What If…..? (Vol. 2) # 82
(What If J. Jonah Jameson Adopted Spider-Man?)
Writer: William Messener-Loebs
Penciller: Anthony Williams
Inker: Andy Lanning
Letterer: Gaspar
Colorist: Maria Parwulski
For this week’s installment, I’ll take a look at “What If…?” # 82 from the series second volume which will ask the question “What If J. Jonah Jameson adopted Spider-Man?” and oddly enough, gives us an answer that will please the readers.
Taking place during the events from Amazing Spider-Man # 1 where Spidey, in his first-ever heroic act, saves a spacecraft that was being piloted by Jonah’s son, Astronaut John Jameson, but what if the spacecraft was taken over by The Chameleon, who quickly finds out the controls for the craft was fused together, sending it back to earth and causing a crash, resulting in a lot of lives lost, including Jonah’s son and Aunt May (Who in this reality, accompanied Peter to see the spacecraft launch off)’ So now Jonah is officially Peter’s guardian and it does wreak havoc on his time as Spider-Man but somehow he manages to find a way to be both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
I like the new wrinkles that were added to this story such as Peter getting a bodyguard in Flash Thompson (Much to Peter’s dismay and thanks to Jonah himself) and how the cold war between J.J.J. and Spidey reached its end when Flash gets a hold of a serum which grants anyone powers, then puts on a Scorpion suit that he thinks will not only impress Spidey but instead makes him mad. I also thought it was a perfect touch on the part of William Messner-Loebs to have Peter reveal his identity to Jonah, thus making them even more connected to each other, and while I won’t give away the ending, let’s just say that things end on a rather silly but happy note.
This is truly a fun issue of “What If…?” that changes around Spider-Man’s world but also leaves him with some much-needed happiness (Thanks in part to the silly ending); William Messner-Loebs has always been a gifted storyteller and thanks in part to this issue, his creativity is an amazing thing to behold because he took a concept that may be dull to others and made it unique and Anthony Williams’ artwork does its best to invoke the glorious days of The Silver Age but comes off as too modern, but with that aside, reading this issue of ‘What If…?” really makes me wish we could have gotten some more milage from this story due to it feeling like a classic Spider-Man story….but with alterations that don’t disrupt the flow of the story.
Well, that’s it for me this week. I’ll be back with another review so thanks for sticking around and I will see you all next time.
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