Marvel's "What If" Series

[Shellhead]

As mentioned upthread, several of the Avengers-related What Ifs were really good. And this Invaders one was so good that it sort of got retconned into Marvel's continuity:



Otherwise, most issues of What If? weren't very good. A more fitting name would have been Who Dies? because so many issues ended in the death of a major character. DC did a much better job on average with their Elseworlds comics.

[Bad Wolf]

Some of my favorites:



I never read any of the second series. They never seemed to feature stories I cared about, or had even read the original versions of.

[Bad Wolf]

A couple more:

[pakehafulla]

I did enjoy the DD issue above, but in general find the series doesnt live up to the promise it has. As someone else already said, DC's Elseworlds titles are far better. For me the problem with these is they spend half the issue explaining in great detail where the timeline converges and what is wrong with the change(is too much exposition the right term?). At least DC had the decency to have faith in the intelligence of their readers.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

I only read a few issues of What-If because I was never immersed in Marvel continuity and I think the great advantage of What-If was its use of continuity. I can see that this was a great thrill for Marvel fans, because they could put their knowledge of continuity to use.

It was somewhat the same with the Imaginary Stories in the Weisinger era, with the Superman family. (Note: Actually I believe that Roy Thomas took his original inspiration for "what-if" from Gardner Fox in "The Strange Death of Batman," Detective Comics 347).

I think when continuity is strong and popular, these kind of books work because readers understand the mythology and they enjoy seeing how continuity might have turned out if something different had happened.

DC rarely attempted this kind of thing with their Elseworlds books, because few readers (let alone editors) understood what was in continuity in the new DCU. Instead most Elseworlds went totally off the tracks into completely different realities that had no relation to the ongoing continuity such as it was at the time.

Really the Imaginary Stories of the 60s and the What-Ifs of the 70s prove the massive following that those continuities had in their hay-day. A writer could change one element of continuity and the readers understood why that element of continuity was so vital. It would be impossible to do the same thing now, since comic continuity is always in a state of flux--everything is a what-if or imaginary story in some sense.

[destro]

I did enjoy the DD issue above, but in general find the series doesnt live up to the promise it has. As someone else already said, DC's Elseworlds titles are far better. For me the problem with these is they spend half the issue explaining in great detail where the timeline converges and what is wrong with the change(is too much exposition the right term?). At least DC had the decency to have faith in the intelligence of their readers.

They were similar but different concepts though. The What If? stories are the length of one comic book and usually came from a specific divergent point. The Elseworlds tended to have a bit more room to expand on their ideas, and were often based around placing the characters in entirely different settings. So there was no need to explain anything, or have faith in the intelligence of anyone. Anybody can understand "Okay Batman is a Knight of the Round Table" or something.

That said, they both had plenty of good concepts and stinkers. I've definitely read some truly rotten elseworlds.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

At some point I began to realize that those prestige format comics were way over-priced for what you got. And Elseworlds really rarely offered anything new. They all repeated the same formula and ultimately were irrelevant to the characters. But by that point I had already wasted a lot of my money on 'em. If I had it to do over again, I would not have bought so many.

[destro]

At some point I began to realize that those prestige format comics were way over-priced for what you got. And Elseworlds really rarely offered anything new. They all repeated the same formula and ultimately were irrelevant to the characters. But by that point I had already wasted a lot of my money on 'em. If I had it to do over again, I would not have bought so many.

I think some of them were fun, but yes they were over priced. For me it just wasn't enough to say okay, Superman crashed during the American Civil War or something. There needed to be a good reason to tell that story beyond "hey that's weird/cool". At times there were, like the idea of making Batman a vampire or operating in Victorian London makes sense for the character (to me).

I think What if? was marketed towards hardcore fans who knew the continuity. Elseworlds was a concept that any casual fan could pick up and get into. I think both concepts have merit, but with any series that involves so many different writers and artists there are going to be a lot of ups and downs in quality and execution.

[Roquefort Raider]

As someone else already said, DC's Elseworlds titles are far better. For me the problem with these is they spend half the issue explaining in great detail where the timeline converges and what is wrong with the change(is too much exposition the right term?).

See, pakehafulla, that's what made me prefer What if..? to most Elseworlds books: the sense that these weren't just imaginary stories, that they were based on the actual history of some world in which Captain America really exists. The constraint of the concept gave in more strength, IMO. The Elseworlds books are make-believe stories, where anything goes. Some are brilliant (Gotham by gaslight), some are very forgettable (I don't remember which ones). But I never got to know DC characters better from reading an Elseworld story the way I got to know Marvel characters better thanks to a What if..? story. They somehow mattered more, as far as stories go, because they had to be planted in "reality".

That being said, I don't think the concept would work well today. The endless retcons, deaths, resurrections and partial reboots of the Marvel universe in the past 25 years have made Marvel continuity a bit of a joke, and adhering to it a pretty pointless exercise.

[Alan2099]

The what if series had a more real feeling to me. It was taking the characters and ideas that already existed and expanding on them in a slightly different way.

Elseworlds were always a bit less believable. The idea that no matter where Kal-el lands, he eventually starts wearing a red cape and calling himself Superman while fighting for truth and justice against a bald guy often felt rather forced and repetitive a good deal of the time.

[Venomous Mask]

This is one that came out just a few years ago and was really well done in character development:

[Venomous Mask]

And lest I forget:

[GavinR]

LOLLERS!!!!

[destro]

Kind of funny, they did the what if Uncle Ben had lived story already in #46 of the 1st series just under a different name.

I forgot about issue #44 of the 1st series, I'd have to say it's my favorite. Not to start up any political debate, but it's kind of spooky how a couple of the things in the nightmare world of that issue are actually going on in one form or another today...



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[Venomous Mask]

LOLLERS!!!!

Brilliant.