I bought some comics yesterday. Two actually. I'm going to tell you about them. You're gonna be entertained by what I tell you. Yup. Simple as that.
Now that I think about it, I also picked up a free Marvel 2011 calendar that's in comic book format, but I'm not going to speak on that.
And just for the record, there will be spoilers, oh yes.
First up...
What If? #200
If you've never read an issue of Marvel's What If..? series, the premise is what if certain events in the Marvel Universe had occurred differently. What if Spider-man's Uncle Ben Had Lived? What if Conan the Barbarian Lived Today? What If I had bought Dorito's instead of Cheeto's? Ok, made that last one up, but you get the picture. Small, maybe even random, events leading to consequences of sometimes cosmic proportions and if the numbering on this issue is to be believed, there has been 200 of them.
The main story for this issue is What If Norman Osborne had won the Siege of Asgard. In the original story, Osborne was able to convince the god of war, Ares, to help in the U.S. Military's invasion of Asgard. Ares eventually came to his senses and turned against Osborne on the battlefield only to be killed by the Sentry, Marvel's answer to Superman (I can read the comments on that already).
This story supposes that Osborne couldn't convince Ares to join and the Sentry kills him right then and there, leaving the Sentry several days to replenish his energy before leading the assault on Asgard. Even the combined might of the Norse Gods and the Marvel heroes can't prevent Osborne's Dark Avengers, along with the Dark X-Men and the U.S. Military from victory with the mentally unstable, but physically unstoppable Sentry leading the charge and striking the heroes down one-by-one.
Even President Obama can't stop Osborne's madness (add that to the list).
Anyways, it's almost impossible to explain what happens next without spending a LOT of time on the Sentry's backstory, Dark Reign backstory, and a whole lot of other backstory that I just don't want to get into, so I'll just say that Dr. Doom, of all peoples, hatches a plan to remove Osborne from power, it fails and the Sentry ends up extinguishing all life on this universe's Earth. Everyone loves happy ending, right?
The next story takes us all the way back to the Fantastic Four issue #48, where the world-devouring purple-loving Galactus shows up to eat the planet. In that story, the Watcher broke his oath of non-interference to warn the Fantastic Four that Big G is coming to dinner, but What if the Watcher had just decided to kill Galactus and be done with it? It's a short-yet-interesting tale with a nice little twist at the end which due to my oath of non-interference I will NOT reveal.
There's also a reprint of the What If...? #35 "What if Elektra had lived?" News flash: She did!
I'm giving that story a fail.
Finally, there's a cover gallery/checklist of every What If? comic and a retrospective with Marvel's former Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas who also created the series back in the 1970's.
Honestly, I wish I hadn't spent 5 bucks on this. I'm sorry Marvel. I love you and all, but this wasn't worth it and certainly not your best What If? effort. The What if Tony Stark became Dr.Doom that came out 2 weeks ago would have made a much better issue to celebrate the big 2-0-0 with, but no, you wouldn't do that, would you.
Marvel, I'm not mad, just disappointed.
Hulk #28
I made a mistake.
The backstory. Starting with Hulk #25, the Red Hulk(formerly Thunderbolt Ross) has been working with Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers to defeat the evil machinations of the Leader and M.O.D.O.K.
Project: Scorched Earth was a backup plan left over from the Fall of the Hulks/World War Hulks storylines and also a plot device to team the Red Hulk with Marvel powerhouses like Ironman, Thor, and, last issue, Namor.
Issue 25 also started a Rick Jones as A-Bomb backup storyline. Seeing as how I buy Hulk for Red Hulk and not Sidekick Jones, I never read the backup story. Take that corporate America, tossing in random backups to make my comics appear bigger!
Therein lies my mistake.
Hulk #28 merges the Hulk Team-Up stories with the A-Bomb, so feeling the weight of the World on my manly Hulk-like shoulders, I had to break out the Hulk back issues so I would know what the Red Hell is going on.
The Leader and M.O.D.O.K created a series of fail safes to plunge the World into chaos should they be on the losing side of the Hulk War. The Red Hulk was originally an ally of their's so who better to help prevent armageddon then he?
This issue has the Red Hulk and A-Bomb on an uncharted island in the middle of the Marvel Pacific where ginormous monsters frollick and the deer and antelope are eaten. The issue ends in a cliffhanger with Thunderbolt Ross trapped in human form against an ass-load of massive monsters, while A-Bomb is out of commission.
I have really been digging the Hulk (both of them) lately and I enjoy the story, but the art is off at times. Gabriel Hardman is a talented artist, no doubt, but there just seems to be too many lines running thru his art. The story just seems ahead of the art, if that makes sense. Maybe I'm just spoiled from the terrific art from the World War Hulks story. But whatever.
All-in-all, the Hulk series is worth checking out and issue 28 is no exception. It's got compelling story, the art is passable, and it's got lots of Hulk Smashing!
There's also a Watcher backup story, but I didn't read it.
So, did you buy some comics yesterday?
Thanks for reading, tell your friends.
