What If? Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1 Review

WHAT IF? SPIDER-MAN VERSUS WOLVERINE #1
Written by Jeff Parker & Paul Tobin
Art by Clayton Henry

I am so happy I bought this book. It is the epitome of what a What If? should be. It doesn't spend page after page beating you over the head with back story or recaps, there's no "Watcher narrative" summarizing the new events as you go and it delivered a complete and satisfying alternate story that I'm setting aside as a potential Best Single Issue for 2008.

If you've read Spider-Man VS Wolverine, you know Spidey went to Europe, Wolverine was over there trying to help a friend, Spidey inadvertently kills said friend, the two have a little fight and Peter goes home to cry about it with MJ. I skipped or possibly goofed on some details, but that was 20 years ago and I can barely remember yesterday, but that's the jist of it.

This issue has Wolverine stopping him before he can return to the US. He's found the girl that Pete killed's sister and Logan wants him to help save her. Peter, feeling responsible, stays and helps. He ends up killing the Crimson Dynamo after Wolverine cut his power supply and, in the end, the entire mission ends with more than a few killings. Spidey isn't doing any killing, but he had a couple accidental kills while Wolverine killed everyone he could. Pete ends up staying with the girl, knowing she's still marked for death and feeling responsible for her and her sister's death, along with Logan and a mercenary that was helping them throughout this.

The mercenary starts training Pete and they eventually hone his spider sense to near precognative levels. They eventually start stopping attacks and attempted killings of the girl and over time, Peter becomes similar to Wolverine in terms of stance on killing. They even take proactive roles as they stop various terrorist cells and so on.

It's really well done and the build up is so gradual that it feels natural. Never did I get the feeling that this wasn't Spider-Man or "he'd never do that!". The improved spider sense was genius and I really liked that aspect of the story. This also featured one of the best alterations to Spidey's costume I'd ever seen with new colour schemes and general design changes.

Verdict - Must Read. Few comics have left me as giddy as a school kid as this book did. Great art, excellent story and a cool and unique take on established characters with lots of memorable mmoments. I see myself going back to this book over and over throughout the years to come.

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