COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK – “What If…?” No. 16

Today, I’m kicking off a new feature that I hope to continue for the foreseeable future. I own hundreds of old comic books, most of which I collected before I entered the tenth grade. I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and randomly pick one of these comics each week to spotlight in this space. As I mention them here, I’m also listing them for sale through Peacock’s Books on Amazon.com, so if you’re interested in buying any that you see here, search for them there.

This week’s “Comic Book of the Week” is “What If…? Vol. 2 No. 16, which was published by Marvel Comics in August 1990 and is better known by its cover title, “What If… Wolverine Battled Conan the Barbarian?” While that is the title that’s on the cover, the actual title of the comic, which can be found on Page 4, is “What If Wolverine Had Lived During the Age of Conan the Barbarian?”

This comic was written by Glenn Herdling, and Gary Kwapisz was the cover artist and penciler. Ian Akin was the inker, and Daniel Vozzo was the colorist. Janice Chiang was the letterer, and Craig Anderson served as editor. Wolverine and Conan are the main characters in this comic, but other well known comic book characters who make an appearance include Red Sonja, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm Night Crawler, Colossus and Professor X.

This is one of the more entertaining books that I have in my collection. I’m a huge fan of Conan the Barbarian and who wouldn’t want to see him take on the mutant macho man, Wolverine, of X-Men fame? I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who hasn’t read it, but not only does Wolverine face off against Conan, but he also ends up fighting Conan’s on-again, off-again sidekick, Red Sonja.

Long story short, Wolverine defeats Red Sonja without seriously injuring her or killing her. Remember that she’s been rebuffing Conan for years, saying that she’ll only “bed” the man who can best her in combat. Wolverine and Conan eventually fight one another and Conan wins with a deathstroke to Wolverine’s neck that shatters Conan’s broadsword.

Conan leaves Wolverine for dead, but Wolverine’s mutant healing factor kicks in, allowing Wolverine to make a slow recovery. Later, the meet again and Wolverine hacks off Conan’s right hand at the wrist. Conan cauterizes the wound in a fiery pile of red hot coals and gets transported to the present day through a conjured warp hole. The warp hole closes and can’t be reopened, leaving Wolverine and Red Sonja together. Guess who goes on to be the king of Aquilonia? Here’s a hint – it’s not Conan.

In the end, this is a highly entertaining comic, and I highly recommend it to fans of Conan and Wolverine.

This comic book (unless I’ve sold it) and others are available for purchase through Peacock’s Books on Amazon.com. Search for it there by title, issue number and date of publication.