Or – “Known Decades Later As The Agents Of Atlas…”
Back in 1977, Marvel Comics introduced (or, given the existence of the Silver Age Imaginary Story, reintroduced) the concept of the “What If?” story, a tale which examined the road not taken. Most of the time, the answer to the question ‘What If?’ ended up being “Everybody dies screaming!” But, on occasion, the stories told are memorable for a different reason…
Or – “Before The ‘What If?’ Concept Really Solidified…”
These days, it seems people only use the term ‘House of Ideas’ to mock what they believe to be a loss of originality from Marvel editorial, but there was a time when wild notions flew freely and writers were free to come up with bizarre (but believable) stories that turned the Marvel U into the brilliant madhouse that we know it as today. Witness this tale, one of at least three written to answer the question: If Steve Rogers fell in the ice in 1945, how in the hell was Captain America active well into the 1950s?
The answer is complicated and more than a little bit heartbreaking…
Or – “This One Might Actually Kind Of Be #200. Kind Of…”
I often have problems with Marvel’s renumbering schemes because the people in charge of counting like to skew things in their favor. Captain America’s renumbering to 600 only makes sense if you count the 100 issues of Tales To Something-Or-Other that came BEFORE the book changed it’s name to Captain America V.1, most issues of which didn’t even feature the character. But for What If?, the bean-counters seem to be playing fair, counting 47 issues of volume one, the hundred-plus issues of volume two, and the various one-shots over the last half-decade to reach a seemingly legitimate count of 200 issues. Of course, that pedigree inclues some real stinkers, so the question at hand is, is this one any better than “What If Nick Fury Fought WWII In Outer Space?”
There are a lot of what ifs that float through my head every day some are quite funny, while others are disturbing, and some don’t have anything to do with comics at all.
Marvel’s What If? series returns asking not one question, but three, “what if the Hulk had arrived at the intended destination of the Illuminati?”, “What if Hulk died and his wife instead led the army against Earth?”, and “What if Banner, not the Hulk, landed on Sakaar?”
That’s right true believers, this issue contains three stories for your reading pleasure, and Marvel has sent a sneak peek of What If? Planet Hulk for your perusal.
Marvel Comics has sent Major Spoilers information and preview images of What If? X-Men Deadly Genesis that will hit stores in December.
The What If? series has been selling like hotcakes, with What If? Spider-Man: The Other, and What If? Avengers Disassembled selling out at Diamond Comics. What If? Spider-Man: The Other will not be going back to print, so Marvel is encouraging everyone who want any of the What If? titles to get them soon.