What If...? Dark

What If...? Dark (2023)

by Walter Simonson, Scot Eaton (Penciler), Cam Smith (Inker)

A new series of stories in the classic Marvel What If? tradition...but with a darker twist!

A new series of stories in the classic Marvel What If? tradition...but with a darker twist! And to kick it off, Spider-Legend Gerry Conway returns to his most famous Spider-Story along with co-writer Jody Houser! What if Gwen Stacy didn't die on the bridge that day...but Spider-Man DID? This tragic tale and more await in the pages of What If? Dark!

WHAT IF...? SPIDER-GWEN #1, TBD

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Spider Man

200 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2024

About the author

Walt Simonson is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' Thor from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned work Star Slammers, which he inaugurated in 1972 as a Rhode Island School of Design thesis. He has also worked on other Marvel titles such as X-Factor and Fantastic Four, on DC Comics books including Detective Comics, Manhunter, Metal Men and Orion, and on licensed properties such as Star Wars, Alien, Battlestar Galactica and Robocop vs. Terminator.

He is married to comics writer Louise Simonson, with whom he collaborated as penciller on X-Factor from 1988 to 1989, and with whom he made a cameo appearance in the 2011 Thor feature film.

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six stories of the ways things could be different in the Marvel universe. High body counts, but not really great stories, very few that I would care about what happened next.

Loki. What if Loki got the power of Asgard? What would he do? Actually, it's pretty much what I expected him to do. It also ended the same way. 2 stars.

Spider-Gwen. This is the story I bought this book because of. Unfortunately, I think I would have enjoyed the Ghost Spider stories better. What if Peter Parker dies, saying Gwen? What would Gwen do? 3.5 stars.

Venom. What if a broken hero got the Venom Symbiote? A bit of hot potato, who will end up as Venom? 2.5 stars.

Moon Knight. This was the best story of the book. Good story, great fights. Who is the new Knight? 5 stars.

Carnage. What if Carnage discovers a hidden family secret in the bowls of Ravencroft? Who's side will he take? 2.5 stars.

Dracula. This was a good story but, but not really much difference really for Blade. It's a pretty standard Blade story really. 3.5 stars.

It is only the Moon Knight story I would want to see more of. The others are just barely okay for me. The book finishes with a thumbnail (a couple of full page) varient covers gallery.

[C. Chambers · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was sub-par; but the fact Marvel keeps hiring Greg Land is a damn atrocity.

Take away the fact he's been found copying other artist's work, his 'live reference material' is so garbage and obviously exploitive that it's unreadable.

I refuse to give this guy the time of day, and I feel like others have to stop as well.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed bag of one-shots, with only the Moon Knight story rising above middling quality with its strong execution and superior art. 2.5 stars overall.

[Keef Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

About half the stories are really great, fun and enjoyable. They're exactly what I would want out of a "what if" story. The Things story is my favorite. Moon Knight was also really great. The other half are like bad dreams that don't really make sense, have no purpose, or no point. I found the Carnage story to be a terrible story that doesn't make sense and doesn't even have good art. Blades story was boring. The spiderman story was not bad but not great. I didn't factor this into my rating but the cover is misleading and I just found that to be lame. Overall, some parts are great and others are a waste of time that make the collection less enjoyable overall.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was incredibly entertaining. I have not read any What If volumes before and I didn't read the synopsis so I kind of just assumed it was only going to be the one story about Spider-Man and Gwen...silly me. Or lucky me I guess because I got 6 stories. I thought they were all fun...some stronger than others. my favorite actually ended up being the one with the Fantastic Four...I actually cried at the end of that one. I definitely want to check out more of these What If stories in the future.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem is that all of them end with "Now I'm the monster!"

A level one what if story has an interesting twist on a well-known premise.

A level two story tells a good story - set up, climax, resolution.

A level three premise suggests a whole universe that we'd be interested in seeing AoA style

These were largely level one stories.

[Eva B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
I really liked the Venomized Thing story and the Moon Knight story was absolutely the stand-out (my favorite bit was Hank going to Marc's funeral but since it was during his Doctor Pym era he looks absolutely ridiculous next to everyone else in his Doctor Who cosplay lol) but the Carnage one didn't really do much for me. The Loki and Blade ones were alright and the Spider-Man one felt like Spider-Gwen but like slightly altered.

[Magpie6493 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the overall concept and presentation. This was a fun read.

[James Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of ostensibly "dark" What If stories (hence the title):
- Loki: Loki causes Ragnarok. Not particularly imaginative, despite being written by veteran Thor scribe Walter Simonson.
- Spider-Gwen: Peter Parker dies saving Gwen Stacy. (Note, these are not the versions from the Spider-Gwen comics, but rather based on the mainstream characters.) The best story of the set, and ironically the least "dark".
- Venom: The Thing merges with the Venom symbiote. Probably the second-best story in the collection, although the plot requires Ben Grimm to be pretty dumb.
- Moon Knight: Marlene Alraune becomes Marc Spector's successor. The plot is merely functional - maybe it would have more appeal to hardcore Moon Knight fans?
- Carnage: Carnage fights his demon-worshiping ancestor. A random story that barely registers as an alternate universe tale, and the worst of the set.
- Tomb of Dracula: Various changes somehow result in Dracula turning Blade. There are seeds of a good idea here, but it's not well executed. It's shocking to realize that comics great Marv Wolfman wrote it...

All in all, a very disappointing collection; only the cover story (Spider-Gwen) is really worthwhile, and only just. (C+)

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who is copying who, here? DC had their big event, 'Dark Nights: Metal'. It's essentially their equivalent of 'What If?'

Now, Marvel responds with this collection of darker stories
WHAT IF…? DARK: LOKI (Loki brings Ragnarok)
WHAT IF…? DARK: SPIDER-GWEN (Gwen survives her fall but Peter doesn't)
WHAT IF…? DARK: VENOM (post Secret Wars and The Thing bonds with the symbiote)
WHAT IF…? DARK: MOON KNIGHT (Moon Knight dies, but his girlfriend allies with Ra)
WHAT IF…? DARK: CARNAGE (Carnage meets his ancestor at a world tree)
WHAT IF…? DARK: TOMB OF DRACULA.(Dracula turns Blade)

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 68/101 for 2024. I liked it, but I wish I had liked it more. Considering how dark many of the original What If...? comics were, with heroes going evil or insane, turning on their allies, bringing about dystopian futures or cosmic ruin, I thought a volume explicitly focused on darkness would really push the envelope, but this ... did not. The standout story was probably Carnage/Dormammu, which was goofy, gory fun but didn't really have any alternate timeline elements at all and could have easily been an in-continuity Super-Villain Team-Up. Ah well.

[aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good read. Some of the stories were great and others were a bit throw away. All said and done it was worth reading. My favorite stories were the Carnage story and the Moon Knight story. If you like the What If...? stories you'll probably these otherwise they can probably be skipped.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six "What If?" stories that get real dark. I really like that some classic talent like Walt Simonson and Marv Wolfman worked on this book, telling stories from classic runs of theirs. A lot of the stories were just OK though and that Carnage one was pure trash. My favorite stories in here though were the ones about Gwen Stacy, The Thing and Moon Knight's girlfriend.

[Benjamin Palladino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was amazing but the Carnage one was poorly written and kinda childish considering it’s supposed to be dark.

Everything else was very good!

[Lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories were excellent but the art was a hit or miss

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ONLY reason im giving this 3 stars is because of the last two comics in this. (Carnage and Dracula) Carnage was great, artwork and story. I had to push through the rest.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The darkest part of this collection is that they did What If...? without the Watcher.