In July, Marvel answered the question of “What If…? Donald Duck Became Wolverine”. Now Marvel will let us know “What If…? Donald Duck Became Thor”. The story in this issue is written by Steve Behling (plot) and Riccardo Secchi (script) and illustrated by Lorenzo Pastrovicchio. The covers are done by artists Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, Peach Momoko, Phil Noto, and Skottie Young. I opted to add the Lorenzo Pastrovicchio and Skottie Young covers to my collection.

The main cover by Lorenzo Pastrovicchio is a tribute to Jack Kirby’s cover of Journey Into Mystery (1952) #83. That historic issue was the first appearance of the Mighty Thor.

The characters in this issue include Huey, Dewey, Louie, Donald Duck as the Mighty Thor, and the Stone Ducks from Saturn.

Here is the part of my review that I must urge you to stop reading if you haven’t read the issue yet to avoid all spoilers. The spoiler filled review will continue after this picture of Walt Simonson’s variant cover which is a tribute to classic cover issue Thor #337 also by Walt Simonson.

*STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS*

*STOP READING HERE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS*

Huey, Dewey, Louie and Donald Duck are in Norway at an archaeological site looking for ancient Viking relics. Donald breaks his shovel on a rock at the dig site. He hobbles off to take a break in the forest where he discovers an alien space ship land. The ship belongs to green Stone Ducks from Saturn who want to take over Earth with their rays that turn things to stone. Donald runs away from them and hides in a cave where he finds a cane that transforms him into the Mighty Thor and the cane into Mjolnir. Donald Thor does battle with the Stone Ducks and a Destroyer. Donald Thor defeats them and sends them back to Saturn.

Donald Duck looks great in the Thor super hero suit. There are several fantastic pages of him wielding Mjolnir in action scenes fighting the Stone Ducks and practicing his powers. Donald getting pulled by Mjolnir into flight was always good for a laugh. I can’t imagine any other Disney Fab Five characters that would be more worthy of becoming Thor.

I got to experience the Disney Marvel synergy in full force as this comic inspired me to research and read Journey Into Mystery (1952) #83. “What If…? Donald Duck Became Thor” did a great job of retelling that classic issue with a Disney twist. Many of the story elements from that Thor first appearance comic are represented in this issue.

What If…? Donald Duck Became Thor retails for $4.99 and the story, “Donald Thor vs The Stone Ducks of Saturn” is twenty five pages in length. There is also some bonus content at the back of the book. We get a letter from the Senior Editor, Mark Paniccia, about Donald becoming The Mighty…Duck?! The first sketch of Lorenzo Pastrovicchio’s recreation of Journey Into Mystery (1952) #83 shows us a different Wak! pose for the cover of Thor Donald swinging Mjolnir. We get an interior splash page sketch of Thor Donald fighting the Stone Ducks from Saturn as well as some Stone Duck concept art. The final page in the issue is an ad for the next big Disney Marvel mashup release, “What If…? Minnie Became Captain Marvel”. If a collector’s edition release is ever made, I would love to see a cover gallery for each issue. A side by side reference guide of the classic covers that gave the cover artists their inspiration for the What If…? covers would also be cool.

After a year and a half of amazing Marvel and Disney mashup variant covers for Marvel’s Amazing Spider-man series, Disney fans finally get to enjoy some full issues with this summer’s “Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime”, “What If…? Donald Duck Became Wolverine”, and now “What If…? Donald Duck Became Thor”. I was starting to think we would find out what if Donald Duck became all of the different Marvel super heroes, but more of the fab five characters will get a chance at the feature role in future issues. I do need to eventually see issues of Donald as Spider-man and Star-Lord. I would love a trade paperback or hardcover edition collecting all of the Marvel and Disney mashup collaborations.

A big thanks to Marvel for sending me an advanced copy of the issue for this review. We now know what would happen if Donald Duck became Wolverine and Thor. In November, we will find out “What If…? Minnie Became Captain Marvel”.