What If?: Civil War

Title: What If?: Civil War



ISBN: 9780785130369

Price: $16.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2008

Artist: Marko Djurdjevic, Gustavo, Sandu Florea, Victor Olazaba, Scott Koblish, Harvey Tolibao, Leonard Kirk, Rafa Sandoval, Gary Erskine, Fred Hembeck, Mico Suayan, Rafael Kayanan, Larry Stroman, Jon Sibal, Clayton Henry.

Writer: Ed Brubaker, Kevin Grevioux, Christos Gage, Greg Pak, David Hine, Christopher Yost, Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin.



Rating: 2/5



I love the What If? and Elseworld stories. Always have, and probably always will. In this particular trade, we tackle a few elements from the epic Civil War storyline where we saw superheroes versus superheroes and friend versus friend. This storyline changed the face of the Marvel Universe. These characters were no longer your father’s superheroes, they were a breed apart and they were standing up for what they believe in.



In this trade, we start with 2 stories about Civil War: What if Captain America led all the heroes against registration? –and– What if Iron Man lost the Civil War? These are well worth the price of the trade. It also helps that I read the Civil War trade prior to reading this one, so I understood what was going on within the actual continuity.



From there, we have a Planet Hulk based section of stories: What if the Hulk died and Caiera lived? –plus– Peaceful Planet –and– What if Bruce Banner had landed on Sakaar instead of the Hulk? Having not been a big Hulk fan, nor reading any of the build-up before Civil War, these stories held little interest for me. They’re not bad, just not interesting to me.



Then we have What if Annihilation reached Earth?, What if Vulcan gained the power of the Phoenix? and Spider-Man vs. Wolverine. These stories were very interesting, but I’m not sure why they were included in a trade geared for Civil War.



The art for this trade is well done, and the writing is fair. There are quite a number of names on both sides that I don’t recognize. I don’t think I would recommend to add this trade to your collection at full retail price, but if you can get it at a decent price, it’s well worth the read… for the most part.