only one had been told when this story first saw print. Here May was asleep when Ben, awake due to a backache, heard a noise downstairs, went to investigate and was shot dead in the living room. There's no argument where he walked out and got shot in the street (as happened in the 2000s) and equally May doesn't experience the direct horror of seeing her husband shot before her eyes (as first told in Amazing Spider-Man #200). This is the problem when the original story omits what can seem like mere details and no other retelling becomes the complete canonical version.

In this alternate version, Ben lacks the backache and so is asleep when May is awoken by a noise and goes to investigate, getting shot in the process. The story then follows through parallel to the first few years of Amazing but with the twist that with Ben alive the Parkers don't face financial problems, though Peter still takes photographs for the Bugle to supplement his income. Ben soon discovers that Peter is Spider-Man and we get to see the first take on Peter admitting his guilt to his surviving family - and Ben's response is that he feels even more guilty for being asleep when it happened. Ben rapidly becomes actively supportive of both Peter & Spider-Man, standing up to Flash and then Jonah and pulls off a trick that gives the Bugle greater circulation, Spider-Man more publicity and Peter a greater salary. He gets Spider-Man to unmask in front of Jonah.

Again this had never been done before and Jonah's reaction is shock but he soon realises how difficult it is for him to go public. So instead he makes use of Spider-Man to get extra tips on crime and boost circulation. At first this goes well but then Ben suggests to Jonah that Spider-Man should shadow Betty Brant to investigate her brother and this infuriates Peter who had angry confrontations with both men and storms off. Determined to prove them wrong he shadows Betty and saves both her and her brother Bennett in this version, but then angrily tuns on Bennett for his associations with gangsters. Spider-Man briefly withdraws from his life as Peter, staying behind the costume as Spider-Man (again before this was tried in the regular continuity) until he's lured back by Jonah threatening to out his identity. Meanwhile the Green Goblin deduces that Jonah has a hold on Spider-Man, whilst John Jameson returns from space having been infected by spores. When Jonah visits his son in hospital, with a photo team in escort for publicity, the Goblin attacks and kidnaps the publisher. Then John's body grows due to the spores and he storms off to rescue his father. Peter is at first willing to let both Jamesons potentially die, and also almost wishes Ben had died instead of May, but then suddenly snaps to his senses and realises he cannot let another person die because he stood by and did nothing. John defeats the Goblin but he is so enraged he doesn't recognise his father and is about to strike when Spider-Man arrives and confronts him. In the event John is subjected to an electric shock which cures him. Jonah is stunned at the way his son didn't seem to know him, hated him and wanted to hurt him, and Spider-Man notes how these things happen between father and son. The next day the Bugle has written up John as a hero whilst Peter and Ben reconcile.

It's another story with an upbeat ending and it's possible to imagine this as the nucleus for an alternate series of Spider-Man stories in which the character has the burden of responsibility but also a supportive father figure. When first printed Uncle Ben hadn't really been explored much as a character in the regular comics but here we get a portrayal of a man who tries to understand and support his teenage "son" but both can make mistakes leading to anger without meaning to. There are elements of the relationship here that would be used in the 2002 Spider-Man movie. We also get to see how Spider-Man could have developed with a confidante and supportive figure from the outset who tells him to have more pride in himself, and then we get the cycle of Peter's angry break with Ben and reconciliation at the end. And there's the moment where Jonah finds out and his reaction, again done for the first time. Some of the best What If?s are those that really expand our understanding of key characters by showing them in particular circumstances and here Ben truly gets to shine.

And the artwork is incredible. A number of the What If?s appear to have been prepared some time in advance and used on an inventory basis so I don't know where this story slots in order of Ron Frenz's work on Spider-Man, but it came out the same month he began a regular run on Amazing Spider-Man (which we'll come to when Essential Spider-Man volume 12 is released). Even more than his work on Amazing and Marvel Team-Up this work is a strong homage to Ditko's artwork, and makes for a refreshing variation after many years of following John Romita's take on the character. Short of achieving the impossible and getting Ditko to draw the character again, Frenz was the best choice imaginable for such a retelling of those early days.

The other stories in the volume are:

• #40: "What If Dr. Strange had not become Master of the Mystic Arts?"
• #41: "What If Sub-Mariner Had Saved Atlantis from Its... Destiny?"
• #42: "What If the Invisible Girl Had died?"
• #43: "Behold..." (This is just the back-up story)
• #45: "What If the Hulk Went -- Berserk?"
• #47: "What If Loki had found the hammer of Thor?"

Once again excluded due to rights issues are:

• #39: "What If the Mighty Thor Battled Conan the Barbarian?"
• #43: "What If Conan the Barbarian... Were Stranded in the 20th Century?" (Just the lead story)

And after issue #47 that was it for several years. The last letters page promised some future specials in place of regular publication but it was four years before even one of these materialised. Then in 1989 a second series began. Maybe one day we'll see that on the bookshelves.

Omitted material: What If? Classic volume 6

Time for another look at relevant issues from the original What If? series.

#34: "What If?", reprinted in What If? Classic volume 6

This was a special issue made up of many single page stories, or even less, of a humorous bent. Amongst them were the following featuring some aspects relating to Spider-Man:

• "The Difference!!", written and drawn by Fred Hembeck
• "What If Everyone Who'd Ever Been an Avenger Remained an Avenger?", written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Bob Hall
• "What If Marvel Comics and the National Endowment for the Arts Presented Spidey Intellectual Stories", written by Roger Stern and drawn by Al Milgrom
• "What If All the Super Heroes Who Now Live in New York City Moved to Toledo, Ohio?", written and drawn by Bob Budiansky
• "What If Aunt May Became a Super Hero?", written and drawn by Mark Gruenwald
• "What If Obnoxio the Clown Fought Crime?", written and drawn by Alan Kupperberg
• "What If Spider-Man Had Married the Black Widow?", written by Mike Carlin and drawn by Ron Zalme

Some of these were tiny cameos - for instance Spider-Man shows up as part of the hordes of Avengers responding to a summons and crushing Ant-Man in a stampede, and no, I can't remember when Spider-Man had become an Avenger by this point. Everyone in Toledo is a one-panel joke about there being nothing for super-heroes to do there while super-villains destroy Manhattan, and marriage to the Black Widow is another single panel in which she lives up to her name. The Aunt May strip presents single images of three possible identities - Golden Oldie (a name used before her Marvel Team-Up appearance; this one is based on Iron Man), Ant-Aunt (based on Ant-Man) and Auntie Freeze (based on Ice-Man). The Obnoxio strip shows him trying multiple familiar costumes - his Spider-Man attempt fails because he has vertigo.

Fred Hembeck's "The Difference!" explores the distinction between imaginary stories and alternate reality stories - basically the latter take an established event, vary one factor and show the consequences whilst imaginary stories can present a totally absurd scenario with no thought for how it came about. Amongst the examples of imaginary stories are "What If Odin were Peter Parker's Uncle?", "What If Aunt May were Ant-Man?" and "What If Spider-Man married Spider-Woman?" (It's interesting how some concepts keep popping up.) "Spidey Intellectual Stories" is the most substantial story and sees Spidey take out the Mad Thinker who predicted 99.9999999% success but overlooked something. Spider-Man shows up and converse with the Thinker who eventually gets defeated by the logic of love over fear... and the story ends with the Watcher getting bored.

Some of the other stories present glimpses of scenarios that were later either used in the regular comics or in other What If?s including "What If Captain Marvel hadn't died?", "What If Phoenix still lived?" or "What If Elektra had survived?". Readers of the later Alpha Flight Assistant Editors' Month issue may recognise the concept behind "What If the Silver Surfer, White Tiger, Night Rider, Iceman and Moon Knight fought Wendigo in a snowstorm?" and "What If the Black Panther fought the Shroud Master of Darkness in a Coalmine?". The art is a very rare piece by Tom DeFalco. "What If Howard the Duck formed his own super-team?" with other members including Devil Dinosaur, Redwing, Zabu, Emma (a flying ant), Lockjaw, Aragorn and Dragon Man - it's a forerunner of the Pet Avengers. And there's plenty of fun. "What If Alpha Flight talked like T.V. Canadians?" is a reminder that it's not just the British who get hideously misrepresented by US television. And the very last story is "What If will happen when Stan Lee reads this issue?" "'Nuff said!"

This was very much a forerunner to Assistant Editors' Month and a reminder that Marvel can do good comedy. At the time the book was on a bimonthly schedule so it may have annoyed some readers at the time who had to wait another two months for a serious tale. But as one issue in a volume of six it's a fun distraction. The other stories in the volume are:

• #33: "What If Dazzler Had Become the Herald of Galactus?" & "What If Iron Man Was Trapped in the Time of King Arthur?"
• #35: "What If Elektra Had Lived?", ""Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: And Thus Are Born The Cat People!" & "What If Yellowjacket Had Died?"
• #36: "What If the Fantastic Four Had Not Gained Their Super-Powers?" & "What If Nova Had Not Given Up His Powers?"
• #37: "What If the Beast And The Thing Continued To Mutate?" (separate stories) & "What If The Silver Surfer Lost The Power Cosmic?"
• #38: "What If Featuring Daredevil And Captain America Plus The Vision And The Scarlet Witch"

The cover to #38 doesn't actually pose any questions this time. The common theme of the issue is alternate futures in which ageing heroes carry on. The Daredevil story is set in 2013 but there aren't grand predictions of the world of the future beyond the Soviet Union being replaced by a Russian democracy. Concorde may still be flying and now able to fly over the continental US, and the UN may have relocated to Atlanta but otherwise the world hasn't changed much.

Omitted material: What If? Classic volume 5

Another look at issues from the original What If? series.

#30: "What If Spider-Man's Clone Had Survived?", written by Bill Flanagan and drawn by Rich Buckler, & "Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: Moving Day!", written by Peter Gllis and drawn by Ron Wilson, both reprinted in What If? Classic volume 5

Once again we have a non-alternate reality back-up story, telling more of the history of the Marvel Universe and presumably filling in continuity gaps, but frankly it takes up pages needlessly. But as for the main feature...

It's impossible to approach this story without remembering the second Clone Saga from the 1990s. The scenario is thus familiar - Spider-Man fights his clone in battle when an explosion detonates. Afterwards one Spider-Man awakes and assumes he's the real thing. He disposes of the other and heads off to resume his life. But in fact this is the clone.

But there's one major starting difference from the way the story was told in the 1990s. The clone's memories stop short, only lasting until a genetic sample was taken from Peter. Consequently he can only remember as far as the start of his college days and finds much has changed in his life and the world around him. Visually the clone is drawn to resemble the late Ditko era Peter, with Betty Leeds even commenting on his haircut. He tries to make his way through life but soon realises the three year gap in his knowledge will prove fatal, especially after an encounter with the Kingpin. Finally he releases the original from suspended animation and they take down the Kingpin and his thugs. Then back in Peter's apartment the clone considers leaving and taking on a new identity, but the original suggests they instead work together and take advantage of the double situation, agreeing to alternate in both roles to avoid missed classes and dates. "I get the bed -- you get the couch. I get Mary Jane you get Doc Ock!"

I forget how the later Clone Saga precisely covered the point about the clone's memories not going all the way up to the original's, but this take on events is more in line with the original storyline where Gwen Stacey's clone had a shortfall in her memories, shown most vividly by her ignorance of the unexpected change of President in the meantime. It's interesting to see contrast as a Peter Parker from circa Amazing Spider-Man #35 explores the world after issue #149 and discovers how much his relationships with those around him have changed. It's also clear just how difficult it is for him to fit into this newer world because of all the experiences he's missed. At best the clone can be a help to Peter and an alternate hero. This story pretty much showed why the second Clone Saga couldn't work, a decade and a half before it happened.

As a story in its own right, this one is somewhat tame and limited, showing just the first few days after the clone takes over, rather than the approach of several other stories that rush through a more lengthy series of events. The idea of the original and clone Peters timesharing sounds good but could easily lead to tensions, plus as the clone is explicitly established as being about three years younger they may not always be able to convince. The scenario would probably have ended in spinning the clone off to another pair of identities. It also takes the clone rather a long time to realise that he is the clone, especially when confronted with so much change and he keeps assuming he just has partial amnesia. (One minor continuity error is that Betty Brant and Ned Leeds's wedding has already taken place in this reality when in the regular continuity it was still a few issues away.) But on the plus side it shows Spider-Man's investigative skills as he works out ways to discover just where he lives without giving the game away. This isn't the strongest of What If?s but by keeping the scope modest it succeeds in presenting the stating point of a realistic scenario.

Other stories in the volume include:

• #27: "The X-Men Ask: What If Phoenix Had Not Died?" & "Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: Kree Encounter"
• #28: "What If Daredevil Became an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?", "What If Ghost Rider Were Separated from Johnny Blaze?" & "Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: New Life"
• #29: "What If the Avengers Defeated Everybody?", ""Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: ...The Search for the Great Refuge!" & "What If Sub-Mariner Never Regained His Memory?"
• #31: "What If Wolverine Had Killed the Hulk?" & "What If the Fantastic Four Had Never Been?"
• #32: "What If the Avengers Had Become Pawns Of Korvac?"

Issue #29 is a curiosity as it's an alternate take on an already distorted reality - the world where the Scarlet Centurion persuaded the original Avengers to neutralise all other super-powered beings in the world as seen in Avengers Annual #2. Spider-Man has a tiny cameo as one of the many defeated in the process. Issue #31's Fantastic Four story is based on the Thing angrily rejecting the others and rampaging through New York; the disruption caused results in Peter Parker never attending the famous demonstration and Donald Blake missing his flight to Norway; whilst Bruce Banner and Tony Stark are reassigned from bomb tests in the west and weapons work in the Far East respectively. The result is a world with far fewer heroes.

Omitted material: What If? Classic volume 4

It's time for another look at some of the Spider-Man related issues of What If?

#21: "What If the Invisible Girl had Married the Sub Mariner?", written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Gene Colan, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 4

This was a sequel to issue #1's "What If Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four?". Following the departure of the Invisible Girl in that issue, the team has reverted to the name "Fantastic Four". However Spider-Man's approach is still very independent and early on in the story matters come to a head after the team defeats the Super Skrull. Following an argument Spider-Man resigns and swings off, leaving the story completely. Perhaps it's a sign that Spider-Man just can't be a team player, no matter how favourable the circumstances, or that the Fantastic Four just aren't good at accepting newcomers (though both these points would be challenged in later years).

The rest of the story is an alternate Fantastic Four tale as the remains of the team come to terms with the Invisible Girl's departure. It's a tale of anger and revenge that sees Mr Fantastic nearly wipe out the entire population of Atlantis in his attempt to reclaim her. It's quite a downbeat story that suggests Mr Fantastic has serious issues but it's not a Spider-Man tale in any way. On its own this can be ignored.

#23: "What If the Hulk Had Become a Barbarian?", written by Peter Gillis and drawn by Herb Trimpe,
"Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: The First Celestial Host!" written by Mark Gruenwald and drawn by Ron Wilson
&
"What if Aunt May Instead of Her Nephew Peter Had Been Bitten By That Radioactive Spider?" written by Steve Skeates and drawn by Alan Kupperberg, all reprinted in What If? Classic volume 4

The lead story is another non-Spider-Man one so I won't cover it here. The second tale isn't even an alternate reality but rather the first part of a multi-part origin of the races the Deviants and the Eternals. But it's the third tale of interest to this post. We get another take on the radioactive spider biting someone else, though this time it's played for laughs and Peter never retrieves the dead spider or (as far as we know) eventually become Spider-Man. Aunt May adopts a costume which looks surprisingly like a version of Super-Gran's costume years before the latter hit the TV screens, albeit with the familiar red & blue design and a mask. As a weapon she uses her pastry decorator loaded with special dough and gets into a fight with Leap-Frog. She finally defeats him in her own backyard but not before Peter sees them and faints. As he recovers a now uncostumed Aunt May wonders if she can fairly divide her time between her responsibilities to her nephew and fighting crime.

This is another tale played primarily for laughs and doesn't offer a great deal beyond showing that Aunt May is tougher than we've often assumed (when this was first printed, it wasn't long since her last major round of heart attacks in the regular Amazing Spider-Man). It's either fun or irritating, I like it for its wackiness.


#24: "What if Spider-Man had Rescued Gwen Stacy?", written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Gil Kane
&
"Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: The First Eternals!" written by Ralph Macchio and drawn by Rich Buckler, both reprinted in What If? Classic volume 5

The (Spidey-less) back-up story is more of the history of a then-new Marvel race, and frankly seems to have been run in What If? purely because it was the only available outlet to tackle some obscure continuity. However it's only five pages and this issue saw the page count for the series increased so it doesn't detract from the main feature.

Outside of anything to do with the origin, Gwen Stacy living is by far the most obvious and demanded of all the potential Spider-What If?s. As an added bonus it's drawn by the original artist so has the exact visual feel of Amazing Spider-Man c1973. However the writer is someone different and I'm unconvinced that this is how the series would have proceeded had it been decided that Gwen was to live.

This story sees Peter save Gwen from the Green Goblin, and on the age-old "What killed Gwen?" question, this story takes both sides. The opening few pages are set in the regular timeline and feature Peter remembering Gwen at the site of the bridge and commenting "I hadn't considered what the shock of that sudden fall could do to someone without my own spider-strength" (and there are no sound effects). However the alternate tale is based around her surviving that very fall when Spider-Man jumps after her and uses his own body to cushion the impact against the water. My best guess is that in 1980 Marvel truly didn't want to explicitly say it was the whiplash from being snatched by the webbing but was aware of their past statements on the matter.

Spidey has saved Gwen but in the process she discovers his identity. And rather than running screaming at her boyfriend being her father's murderer, she instead lets him speak then believes & forgives him. Even in 1980 the regular continuity was still reluctant to have any of Peter's girlfriends actually learn his secret, but this is a realistic take on how such a scenario could have played out. The two get engaged but first Spidey has to wrap up the Goblin. This is the less realistic part as first the Goblin reverts to his "I wanna be a crimelord and I'll do it by defeating Spider-Man" approach which hadn't been seen since Amazing #27 (although the Bart Hamilton Goblin did do a bit of this) and then we get yet another almost magic cure for his insanity when the sight of Harry standing up to Spider-Man to defend his father causes the old man to instantly be cured. Well okay this spins off an era when the Goblin persona had regularly been suppressed with equally silly methods, but it just doesn't ring true. The rest of the story sees Peter and Gwen's wedding day (organised amazingly quickly when you consider that Ned Leeds and Betty Brant took over a hundred issues to get from proposal to the big day) but suddenly Jonah bursts in, having been mailed proof that Peter is Spider-Man by the Goblin before he was cured. Once again Aunt May falls victim to stereotype "My Peter? That awful Spider-Man? It can't be! It just can't b... Uunnhh..." and collapses with a heart attack. Okay Peter spent years worrying that this would happen, but in reality two separate writers would go on to show Aunt May knowing the secret without an immediate collapse. To save her Peter bursts out a window as Jonah proudly produces the frontpage of the Daily Bugle with the revelation. Robbie resigns in disgust and leads Gwen away to first get help for May and then get the truth about Peter out there. The story ends with Peter stuck on a rooftop with neither costume nor webshooters, wondering if he's going to be hunted down or become the menace Jonah always claimed he was...

This whole ending brings a mixed reaction from me. It is true that Gerry Conway has stated several times that he felt if Gwen lived it was inevitable she and Peter would marry, but I don't think the series would have gone down that route quite so quickly. It's never made clear just what the actual proof Jonah receives is, nor why he doesn't subject it to any kind of test before rushing a potentially libellous headline into print. However Peter's reaction is more believable, hot-headedly showing off his strength rather than denouncing the accusation as lies and talking his way out. What If?s often end on a downbeat moment rather than show a scenario that the regular comic could have come to, but I think this one could have been made an exception to give Peter and Gwen the alternate happy ending they deserved.


The other tales in the fourth volume are:

• #22: "What If Dr. Doom Had Become a Hero?"
• #25: "What If Thor and the Avengers Battled the Gods?" & "Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: The First Uni-Mind!"
• #26: "What If Captain America Had Been Elected President?", "What If The Man-Thing Had Regained Ted Sallis' Brain?" & "Untold Tales of the Marvel Universe: Outpost on Uranus"

Omitted material: What If? Classic volume 3

It's time for a further look at some of the Spider-Man related issues from the original What If? series.

#15: "What If Nova had been Four Other People?", written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by John Buscema, Walt Simonson, Carmine Infantino, Ross Andru and George Pérez, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 3

This was the same basic idea as issue #7, only this time with Marvel's then-newest star rather than it's biggest and also using different artists for each segment. However Peter Parker was the only one of the four people who was familiar to readers.

The origin of Nova is relatively easy to adapt to the What If? set-up - a dying alien transmits his power and costume by energy beam and it accidentally hits a human, giving them the Nova powers. Each story sees it hit someone else. In the first it hits Helen Taylor, an angry widow who has vowed to find the mugger who killed her husband. She launches a violent war on crime to find the mugger, killing many criminals in the process including the Kingpin. Eventually the Fantastic Four intervene and capture her, then are forced to exile her to the Negative Zone. Meanwhile a car is pulled out of the river where it has been for months, and inside is the drowned mugger. The second story is set in a world that has hitherto lacked heroes and so when the beam hits a homeless black man he doesn't immediately realise to use them. One snowy night he is given shelter at an orphanage but then a Skrull invasion force arrives and detects his power. To save the children and Earth he becomes Nova and lets himself get captured so the children can be saved. On board the Skrull flagship he attacks and destroys the ship's equipment, causing it to go nova and saving the Earth. In the final story the beam has hit a criminal who uses the centurion's spaceship as a base from which he assembles Dr Doom, the Red Skull and the Sphinx and the four steadily eliminate all of Earth's humans. However rivalries amongst the villains result in them turning on each other until the Sphinx is the only one left standing. He desires death and sets out to search every human's mind to find one with the knowledge he needs, not realising that the criminal Nova he atomised was the one.

But it's the third story that generates the strongest interest. We get an altered version of the start of Spider-Man's origin as here the spider absorbed far more radiation and so instead of gaining powers Peter succumbs to radiation poisoning. He recovers, though not before Aunt May succumbs to stereotype and has a fatal heart attack at the first sign of bad news. Peter is now unable to walk and descends into bitterness, believing himself to be cursed. He sends Betty away (in this reality she seems to have already been his girlfriend) and throws himself into science, hoping to find a cure. One night he's alone in the school lab when the beam hits him. Discovering he can walk and more, he flies off to tell Uncle Ben, only to arrive as a burglar breaks into the house. In the living room Peter Nova flies in and a bullet bounces off his skin, killing the burglar. Despite both Uncle Ben and a police officer telling him it was accidental self-defence, Peter vows never to use his powers again and walks off embittered.

With most of the alternative Novas entirely new characters it's interesting to see different takes on some traditional comic moments and show how the power could bring out the best and worst in people. Peter Parker's story may have an all too cliched approach to Aunt May's heart but otherwise shows how a complete run of bad luck and no realisation of responsibility could have made him a very different person.

#17: "What If Ghost Rider, Spider-Woman, and Captain Marvel Had Remained Villains?", written by Steven Grant and drawn by Carmine Infantino, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 3

Once again we get multiple takes on a single idea, told in separate chapters. The first chapter sees an alternate take on Ghost Rider whereby his adoptive father Crash Simpson survives both cancer and a record breaking motorcycle stunt, resulting in the Devil taking Johnny Blaze's soul without interruption. He accidentally causes Crash's death and then later Roxanne Simpson tracks him down, only to die in the confrontation. Finally Daimon Hellstrom the Son of Satan confronts Ghost Rider and exorcises him. The Spider-Woman chapter is an alternate take on her debut in Marvel Spotlight #32 where on this occasion she doesn't discover Hydra's treachery and instead kills Nick Fury. The rest of the story which is largely the story of her fleeing to Hydra's base then getting captured in a S.H.I.E.L.D. raid then escaping at her trial. He primary motivation is to find out the truth of her past and the epilogue sees her as a wanderer, searching the world with S.H.I.E.L.D. in pursuit. Frankly there's not much meat to this and it doesn't give us much insight into Spider-Woman or any other characters. The Captain Marvel story is pretty much all set-up as it presents an alternate take on Marvel's earliest adventures with his rival Yon-Rogg exposed and eventually dying, with Captain Marvel remaining as a loyal Kree commander. This one doesn't show us very much at all. This is a general problem with telling multiple stories in a single issue, especially when the unifying concept is so abstract forcing each tale to spend more time telling the story (whereas the earlier ones with someone else getting Spider-Man or Nova's powers each share an introduction). The Ghost Rider chapter is the strongest by default with the other two tales not really offering that much of an alternate take on the characters. A pity that once again Spider-Woman is lumbered with such poor material.

#19: "What If Spider-Man had Never Become a Crime Fighter?", written by Peter Gillis and drawn by Pat Broderick, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 3

Or "What If Spider-Man has stopped the Burglar who killed his uncle?" This is probably the most obvious Spider-Man What If?, with its closest contender coming in issue #24 (reprinted in the next volume). Here Spider-Man heeds the call for help and catches the burglar - but not out of altruistic responsibility. No he's spotted the potential for some good publicity. As a result his public standing soars and Peter becomes ever more swollen headed. He reveals his identity to Aunt May and Uncle Ben, but this leads to an argument about his pursuit of entertainment over science and he deserts them. He guest hosts the Johnny Carson show (now what would be the equivalent of that role in the UK?), stars in a blockbuster movie and then becomes a film producer, signing up many other heroes with the offer of favourable publicity. Meanwhile J. Jonah Jameson's world starts crashing around him. His son dies when his space capsule crashes, and Jonah becomes ever more embittered about the attention celebrity "heroes" get compared to what he sees as "real heroes" - policemen, firemen, astronauts and the like. This leads to him taking on Spider-Man by getting Ned Leeds to work out his identity. In retaliation Spider-Man shows up in Jonah's office with several gun toting men, but turns the tables by pretending to be a stunt to give Jonah an award for journalism. When the Daily Bugle attacks Spider-Man for signing the vigilante Daredevil, Spidey retaliates by discovering and exposing the Bugle's crime reporter Frederic Foswell as the crimelord the Big Man. Here the resultant negative publicity results in Jonah being asked by his board to take a step back from running the paper and he instead resigns. Having lost everything he succumbs to temptation when the jailed Foswell asks him to be his outside man to run the mobs in exchange for using the organisation for revenge on Spider-Man. An initial attempt to have Kraven the Hunter scratch Peter with poison claws fails due to the intervention of Daredevil. Then Peter and Daredevil meet with their writers - only to discover it's a trap and the writers are really several super-villains in disguise. Daredevil dies in battle and Peter realises he must use his powers for real, overpowering the remain foes. He pulls off the ringleader's hood to discover an insane Jonah, ranting about how his life has been destroyed and how Spider-Man is a villain. A remorseful Peter realises how his failure to use his powers for good has caused all this.

Pretty much everyone is in character and this is a particularly good character study of Jonah that really digs into just why he harbours such hatred of Spider-Man and other superheroes. It's a far cry from the caricature he sometimes descends to. As for Spider-Man himself, we have a good continuation of the swell-headed teenager from Amazing Fantasy #15 but also an insight into his imagination. It's quite possible he may have performed some good, particularly by signing the X-Men to give mutants good publicity, just as many real world actors and producers have helped good causes. But his arrogance and selfishness brings destruction in its wake - and he's not always the worst to suffer for it.

The other tales in the third volume are:

• #14: "What If Sgt. Fury Had Fought World War Two In Outer Space?"
• #18: "What If Dr. Strange Were a Disciple of Dormammu?"
• #20: "What If the Avengers Fought the Kree-Skrull War Without Rick Jones?"

Issue #14 was one of the more outrageous concepts yet seen, but as the cover acknowledged it was riding a wave at the time launched by Star Wars.

You will have noticed that two issues are missing. These are:

• #13: "What If Conan the Barbarian Walked the Earth Today?"
• #16: "What If Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu Fought on the Side of Fu Manchu?"

Marvel no longer holds the rights to either Conan or Fu Manchu and so can't reprint their appearances. Shang-Chi is a Marvel originated character but with a setting a supporting cast drawn from the Fu Manchu stories it's only possible to reprint some of his appearances.

Omitted material: What If? Classic volume 2

Another look at some of the Spider-Man issues of the original What If? series.

#7: "What If Somebody else besides Spider-Man had been bitten by the radioactive spider?", written by Don Glut and drawn by Rick Hoberg, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 2

The title to this one is a little long winded but "What If someone else was Spider-Man?" wouldn't work as none of the three people actually uses the name "Spider-Man". Instead we get first "Captain Spider" aka Flash Thompson, "The Amazing Spider-Girl" aka Betty Brant and "Spider-Jameson" aka Colonel John Jameson (Jonah's son). Unfortunately with three separate stories to tell plus the basic set-up there isn't much time to develop any of them. Flash's story sees him at first try to use his powers at wrestling but he accidentally kills Crusher Hogan and is forced to flee. He adopts the identity of Captain Spider and has a brief superhero career, but his over-confidence and lack of webs are his undoing when he fights the Vulture and falls to his death. Betty Brant also develops a friendship with Peter Parker who becomes her confident and equipment designer. She enjoys a brief career in a very revealing costume, but Betty finds her powers overwhelm her. Consequently there comes a point where she's run out of web fluid and fails to stop a thief running past. The thief goes on to kill Peter's Uncle Ben and Betty tracks him down and captures him... but upon realising she could have stopped him she realises she cannot handle the responsibility and abandons her identity. Colonel Jameson becomes the first marketed hero with his father pushing him into the role, but comes to grief when he tries to save an out of control space capsule as his jetpack fails and the capsule crushes him to death. At the unveiling of a memorial Jonah opts to dedicate himself to supporting other heroes. The epilogue shows that in all three stories Peter Parker has retrieved the dead spider and extracts the venom to create a serum to become Spider-Man. This issue came out not long after Spidey's guest appearance in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 and both issues float the idea that it is Peter's destiny to become Spider-Man. Whilst much of the point of the What If? issue is that it takes more to be Spider-Man than just being bitten by a radioactive spider and putting on a red & blue costume, and unlike the Two-In-One annual there's no reference to Lord Chaos and Master Order manipulating him, I just don't like the idea of the every-man hero being pushed into his role by destiny. Otherwise the issue as a whole has few points that stand out beyond Betty Brant's costume and the possibility that Jonah could have been a friend to superheroes under different circumstances.

#8: "What If the World Knew That Daredevil Is Blind?", written by Don Glut and drawn by Alan Kupperberg & "What If the spider had been bitten by a radioactive human?", written & drawn by Scott Shaw, both reprinted in What If? Classic volume 2

This issue contained one serious and one humorous story. In the former Spider-Man make a small guest appearance when he accidentally stumbles into Daredevil's first fight with Electro. Consequently the fight goes differently and Electro soon realises that Daredevil is blind, confirmed when Daredevil can't answer his question about the colour of his costume - and tells the world. Daredevil continues fighting crime even though his foes try everything to stop him but Karen Page soon deduces his identity and persuades Matt Murdock to undergo an eye operation. He agrees and it doesn't cost him his enhanced senses but soon afterwards he loses them anyway when shutting down an atomic pile. Matt retires his Daredevil identity but wears the costume one last time when he's kidnapped by the Owl. He defeats the Owl who perishes in an explosion and Daredevil decides that he could have saved his foe had he still had his senses. He calls a press conference where he reveals his identity (as so many were deducing it anyway), retires from superheroing altogether and runs for District Attorney. He is successfully elected and marries Karen. This is a rare What If? with a happy ending but it falls into the trap of telling too much of the story through accelerated narration and also keeping close to the events in the original series. But it's one of the truest to the idea that a simple change can have drastic repercussions.

(Oh and the continuity is potentially messed up as the issue claims Amazing Spider-Man #25 and Daredevil #2 took place simultaneously. But considering Spidey and Daredevil first met in Amazing #16 this is unlikely - but What The heck!)

The second story is a comedy piece, set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, years before the likes of Spider-Ham came on the scene, and is narrated not by the Watcher but by editor Roy Thomas standing in for him. We learn how "Webster Weaver", a nerdish teenage spider gets bitten by a human and developed enhanced powers and adopts the identity of "Man-Spider". The story follows the familiar course of his failure to stop a crook who kills his "Uncle Bug", only this time he doesn't initially track down said crook. Instead he fights crime generally until one day a mysterious foe blackmails the world with a threat to destroy the atmosphere - it's "Raze", a living can of fly-spray (and I don't know if the name is a pun on a brand that I've never encountered) and also the being who killed Uncle Bug. Man-Spider gets captured but Raze throws an explosive which accidentally blows up the spray can. Man-Spider feels better about Uncle Bug's death but now has to face Aunt Mayfly's chicken-pox soup. This is an intentionally silly piece, satirising funny animal comics, and frankly one will either adore or hate it. But it's only eight pages long. And I'm surprised to discover that people were concerned about CFCs and the Ozone Layer as early as 1977.

The other tales in the second volume are:

• #9: "What If the Avengers Had Fought Evil During the 1950's?"
• #10: "What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?"
• #11: "What If the Original Marvel Bullpen Had Become the Fantastic Four?"
• #12: "What If Rick Jones Had Become the Hulk?"

Issue #9 is another of those stories that might have actually been set in the regular Marvel universe rather than an alternate reality, and the Watcher is non-committal on this point but it would be a few decades before anyone addressed it again. But when they did, we got to see a team made up of some of the 1950 Atlas heroes who were first put together here. Issue #11 is, I think, the last time Jack Kirby drew a Fantastic Four comic though on this occasion the cast and premise are very different from the original.

Omitted material: What If? Classic volume 1

And so to begin my irregular look at the Spider-Man issues in the original What If? series.

#1: "What If Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four?", written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Jim Craig, reprinted in What If? Classic volume 1

At the time the idea of adding Spider-Man to the Fantastic Four - or indeed to any team - was seen as impossible. How times have changed. But in his very first issue Spider-Man had tried to join the Fantastic Four, only to back off when he discovered there was no salary. But what if instead they'd offered him one and he stayed?

The first What If? set out to answer that question. Spider-Man actually does quite well out of the arrangement, with Mr Fantastic getting all outstanding accusations and charges against him ditched, leading to Jonah publicly endorsing him. Now a fully fledged part of the renamed Fantastic Five, Spidey gets on quite well with his team-mates, but really the focus of this issue is on the Fantastic Four in different circumstances. The Invisible Girl was often treated as the weak link in the original stories anyway, but now she finds herself ever more marginalised. Events come to their resolution when the Sub-Mariner kidnaps her under the influence of the Puppet Master. The rest of the Fantastic Five follow and defeat the real foe, but when they confront Namor the Invisible Girl finally chooses him over Mr Fantastic and is subjected to a transformation that gives her the ability to breathe underwater. Her former team-mates leave, with Spidey wondering what might have been had he never joined the team.

As the very first What If?, some leeway can be given, but a sizeable chunk of the issue is taken up with introducing first the format and then the original saga. Then too much of the story is told as fast paced narration of successive events, leaving not very much time to actually show the Fantastic Five in action as a team. And with most of the emphasis on the Fantastic Four side of things, Spider-Man doesn't get a great deal to do or show us just what potential he could have as a team member. This is, however, a good alternate take on the Fantastic Four.

Spidey isn't in any of the other issues in the first volume. The other tales told are:

• #2: "What If the Hulk Had the Brain of Bruce Banner?"
• #3: "What If the Avengers Had Never Been?"
• #4: "What If the Invaders Had Stayed Together After World War Two?"
• #5: "What If Captain America Hadn't Vanished During World War Two?"
• #6: "What If the Fantastic Four Had Different Super-Powers?"

The letters page for issue #4 states that it could have taken place in the regular continuity (it successfully fuses the Invaders, a 1970s retroactive creation, with the All-Winners Squad, a team that briefly existed in the immediate post-war years) and according to Comic Book Resource: Comics Should Be Good: Comic Book Legends Revealed #341 & Comic Book Resource: Comics Should Be Good: Comic Book Legends Addendum - Roy Thomas on What If...? #4 this was in fact the case, all part of Roy Thomas's work at incorporating the Golden Age Timely characters fully into regular Marvel continuity. It did finally resolve the question of the Captain America stories published from 1945 until 1950. Issue #5 is also interesting because as far as readers at the time were concerned Captain America didn't vanish during World War II but instead continuing in action until 1950 - it was only in the 1960s that this continuity was changed. However this story focuses more on how an older Captain America and Bucky operate in the 1960s, having lived all the way up to them.

Omitted material: What If?

My first ever comic that headlined Spider-Man was none other than issue #31 of the second What If? series - "What If Spider-Man had not lost his cosmic powers?" Although I was unfamiliar with either the scenario or many of the villains (both the Hobgoblin and Venom were too new to have appeared in the Spider-Man cartoons up to then), it was nevertheless an enjoyable tale told in a single issue which managed to do something different with the character and also explained everything I needed to know about the basic situation.

Historians are traditionally wary of speculating in counterfactuals for a variety of reasons. But that doesn't mean the idea can't be fun. However with any ongoing fiction the most obvious "What If"s are also really the most boring - what if a different storyline was pursued, what if a particular writer or actor hadn't left, what if a series wasn't cancelled and so forth. Far more exciting are the stories that could (usually) never have been done at the time, such as discoveries, marriages, deaths and more that would have broken the rules of the regular continuity. DC pioneered this idea with their "Imaginary Stories" of the 1950s and 1960s. Marvel came later with What If? which was more rooted in specific continuity and (until the late 1990s at least) tended to take a specific point in history and go a different root. Most were narrated by the Watcher, the all powerful alien observer of our planet.

The first What If? series ran from 1976 until 1984 and each issue was longer than the standard Marvels of the day. At first the focus was primarily upon the early Silver Age but as time went on it broadened out. In recent years the run has been collected in a series of tradepaperbacks (although with some omissions, mainly due to rights issues) though noticeably not as Essentials but rather as more conventional colour volumes containing about six issues each. Still we can but hope that this means Marvel has the issues on file in a cleaned-up form ready for any future Essential release.

In the meantime, I'm going to take a look at some of the issues featuring Spider-Man. These posts will be irregular though.

Oh and I'm not the only one who's looked at early What If? issues. Every so often the blogger the Amazing Justin Palm! gets drunk and reviews on of these old issues. His thoughts can be found at El Fresco: What If Wednesdays.