Who better to write a story for the 200 issue of WHAT IF…? than Stan Lee, right? Wait… when did issue #199 come out? Or #198 for that matter? Marvel’s just announced another cumulative anniversary book that counts every volume of a title as if it were a continuous series. So, a little review… the original WHAT IF…? volume debuted in ’77 and ended in ’84 after 47 issues. The second volume started in ’89 and ended in ’98 after 114 issues (a big thanks to Comic Vine’s trusty databases for those handy facts.) So you’ve got 161 issues between them, and I suppose the sporadic specials have filled up the remaining balance.  

Hey! That’s task for you more detail-oriented Comic Vine maniacs. Have there really been 38 WHAT IF…? specials since the revival in ’05? Check the numbers. See if they got it right. == TEASER ==

Anyway, Lee’s actually doing the back-up story for this special. Marc Guggenheim and Dave Wilkins are handling the feature, which posits “What if Norman Osborn Won the Siege of Asgard?” The point of divergence lies in the Sentry keeping control of the Void during the climatic battle. That change allows the man also known as the Iron Patriot to keep control, only for Doom and the X-Men (?!) to ally against him. Lee, on the other hand, joins Dale Eaglesham to ask “What if the Watcher Murdered Galactus?” in a short spinning from his original story, THE COMING OF GALACTUS.

Inferiorego’s pointed out that all of these surprise anniversaries are a unique consequence of Marvel going restart crazy in the late 90s and early 2000s. I remember a lot of fans (myself included) were miffed back then by all the new #1s. It kind of felt like getting cheated out of history. Hence, we’ve gotten dual numbering on books to satisfy completists and all these titles suddenly jumping to triple digits for anniversary. You’ve even got #900 or #1000 specials from DEADPOOL and WOLVERINE that seem to be spoofing it all. So how do you Comic Vine maniacs feel? Are these issues unnecessary, or are they like having your cake and getting to eat it too?

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of    HYBRID BASTARDS!  &   UNIMAGINABLE .Order them on Amazon   here   & here .

Cool

niceeee

So then Stan isn't writing the issue, is he?

beautiful picture

I am picking this up but, it will probably to be better than What if? #105 which was Spider-girl's first appearance they made a series from that issue that lasted 12 years. 

Wow. This is a Marvel issue that I'm genuinely excited for. Will keep an eye or two on this issue.

cool

Interested in Stan doing more writing, but comics really need to get a handle on coming up with some standard across the board numbering rules. All the spin off's and numbers get so confusing after awhile unless you stay right up to date on every character that interest you, and even then it gets exponentially rougher the more you try to follow. For me anyway it does, but maybe I'm just an idiot so who knows.

 I get all excited about Stan writing the main one, but he is doing the second and almost always less interesting one :/ 
 case and point: what if Jean came back instedad of colossus and Danger doing Ultron. yeah, I'm sure people picked it up for the latter

what if stan lee didn't create the marvel universe?  
answer, we wouldn't have all these re-numberings

My bet is on What If the Cabal actually worked together. Seriously these guys got together and spent more time plotting against eachother aside from Osborn & the Hood, who easily became my favorite guy during Dark Reign. Bring back the f%@$ing Hood

That is an epic cover!!! ^_^

The sad part is that since there will definitely be a What If? Siege; I'll much prefer it to the original.

I find the renumbering particularly tiresome.
 
I'm curious about Stan's story, but ... well, we'll see how cheesy it's going to be.
 
Huhn.  I had held out a forlorn hope that Marvel would actually do something with the awesome conclusion of Sub-Mariner Revolution, and that Namor had joined the X-Men as part of a some nefarious plan of Doom's to use the X-Men.  I'd say this would be like my dream come true, except of course, Namor's the only Cabal member not on the cover.  sigh.  Oh wait, the Hood isn't there either.  Great.  Ranked right there with the Hood.  I'm going to go cry in my beer now.

I love What If?! 
This, i can't wait

Well, I just checked Marvel's digital comics archive, and there were a few seemingly stand alone What If? issues that are separate from the normal series: 
 
What If Aunt May Had Died Instead of Uncle Ben? 
What If Dr. Doom Had Become the Thing? 
What If General Ross Had Become the Hulk? 
What if Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers? 
What if Karen Page Had Lived? 
What If Magneto Had Formed the X-Men with Professor X? 
 
And honestly, I'm not sure I could care any less when a book renumbers like that.

Thid Siege- What If?..Sounds really good. When is it coming out

" I love What If?!  This, i can't wait "

"So then Stan isn't writing the issue, is he? "

" well the CV database has 35 one-shots with the What If title...but they could still be wrong, they have been before...or at least they inflated the number with stuff that had nothing to do with it "

It wont be a priority here. I like What Ifs, more so the old issues, but they can be really hit-or-miss
story wise. So you know, if i have a few extra bucks then why not. I'll probably take spoilers on this one
and then decide from there if it's worth the time.

Marvel's math for these renumbered anniversary issues has always been questionable, DC has a much better track record.
 
After checking my database though Marvel is off by 10 to be reaching that 200 issue mark, unlike most people I actually lump those one shots as mini-series since it makes more sense to me (and since some of the backup stories link together) so here is the break down:

• Volume 1 - 47 issues + 1 special
• Volume 2 - 114 + -1 Flashback issue
• Volume 3 - 6 issues
• Volume 4 - 6 issues
• Volume 5 - 5 issues
• Volume 6 - 5 issues
• Volume 7 - 5 issues

• Total issues = 190

THE MAN...writing for Marvel...again?!
That's an issue I won't miss, for sure!!

Beautiful art there, I must admit I do like the return to the original numbers, for example i thought it made the new Thor feel more authentic and closer to the original volume.

Well, I can see your point on renumbering alienating long-time fans. On the other hand, it's considerably less daunting for newer readers.
 
To be honest, I'm more excited about Stan Lee's back-up; I find the current theme of What Ifs as mere event tie-ins to be a little tiresome.

"  What If General Ross Had Become the Hulk? "

What If? is always fun.

I don´t care at all about the numbering, the book itself should make me want to buy it, not the number on it!

awesome news

looks cool, probably won't buy it though.

I love 'What If,' and this new Siege take sounds awesome.  And the Lee side story will more than likely be good too.

Always been a big what if fan but these individual special issues haven't really had the oomf that I've been looking for in the series aside from a few exceptions, so I hope this one gets it back on track.

" Marvel's math for these renumbered anniversary issues has always been questionable, DC has a much better track record.
 
After checking my database though Marvel is off by 10 to be reaching that 200 issue mark, unlike most people I actually lump those one shots as mini-series since it makes more sense to me (and since some of the backup stories link together) so here is the break down:

• Volume 1 - 47 issues + 1 special
• Volume 2 - 114 + -1 Flashback issue
• Volume 3 - 6 issues
• Volume 4 - 6 issues
• Volume 5 - 5 issues
• Volume 6 - 5 issues
• Volume 7 - 5 issues

• Total issues = 190

 Even if they did a batch of what if's and the 200th was like the final issue they would still have to put out more then they have been doing per volume and if they were real jerks and included the "What The" series they would be over 200 since What The had 26 issues and 2 specials. "

Sounds interesting.

\m/ (>.<) \m/    AWESOME!!!