What If... Donald Duck Became Wolverine #1

Marvel's What If Donald Duck Became Wolverine checks off several boxes for me. It's a one-shot. It's a Disney Ducks book. It's a What If. It's also a book that I've been looking forward to since seeing it's announcement a couple months back.

Fairly simple premise. The title of the book says it all. Building off of the similar trait of being  complete and destructive hot heads that can heal quickly from any injury, Italian Disney comic writer Luca Barbieri postulates what if the Old Man Logan storyline was set in the Disney animated universe. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this 2024 release. There was only 2 things that I wish was better. First was the names of the characters. They call the star of the book Donald-Wolverine instead of an amalgam of the two names. All of the characters who are Disney/Marvel combines are named this way. I would have liked a little bit of What The?! added to the story by calling the main character 'Donarine' or 'Wolverduck.' I think it would have been a funnier element to the story.

My second qualm was over the artwork. Giada Perissinotto's work wasn't terrible. It was just startling how different the characters looked in this more sleeker style than compared to that classic matte look established by Carl Barks and perfected by Don Rosa. Plus Perissinotto's more polished look just doesn't work with all of the characters. Grandma Duck looks nothing like herself; instead favoring Daisy Duck, if she was dressed up as one of the Golden Girls.

What If Donald Duck Became Wolverine jointly celebrates Donald's 90th birthday as well as Wolverine's 50th anniversary.  I had a lot of fun reading it. I really appreciated the segment that showed Donald-Wolverine over the course of his career in different costumes. Though I think Perissinotto missed a great opportunity to not have included a crucified Donald-Wolverine as an homage to Marc Silvestri and Dan Green's cover to X-Men #251. 

I'm really digging that Marvel is giving the What If treatment to other franchises in Disney's ever growing war chest. I'm holding out hope on a 'What If Star Wars Invaded the Marvel Universe.' (I've got a ton of ideas, so call me Marvel!) But until then, I've got to wait until next month for What If Donald Duck Became the Mighty Thor! It's going be great!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.