Post by Jeff Melton on Oct 12, 2008 21:19:20 GMT -5
What If #9: "What If Spider-Man Had Been a Villain?" By Dave Golightly:
I have very fond memories of the old, original What If? series, and some of my favorite issues involved Spider-Man (i.e.: “What If Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four”, “What if Gwen Stacey Had Lived?’). Given Spider-Man’s place in the Marvel Universe, he’s usually a good candidate for a “What If” treatment. The subject matter of this story—Spider-Man becoming a villain—is something that was vey plausible. In fact, there are many times when Spider-Man could have turned to the dark side (so to speak).
Dave did a good job of laying out the factors that influenced Peter’s development at this time—his upbringing with Uncle Ben and Aunt May, his obvious love for science, his status as an outsider in reference to other students. And he did a good job of making the reader identify with Peter through all of this, particularly his mistreatment at the hands of Flash Thompson and his fellow students.
This issue really read like a classic What If? issue, with the way it was formatted. Uatu lays out the details that we’re familiar with, and takes us to the point of divergence—when this Earth became different. And Dave did a good job of laying out some of the differences that were caused by Peter’s decisions.
One of the key elements in this story was the interaction between Peter and Flash. When Flash appeared to taunt Peter, Peter’s fear was palpable. And his fear was a large cause of what happened next. Peter had every reason to believe that he was going to be on the receiving end of a senseless beating by Thompson. The only thing that was missing was the witnesses that Flash typically had when he was taunting Peter. Still, it was necessary that this encounter was one-on-one. And it was very believable that Peter would initially strike out of fear, then be overcome by anger. We could certainly say that Flash had it coming to him, at least to a certain extent.
Having already killed someone (and this scene was done very well), it wasn’t a stretch then for Peter to continue in a life of crime. It was also interesting the way that Dave let Peter’s own sense of adventure and excitement (which he never could get in his life as Peter Parker) take over and give way to him becoming a criminal, instead of a hero.
I have two minor criticisms of the story, and they deal with the timeline that this story would have logically taken place (circa Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1). First, Daredevil would have likely still been in his red and yellow costume. This is a minor issue, and I always preferred the (all-red) Wally Wood costume anyway. Second, Eddie Brock looked really out of place in this story, and I have a hard time visualizing him as a member of the Daily Bugle at this time. Ned Leeds would have made more sense, but of course, it wouldn’t have given the added irony of no Venom in this reality. Still, these changes could have been attributed to additional variations on this Earth.
The confrontation with Daredevil was interesting, and I was curious who Spider-Man would meet up with. I could visual the Fantastic Four or the Avengers (both of whom he met early on), but Daredevil’s appearance was interesting, and I welcome the opportunity to read a well-written Daredevil scene.
This was a good issue. One of the things that really make something like this so memorable is the way that he left everything intact, and allowed the opportunity for a sequel. Well-done.