What If? #34

History

The issue was edited by Tom DeFalco with Linda Grant as assistant editor, and its creation was genuinely communal: an unusually wide roster of contributors — including Jim Shooter, Mark Gruenwald, Roger Stern, Frank Miller, Fred Hembeck, Bob Budiansky, Mary Jo Duffy, Danny Fingeroth, Al Milgrom, Bill Sienkiewicz, John Romita Jr., Alan Kupperberg, Bob Layton, and others — each wrote and/or drew their own short segments or single-panel gags, many lampooning characters they worked on in the main Marvel line. The cover was illustrated by Bob Layton. The Grand Comics Database notes that caricature art credits for the issue were so tangled they required reconstruction in 2005 via direct interviews with participants including Jim Salicrup, Danny Fingeroth, Mike Carlin, Al Milgrom, Ron Zalme, and Rick Parker — underscoring the improvisational, all-hands-on-deck nature of its production.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published August 1982 by Marvel Comics as issue #34 of the original What If? series (volume 1, 1977–1984); cover by Bob Layton.
• The only all-humor issue of the original What If? run — a structured parody issue comprising roughly 32 strips and single-panel gags across approximately 48 pages.
• First appearance of Obnoxio the Clown in a standard-format comic book; the character had previously existed only in Marvel's black-and-white magazine Crazy, where he debuted in issue #63 (June 1980) as mascot created by Larry Hama.
• Contains a one-panel parody of the Incredible Hulk as a yellow version of the character — commonly cited as the 'Yellow Hulk' gag.
• Frank Miller contributed a strip — 'What If Daredevil Were Deaf Instead of Blind?' — written and drawn by Miller himself, a notable example of a top-tier talent participating in the comedy issue.
• Framing host Uatu the Watcher is himself the subject of multiple gags, including 'What If the Watcher Were a Stand-Up Comedian?' and a visual strip depicting him with hair.
• The issue's enormous contributor list includes Jim Shooter, Mark Gruenwald, Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, Danny Fingeroth, Al Milgrom, Bob Budiansky, Mary Jo Duffy, Fred Hembeck, Bill Sienkiewicz, John Romita Jr., Alan Kupperberg, Bob Layton, Brent Anderson, Marie Severin, and others — essentially a cross-section of the early-1980s Marvel bullpen.
• Later collected in What If? Classic: The Complete Collection Vol. 3 (Marvel, 2019) and in The Original Marvel Series Omnibus Vol. 2 (2021); also reprinted in a Russian Hachette partwork series.

Full credits

Key issues in What If?

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#9 1st appearance — Venus

Variants (1)