Andrea DiVito turns in some solid work on this one-shot, as the level of detail on the page is really quite impressive, and the art manages to do a pretty fair job of conveying the emotional turmoil of young Peter as his happy little world starts to fall apart. The art also does some nice work when it comes to it's delivery of the action as we see Spider-Man makes his entry into the world of a super-hero, from his battle with the man who killed Aunt May, to a great panel where J. Jonah Jameson learns Spider-Man is not responding well to his continued harassment from the Daily Bugle. There's also a nice one page montage as Spider-Man does battle with members of his rogues gallery, which in turn is nicely balanced with the images of Peter's personal life falling apart. The power of the scene where Peter tries to break Uncle Ben out of jail is also largely due to the art's ability to convey Peter's anguish. Read Full Review

Unfortunately, in places the story feels a little over-silly and illogical, even acknowledging in the text that certain plot elements have been messed with just to create an entertaining, diverting story. We get wisecracks about the Spider-Man movie, unconnected sub-plots playing out differently to how they did in the original Spider-verse, and even a silly development towards the end that sees Ben team up with Peter in a crime-fighting team. One could also question the fact that Peter chose to reveal his secret identity so readily to Ben when it was kept a secret from May for many years under similar circumstances. Whilst theres nothing wrong with these myriad additions, it seems to go against the principle of What If stories, which exist to show us how a single moment can affect the course of your life, Sliding-Doors-style. However, the result of Brubakers tinkering is a fun examination of Peter Parkers attitude to guilt, shame and responsibility - and even if the final outcome Read Full Review