Thursday, January 8, 2009

What If?: Newer Fantastic Four #1

Overall- There's not much I can say about this comic book besides that I liked it. It was a fun read. That may not sound all that insightful, but it is what it is. I'll give you this review in bullet point format to change things up a bit.

-In this comic book, the original Fantastic Four die and are replaced by a new Fantastic Four which included Spider-Man, Hulk(when he was grey), Ghost Rider and of course, Wolverine. Just for the record this team actually did form in the mainstream Marvel Universe around F.F. #348 or so.

-Much like in regular Marvel history, Thanos acquires the Infinity Gauntlet, and becomes a god. Mephisto becomes Thanos' advisor and Thanos decides to kill off half of the universe to show how much he loves Death. Among the dead half of the universe is Ghost Rider. Since GR was a member of the FF, and the team needed a forth member(or they wouldn't be the Fantastic FOUR), they decide to offer Iron Man membership to the team, which he gladly accepts.

-Adam Warlock, Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer come to the FF for help, but Wolvie and Hulk won't trust Warlock, and Iron Man doesn't want to help unless Warlock explains his plan, which Warlock can't without Thanos discovering what Warlock was planning. Thanos teleports Warlock, Strange and Surfer as well as the FF to him basically to show off his power. After showing off, Thanos sends the heroes back home.

-Iron Man still won't work with Warlock and company, so Warlock, Surfer and Strange leave to find other allies. Iron Man decides to attack Thanos with Reed Richards weapons and the FF confront Thanos again.

-Wolverine betrays his teammates and convinces Thanos to kill off Mephisto, explaining to Thanos that eventually Mephisto would attempt to betray him, because let's face it, Mephisto is the devil, betrayal is his nature. Wolvie decides to become Thanos' advisor since he figures Thanos can hook him up with Jean Grey. Wolvie also convinces Thanos not to kill off the FF, explaining they are like a bunch of stupid children and don't understand the power of Thanos. The FF leaves, now minus Wolvie, but gaining Bruce Banner, who Thanos separated from Hulk while he was showing off his power.

-Iron Man comes up with a plan to use a dead Celestrial against Thanos, but Thanos easily repels the attack. While distracted by Iron Man and the FF, Wolvie tells Thanos he should touch Death, to show her he cares. While Thanos touches Death's face, Wolvie chops Thanos' arm off and grabs the Infinity Gauntlet, which was Wolvie's plan all along. Not trusting himself with absolute power, Wolvie tosses the Gauntlet to Spidey, who undoes all of the damage Thanos had inflicted on the universe. After that, Spidey gives the Gauntlet to the Watchers to watch over. The end.

Jeez, why did I bother with the bullet format? I wrote just as much as I usually do... Oh well. I always loved the Infinity Guantlet crossover, and consider it a forgotten Marvel gem. Thanos was always one of my favorites, and the original IG was a damn good story. This comic was kind of like the comical version of the original story. Thanos is like a teenage boy with a crush, and watching Wolvie manipulate Thanos, who is a god, was just kind of perversely funny to me. I can't really explain why I liked this comic as much as I did, but sometimes life just doesn't make sense. I should have hated this comic because of how dumb Thanos acted throughout it, but instead I really got a kick out of it... Go figure. For a score, I'll give this comic a 8 out of 10.

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