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What If? (Publication Order) #161-166
What If... Why Not?
In the proud tradition of its late, lamented series of the seventies and eighties, the House of Ideas once again poses the question, "What if?" The hottest creators in comics take on Marvel's top characters - turning their lives upside-down in the name of entertainment Featuring decidedly different interpretations of Daredevil, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, and more Collects What If? #1-6.
152 pages, Paperback
First published March 16, 2005
7 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Brian Michael Bendis
4,414 books2,575 followersA comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.
Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.
Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.
Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.
Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.
Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.
He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.
Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.
Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.
Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.
Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.
Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.
He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 18, 2021
Designed to be pure speculative fun, these actually take the somewhat lazy step as framing themselves - three out of the five? as conversations between schmoes, one of whom is clearly drawn as BMB. Still a lot of fun, with the X-Men and Jessica Jones ones being my clear favorites here.
September 12, 2021
An interesting set of What If stories by top-tier comics authors:
- Brian Michael Bendis gives us two stories: What If Karen Page Had Lived? and What If Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers? Both have an unusual framing device, someone (possibly the Watcher in human guise) telling the stories to other folks at a diner. Both are fine, with the Jones story being the more interesting, but also seem a little thin on plot (if not dialogue).
- Peter David gives us What If General Ross Had Become the Hulk? Pretty much a retelling of the Hulk's origin with Ross in the driver's seat, but entertaining nonetheless. Downer ending, though.
- Chris Claremont gives us What If Magneto and Professor X Had Formed the X-Men Together? Which is disappointing, since we what we get in the end winds up feeling like a random X-Men story with some reshuffling of the characters. (We don't even see that much of Magneto!)
- Karl Kesel gives us What If Dr. Doom Had Become The Thing? Which is pretty fun, probably the most entertaining of the lot, with some good twists.
- Ed Brubaker gives us What If Aunt May Had Died Instead of Uncle Ben? Which has the weirdest framing sequence, presenting the story as made up on the spot by some guy at a comic store, complete with admitted contrivances. This winds up making the story - which is only OK - feel less "real" or compelling.
Half the stories are just fine, but the other half make up for their deficiencies. (B+)
- Brian Michael Bendis gives us two stories: What If Karen Page Had Lived? and What If Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers? Both have an unusual framing device, someone (possibly the Watcher in human guise) telling the stories to other folks at a diner. Both are fine, with the Jones story being the more interesting, but also seem a little thin on plot (if not dialogue).
- Peter David gives us What If General Ross Had Become the Hulk? Pretty much a retelling of the Hulk's origin with Ross in the driver's seat, but entertaining nonetheless. Downer ending, though.
- Chris Claremont gives us What If Magneto and Professor X Had Formed the X-Men Together? Which is disappointing, since we what we get in the end winds up feeling like a random X-Men story with some reshuffling of the characters. (We don't even see that much of Magneto!)
- Karl Kesel gives us What If Dr. Doom Had Become The Thing? Which is pretty fun, probably the most entertaining of the lot, with some good twists.
- Ed Brubaker gives us What If Aunt May Had Died Instead of Uncle Ben? Which has the weirdest framing sequence, presenting the story as made up on the spot by some guy at a comic store, complete with admitted contrivances. This winds up making the story - which is only OK - feel less "real" or compelling.
Half the stories are just fine, but the other half make up for their deficiencies. (B+)
July 25, 2022
The modern (unnumbered) revival of What If brought a modern sensibility to the stories.
Kind of.
About half of these are very traditional What If stories, just written by recent authors and drawn by recent artists. So we get Doom as a member of the FF crew, Uncle Ben tutoring Spider-Men, and some other mostly forgettable stuff.
The prizes of this volume are the two stories by Bendis & Maleev, written in his Daredevil & Jessica Jones mythos. They're great stories, told in the wonderful noir style of Bendis & Maleev ... except for the fact that Bendis spends about a third of each story on a self insert explaining the background of the What If — which is not only much longer than needed, but also ends up cutting the story short.
So even those end up being just OK.
Kind of.
About half of these are very traditional What If stories, just written by recent authors and drawn by recent artists. So we get Doom as a member of the FF crew, Uncle Ben tutoring Spider-Men, and some other mostly forgettable stuff.
The prizes of this volume are the two stories by Bendis & Maleev, written in his Daredevil & Jessica Jones mythos. They're great stories, told in the wonderful noir style of Bendis & Maleev ... except for the fact that Bendis spends about a third of each story on a self insert explaining the background of the What If — which is not only much longer than needed, but also ends up cutting the story short.
So even those end up being just OK.
January 29, 2015
WHAT IF? WHY NOT? Don't bother.
December 24, 2023
The first MARVEL What if...? comic I ever read and by far the best has been "What If... Aunt May Had Died Instead Of Uncle Ben?" This collection of six MARVEL What if...? stories is worth it for this one issue alone while the other comics are mostly average. Uncle Ben's remarkable example of influence shines in shocking and unexpected ways as he ends up the survivor of Aunt May's murder. Without Aunt May to guide and help Peter Parker, the rise of Spider-Man turns out entirely differently. The story has a touching emotional core about Peter Parker's grief that will bring a tear to your eye in a way no other comic has. This is a must read issue of of MARVEL What if...? and would be my most anticipated comic that I wish would be adapted for an episode of Season 2 of MARVEL What if...? on Disney+
November 13, 2025
A more apt title would be "What If...Why Bother?"
These stories really don't fall too far from actual continuity. They don't have any interesting premises. It just felt like these authors had these boring stories written and finally found a non-continuity book to toss them into.
Because I'm doing this during an X-reread, I'm focusing on the "What If Magneto and Professor X Had Founded The X-Men Together?" written by Chris Claremont. The thing is, that IS established continuity in the main universe and the Ultimate Universe. Chris Claremont is one of the people who established that Magneto and Professor X formed a proto X-Men in the Savage Land before they had their falling out. It's also established in the X-Men movies. So I'm not sure what purpose this story served other than filling up space in an uninspiring collection.
These stories really don't fall too far from actual continuity. They don't have any interesting premises. It just felt like these authors had these boring stories written and finally found a non-continuity book to toss them into.
Because I'm doing this during an X-reread, I'm focusing on the "What If Magneto and Professor X Had Founded The X-Men Together?" written by Chris Claremont. The thing is, that IS established continuity in the main universe and the Ultimate Universe. Chris Claremont is one of the people who established that Magneto and Professor X formed a proto X-Men in the Savage Land before they had their falling out. It's also established in the X-Men movies. So I'm not sure what purpose this story served other than filling up space in an uninspiring collection.
September 27, 2022
Better collection than the others. The Daredevil and Jessica Jones were way too wordy. Nobody needs that much text, especially when the stories themselves had so little plot.
The X-Men story had a lot of promise but then just ended. More setup than actual plot. It should have had a second part at least.
The Fantastic Four story was actually worthwhile. I normally don’t like this group but the story was interesting and tied in the larger Marvel universe.
Similarly the Hulk story, but it ended too quickly.
The Spidey tale was a bit long, definitely needed editing, but overall not too bad.
The X-Men story had a lot of promise but then just ended. More setup than actual plot. It should have had a second part at least.
The Fantastic Four story was actually worthwhile. I normally don’t like this group but the story was interesting and tied in the larger Marvel universe.
Similarly the Hulk story, but it ended too quickly.
The Spidey tale was a bit long, definitely needed editing, but overall not too bad.
May 17, 2023
A bit of a mixed bags with certain stories never quite reaching the potential of the premise offers due to lack of time, framing it in odd ways like having two comic fans just ponder a story or Brian Michael Bendis appearing as himself instead of the traditional way of having The Watcher or not feeling different enough from the canon story to be satisfying as a “What If?” story. Still nice to see a variety of writers and art styles across this graphic novel.
November 7, 2021
I've always loved the What If? comics. This one was no exception. The freedom the writers get to explore different directions usually adds some depth to the characters and stories and occasionally allows the readers to see the depths of the characters as we know them in these distorted reflections. https://www.goodreads.com/review/new/...#
March 3, 2018
What if.... Why Not? Why bother.
August 25, 2021
Quite enjoyable, not not as enjoyable as I'd hoped for!
May 16, 2014
Good alternate takes on central premises: these are what the earlier, insufferable Superman/DC editor Mort Weisinger termed "Imaginary Stories." (Alan Moore, in his last-word Superman story for retiring DC editor Julius Schwartz, said, "Aren't they all?")
In this case, Marvel since Roy Thomas conceived the What If title in mid-1970s had used its alien The Watcher as a narrator. In two stories by Brian Bendis, the scripter himself serves particularly well as a narrator at a diner counter owing to his Watcher-esque bald pate. Of these two stories, the Daredevil/Karen Page (What if KP Lived?) story seems more vital, as this love interest has remained dead while all other supporting characters seem to get resurrected in comics. I also like perennial Hulk scripter Peter David's use of General Ross as the Hulk, particularly now that writers like Jeff Loeb revealed Ross as the Red Hulk of today (which I have not followed closely; how was that?) And Chris Claremont's X-Men are familiar, sufficiently alternate, and as well-crafted as we expect from him.
The art by some great talent is above average, even fine. I particularly always appreciate Michael Lark, who here begins on daredevil, which he will continue together with Ed Brubaker.
The late editor, fan, and critic Don Thompson used to say, "For those of you who like this sort of thing, here it is." Indeed.
Mildly recommended.
In this case, Marvel since Roy Thomas conceived the What If title in mid-1970s had used its alien The Watcher as a narrator. In two stories by Brian Bendis, the scripter himself serves particularly well as a narrator at a diner counter owing to his Watcher-esque bald pate. Of these two stories, the Daredevil/Karen Page (What if KP Lived?) story seems more vital, as this love interest has remained dead while all other supporting characters seem to get resurrected in comics. I also like perennial Hulk scripter Peter David's use of General Ross as the Hulk, particularly now that writers like Jeff Loeb revealed Ross as the Red Hulk of today (which I have not followed closely; how was that?) And Chris Claremont's X-Men are familiar, sufficiently alternate, and as well-crafted as we expect from him.
The art by some great talent is above average, even fine. I particularly always appreciate Michael Lark, who here begins on daredevil, which he will continue together with Ed Brubaker.
The late editor, fan, and critic Don Thompson used to say, "For those of you who like this sort of thing, here it is." Indeed.
Mildly recommended.
January 10, 2016
Completed so far:
Wha...Huh? (SO great!)
What if Magneto had formed the X-Men with Professor X (Pretty good...so which came first, this or Days of Future Past?)
What if Aunt May had died instead of Uncle Ben? (Interesting...a bit more serious, but they can't all be Crack)
What if Doctor Doom had become The Thing? (With some interesting consequences for Ben Grimm...I'd actually LOVE to see more of THAT particular universe!)
(I just haven't come across/sought out the others so I'm putting this one in Done. )
Wha...Huh? (SO great!)
What if Magneto had formed the X-Men with Professor X (Pretty good...so which came first, this or Days of Future Past?)
What if Aunt May had died instead of Uncle Ben? (Interesting...a bit more serious, but they can't all be Crack)
What if Doctor Doom had become The Thing? (With some interesting consequences for Ben Grimm...I'd actually LOVE to see more of THAT particular universe!)
(I just haven't come across/sought out the others so I'm putting this one in Done. )
July 10, 2015
What if Professor X and Magneto Had Formed The X-Men Together?
I like this alternate universe. Kitty changes her hair every page.
I like this alternate universe. Kitty changes her hair every page.
December 21, 2015
Not bad, some stories were decent, some worlds turned out better, some worse, some more or less the same, but they pretty much all suffered from trying to cram too much into a short story.
January 30, 2026
Dr. Doom as the Thing. Gen. Ross as the hulk, but banner puts a bullet in his brain.
May 14, 2017
Karen Page is the hands down best issue in this collection. Followed by Jessica Jones. These two stories had consequences (good and bad) for each of their perspective worlds.
The other stories were fine, but they didn't really seem different than their original worlds. If I'm reading What If, I want to see things radically change. I don't think it counts if Ben Grimm is green instead of rocky or Spider-Man, where they even call out that nothing changes.
The other stories were fine, but they didn't really seem different than their original worlds. If I'm reading What If, I want to see things radically change. I don't think it counts if Ben Grimm is green instead of rocky or Spider-Man, where they even call out that nothing changes.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews