What If? X-Men #1 Discussion

[Kintor]

Haven’t seen a thread for What If? X-Men #1 yet. Which kind of surprises me, given the buzz around this special when it was first announced. So, I decided to create this thread anyway and see what people think.

Overall I enjoyed the book but I feel it’s a better proof-of-concept then a standalone story. The plot felt like it was trying to cram too much in, with revelations that could’ve been spaced across a whole 12 issue story arc being crammed into a few pages. With that said, the world-building was superb, a genuine cyberpunk vibe (complete with existential weirdness) that still acknowledged all the classic X-Men elements.

Furthermore, with those detailed character profiles for Jubilee and Rouge at the end I get the impression that the creative team has a lot more planned for this universe. I’d love to see cyberpunk X-Men become a thing, we haven’t had that since the original 2099 run in the 90s. But for now I can only dream that the sales of this What If? could launch a whole new sub-franchise for the X-Men.

[MarvelMaster616]

This issue was okay. Nothing spectacular. Just okay. I enjoyed the story and the concept. What If issues are usually hit or miss. They're either really good or laughably bad. This one was neither, which was kind of refreshing. I think it did some interesting things, but I think it didn't really do anything too memorable. Still worth checking out, though.

[MyriVerse]

If future What If's are as pointless as this, they should give it all up now.

Just resurrect Uatu, already.

[Jesse-James]

What If?? The title says it all.

[Drakeon]

It was a decent read, but like already said it was more concept than anything. Should have been a fleshed out mini at least. But overall I enjoyed it and would like to see more.

[Jackraow21]

X-men meets the Matrix. It was a fun, throwaway issue. Isn’t that what What Ifs? are for?

[Sundown]

Who is in it?

[PrezValentine]

Pretty good. I think Hill might try to pitch a limited series out of this, given the character bios at the end.

Anyway, anyone else read this listening to some synthwave song? Mine would be Perturbator's "Raining Steel" or "Lilith".

[LordUltimus]

Decent, but I feel like it would have worked better as a world the Exiles visit rather than a What If.

[Kintor]

Anyway, anyone else read this listening to some synthwave song? Mine would be Perturbator's "Raining Steel" or "Lilith".

I actually listened to the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex OST while reading, not quite synthwave but it's got some amazing trance and new age tunes. A few of my favourites are 'Inner Universe', 'Beauty Is Within Us', 'Cyberbird' and 'Torukia'.

[Digifiend]

Haven’t seen a thread for What If? X-Men #1 yet. Which kind of surprises me, given the buzz around this special when it was first announced. So, I decided to create this thread anyway and see what people think.

Overall I enjoyed the book but I feel it’s a better proof-of-concept then a standalone story. The plot felt like it was trying to cram too much in, with revelations that could’ve been spaced across a whole 12 issue story arc being crammed into a few pages. With that said, the world-building was superb, a genuine cyberpunk vibe (complete with existential weirdness) that still acknowledged all the classic X-Men elements.

Furthermore, with those detailed character profiles for Jubilee and Rouge at the end I get the impression that the creative team has a lot more planned for this universe. I’d love to see cyberpunk X-Men become a thing, we haven’t had that since the original 2099 run in the 90s. But for now I can only dream that the sales of this What If? could launch a whole new sub-franchise for the X-Men.

They're definitely trying to catch that lightning in the bottle. They want to be the next Spider-Gwen (which they copied the character profile idea from - they're usually separate guidebooks, not backmatter).

[Jesse-James]

Can someone please tell the rest what happened in this one shot?

[MyriVerse]

X-men meets the Matrix. It was a fun, throwaway issue. Isn’t that what What Ifs? are for?

No. It's precisely not what What Ifs are for. What Ifs are about exploring different possibilities that presented themselves in the books-- what if someone made a different choice, what if something had a different outcome, etc.

This is just an Elseworld.

[Rover]

I'm usually not a big fan of 'what if?' issues but this one was fun. I just wish they would have kept the same artist for the entire issue.
To me the best part was having Domino's power work with probabilities in the virtual world. I could read an entire book based on that concept.

[Huntsman Spider]

As a fan of cyberpunk and superheroes, I enjoyed this greatly. The twist on that world's version of Erik and Nimrod, leading to a rather different conclusion of the Xavier/Erik story while being somewhat reminiscent of the origin of Onslaught . . . well, that was something I wasn't expecting. I did like the designs for the X-Men assembled at the end, though, and the backstory material for Rogue and Jubilee was interesting. Like others have said here and elsewhere, I'd really love a follow-up series for this, and maybe it could lead to a new cyberpunk Marvel Universe, if they're not going to revive 2099.