Of the six What If one-shots arriving in stores this month, this one was the that I wasn't the most excited about. For one thing was the advanced description. Supposedly, the metal band that guests stars, Hassenwald, is a real group from Nordic country. But I can't find anything about them on Google. So I just couldn't understand the premise.
Had I left the advertised description alone and just used the cover to build up anticipation for the book, I'd be fine. I love the awesome Fury Road inspired cover by Aleksi Briclot (New Avengers). It's got the Robbie Reyes Rider playing a flaming guitar atop his sweet Dodge charger.
The story was actually pretty good, if you can get past the extremely confusing open pair of pages. The opener looks like some kind of table of contents for a real publication devoted to Hassenwald. The editorial on page two was the same way. But once you get to the actually story, everything changes…
Reyes is working as an intern for Marvel where editor C.B. Cebluski has him take the dark metal band on a tour of the studios. Hassenwald is doing a special issue with Marvel. A la KISS, the band mates want to publish the issue with their blood as ink. Little does the house of ideas know that Hassenwald’s motives will usher in the reign of a dark lord of unspeakable evil.
Other than what I have seen on Agents of SHIELD, I'm not very familiar with the Reyes Ghost Rider. I highly doubt he is an intern at Marvel in the comics. But I wouldn't have a problem if he did. Having real and fictitious characters playing parts of the story is a time honored tradition at Marvel. In fact one of the first What If stories examined what would it be like if Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others actually were the Fantastic Four. So I really loved this element of the comic.
I was also a fan of the art. Marvel has been getting a lot of flak for some of the new artists the publisher has been bringing into the fold. I'd have to agree with the current artwork for the current Avengers title advertised in this issue. It's not good- everybody looks bloated and the normally stunning She-Hulk is a complete mess.
But I liked the art of Caspar Wijngaard (Limbo). Wijngaard’s Ghost Rider looks almost exactly like he does on live TV. Well, except for the head. But that looks freaking cool as well. It's like the Rider is wearing a skull helmet over his flaming skull head!
Speaking of the Rider, I don't know if it's canon, but I liked the dynamic between him and Reyes. I don't know if you have seen the new Venom movie, but one of the best parts in the interaction between Eddie Brock and the Symbiote inside Eddie's head. That's done the same way here and I love it!
This one-shot turned out a lot better than I expected. It wasn't perfect but it made for a great read. Another thing What If is known for is for it's events coming true. Both Spider-Girl and the Jane Foster Thor had their beginning in the pages of What If. I would love if the ending to this issue became a mini or 12-issue maxiseries.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars!
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