WHAT IF? #27-30 (1981)

These are some pretty good issues, with one great one.  Let’s discuss one by one…

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#27: What If? Phoenix hadn’t died?  First of all, this came true.  In Fantastic Four #286 John Byrne, in a story inspired by a letter written by then-fan, later-writer Kurt Busiek, revealed that Phoenix never died. 

Now, in this story, she kicks Galactus’ butt and eventually destroys the world.  That didn’t happen, but the Phoenix force did come back and Jean didn’t die t so…Close enough. 

So many of these tales come true! What about the next one?

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#28: What If? Daredevil became an agent of SHIELD.  Nope.  Never happened. 

But a What If? by Frank Miller, Mike Barr and Klaus Janson?  Fantastic.  One of the best issues ever.  I should say it’s only one of three stories in the issue.  At this time, What If? ran regular back-ups telling the history of the Eternals (covered separately), and sometimes even had short What If? stories.  In this one, it’s What If Ghost Rider were Separated from Johnny Blaze?  This has happened about a dozen times. 

So thanks to What If #28, we get TWO TRUTHS!  Cool.

#29: What If? the Avengers Defeated Everybody? 

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Look for Popeye’s arm in the picture above…When Uatu said the Avengers defeated everyone, he meant everyone!

A great cover by Michael Golden and a solid story by Steven Grant, but this didn’t come true and really can’t.  Note, though, that the title of the story inside the book (i.e., as opposed to how it is billed on the cover) is “What If? The Avengers were the Last Heroes on Earth?”  Now that kinda has come true, because these days everyone is an Avenger.  But I have to say this story didn’t come true.  On top of that, the backup feature is “What If Namor Never Regained his Memory” way back the early days of the Fantastic Four.  It’s another good story, but it also never came true. So this would be TWO NOT TRUTHS. 

#30: What If Spider-Man’s Clone had Lived?

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He did.  And he even had his own comic.  Twice. Once, it replaced The Amazing Spider-Man while that title was given a rest right after it was run into the ground.  And then again when Marvel launched Scarlet Spider a few years ago because if one Spider-Man book was selling well on a thrice-monthly schedule, why not throw a steaming shitbag comic on top of it to get more money?

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