WHAT IF? CLASSIC: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL. 3

I have placed orders for all four volumes of the " 'What If?' Complete Collection," and out of all four of those volumes, this one arrived in the best condition. I like the multitudinous stories contained in the volume, and I look forward to getting much enjoyment out of reading this book from cover to cover!

"What If?" was a great concept, and I remember reading these stories every month when they came out and being amazed how some of them ended with my heroes dying or forever changed. The series started with some good stories, but it took them a little while to truly find their stride, and this collection was that moment. We get probably the two biggest requests of the series in this collection: "What if Gwen Stacy Had Not Died?" and "What if the Phoenix had lived?". Neither has the happy ending you'd expect, and I can remember as a kid being genuinely upset at seeing my X-Men being beaten so quickly by Phoenix.Some issues had two shorter stories rather than one big one and that was done with good reason (Daredevil becomes an agent of SHIELD, Ghost Rider is separated from Johnny Blaze, etc). The shorter format allowed for a faster-paced story, and the artwork was wonderful throughout. This was the strong point in the series. They had moved through the obvious choices into the great ones before starting to stumble a bit in the final issues of the series (the next collection). If you're a fan of Bronze-Age stories, pick this up!

Like most What If books, this one is hit or miss, with the hits being some really great highs (What if Elektra Lived by Miller/Jansen) and a lot of filler material.What if Wolverine Killed the Hulk ended up being kind of "meh" ... Hulk was only in this issue for 1-2 pages, then the rest is a subpar story about Wolvy being recruited by Magneto to be a sleeper Brotherhood of Evil Mutants agent inside the X-Men, only to redeem himself (kind of) by the story's conclusion. Then die.What is Spider-Man's Clone had Lived? Was actually a pretty great story, especially for this early 1980s era. My only complaint is the artwork looks very dated compared to modern comics. Otherwise a nice story.The What if Elektra Lived issue by Miller/Janson was extremely well done. I'd read it before, but it was years ago. Nice to revisit this one, even if it was kind of short and no twists. It just sort of ends like you'd expect it to.The all-humor issue is another fun read in this collection. "What if Aunt May was Ant Man?" 'Nuff said!Overall I give this collection a solid A-.

There was great artwork and great storytelling in this volume. It was a real treat for me, because I missed them the first time around.

Marvel has always had strong characters and great story arcs.

I didn’t mind that the comic book arrived a day later that it said, but I do mind the poor conditions it was delivered since I like having my stuff in good conditions.