What If... The Alien Costume had Possessed Spider-Man?
I won't even get in the whole symbiote divagation. Well... maybe just a bit. We know that the symbiote is vulnerable to some sound frequencies, then vulnerable to bells tolling, than invulnerable to a heavy metal concert, then vulnerable to someone blowing a horn (!), all this in regular continuity. While some say frequency (acuteness) is the key item, others say amplitude (loudness) is. Someone should clear that up.
The re-cap has one fault, that is the mention of the story in Web of Spider-Man #7, as being before the final separation (the one in the church) from the symbiote. In fact, the separation was in Web #1, 6 months before. In Web #7, Spidey and some more heroes fought the Hulk, and Spidey saved some SHIELD agents from death by fall. In the What if story, however, the Hulk incident is mentioned in the correct chronological order, so this is a minor problem.
Now to this story in particular: opposed to many other What if stories, people don't act out of character. Delightful details, like Peter's reaction to his predicament, MJ and Aunt May's few panels of interaction, Felicia and Thor reacting to Spidey's death, the funeral, or Reed Richards working so hard on tracking the symbiote that he didn't shave, won't leave you indifferent. Unlike many other stories in this title, this one rings true. Heck, this story rings truer than many stories in regular continuity.
Remember, all the revelations of the symbiote's origin, in 95's "The Planet of the Symbiotes" were posterior to this story, so they shouldn't be taken in consideration when reading it.
An enjoyable comic. Spider-Man died, but that served a greater purpose: it entertained me. That gives Danny Fingeroth's work three and-a-half stars, for his good character grasp.