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Would U Buy It #28: "What If? Conan"

DateWUBI # 28:View:Attached to Forum:Back/ Next
10/09/10What If? Conan(Blog) (Forum)Conan(Back) (Next)

We all have trade paperback (TPB) collections we'd like to see. Here's one of mine:

Proposed Title:What If? Conan.
Alternate Title:Conan: What If?.
Collecting 5 Issues:
Covers: (click to enlarge)
TPB Cover: What If (1977) #39
TPB Cover: What If (1977) #39

With two tales of Conan in the 20th Century, and two tales of Conan battling Marvel heroes (and a Ka-Zar extra, just for good measure) how could you go wrong? Barbarian goodness, all the way. I'd throw in the Ka-Zar issue as one of those random extras that Marvel sometimes adds to their trades.

For the cover, although I've always liked What If (1977) #43, with Conan pointing a revolver at the reader, I don't think it's the best choice. It's a beautiful cover, but with the helmet and the close-up, that could be any barbarian, or even some steampunk street gang member. The #13 cover is a nice shot of Conan, but not the best. As much as I hate to say it, the best choice might be What If (1989) #16, because like it or not, Wolverine still sells books, so it wouldn't hurt to have him on the cover. However, for my own personal taste, I'd go with What If (1977) #39. Conan battling Thor is just a bit more epic cover, and the Watcher in the background clearly establishes it as a What If? story, so I think it would be perfect for the TPB.

I don't know if Marvel could even reprint these issues, since Dark Horse has the license to Conan right now. Since they're reprinting the Marvel Conan stuff, maybe they could do these What If? stories as well? If so, then obviously, the Ka-Zar story would not be included.

Would you buy it? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading.
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