Marvel’s line-up of What If…? one-shots has had an interesting start so far. The tale of Cyclops choosing to stay with Madelyne Pryor yielded plenty of triumph and tragedy, while Thor gaining the Venom symbiote left a lot to be desired. Now one of the most anticipated entries is coming with this week’s What If…? Secret Wars #1, which radically reshapes the outcome of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s Secret Wars maxiseries. Instead of the tides turning because Miles Morales offered the Molecule Man a questionable cheeseburger, it was Peter Parker and a pineapple roast pork bun that saved the Marvel Multiverse. As a result, Peter is pulled into Miles’ home of Earth-1610…but he’s also the sole survivor of Earth-616.
The irony of a What If…? special centered on the original Ultimate Universe after the new Ultimate Universe recently came to an end isn’t lost on me. Neither is the way Alex Paknadel writes Peter as he tries to acclimate to a wildly different version of his world. While Earth-616 was populated by scores of heroes who’ve saved it time and time again, the heroes of Earth-1610 are far smaller in number and unprepared to handle things like Galactus or Magneto knocking the Earth off its axis. Alex Paknadel does an excellent job of highlighting the differences between Earth-616 and Earth-1610 and how they take their toll on Peter.
I also love how the story’s structured, which opens with Earth-1610 seemingly on the brink of destruction. It immediately grabs the reader, as you think Peter’s presence is what’s causing all of this chaos…but that isn’t the case, as he’s broken into the offices of the Daily Bugle to tell Ben Urich exactly how things got to this point. It provides Ben, and by extension the reader, with a view into Peter’s mindset. The reveal that Peter also throws himself into working alongside Nick Fury and the Ultimates also highlights that Paknadel understands the mantra of great power and great responsibility that drives the web-slinger; after his excellent character work on the Cyclops miniseries, I’m not surprised.
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What If…? Secret Wars #1 also features the best artwork of these one-shots so far, thanks to CAFU’s artwork. I’ve long felt that CAFU deserves more love, as he manages to deliver sleek, eye grabbing artwork that makes Marvel’s heroes feel truly heroic – especially during Christopher Cantwell’s Iron Man run. The same is true here, as CAFU gets to put his own spin on iconic moments from the 2015 Secret Wars and other Ultimate versions of iconic heroes. His standout moment comes with giving Peter a new identity as the Scarlet Spider, which features a hoodie and web-shooters similar to Ben Reilly’s, but with a more militarized sheen. And there’s also a gruesome reminder of just how different the Ultimate heroes are from their original characters. It all sings thanks to David Curiel’s color art.
Where this one-shot stumbles is toward its ending, particularly a series of revelations that hit fast and furious toward the end. It feels as though the creative team was stuffing two to three issues’ worth of story into a single one-shot, which is a shame because some of these developments feel like they could have been their own story. Hopefully, Paknadel and CAFU get the chance to continue their take on this universe, especially with the ending page.
What If…? Secret Wars #1 takes some bold swings with its premise, even if it does feel a little overstuffed at times. Out of the What If…? one-shots we’ve had so far, this is the one I’d love to see more of, especially with all of the threads left dangling.
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