The simplistic way to explain the book is that it's an extended issue of What If? in which the heroes are villains and the villains are heroes. Complete with a "here's what happened originally" before it gets to "here's how things are different in this story." However, that belies the more interesting/clever idea behind the book.
The book is, in fact, addressed directly to the reader. Not like Uatu's introductions/framing device used in the comics, but starting before and running through the copyright pages. As if the book itself is just a portal and you're being spoken to around the story that's being presented. And the "bonus 32-page comic" that promoted as being included is a story within the story of the book. Like you were handed a comic book that was actually produced in the universe you're witnessing. (A little like those "Marvels Comics" one-shots from 2000, where they published comics that were supposed to be like the ones actually published within the Marvel Universe.) So the whole book has this very cool metatextual vibe to it, where you as the reader are almost part of the story itself.
There are couple things I can tell you that should be no surprise because it's by Alex Ross. First, it's wonderfully illustrated. The artwork itself is gorgeous. Second, there are a lot of Easter Eggs available for old school fans. Homages to specific pieces of art, and just oblique nods in some of the modified costumes and such. If you're a fan of Ross' art for either of those reasons, you'll not be disappointed.
However, as lovely as his art is and as cool as the concept is, there're some notable flaws in the execution. The first he spends nearly half the book with very repetitive origin recaps. Two pages per hero/group, narrated by a sidekick or "lesser" (by 1960s standards) character. The original Human Torch, Namor, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, Ant-Man & the Wasp, Iron Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, Black Widow, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, Wolverine, Phoenix, and Dr. Doom. The exact same format, over and over and over. Nearly the whole first half of the book. They're all very nicely done, but he doesn't add anything to the origins that hasn't been covered a hundred times already and, coupled with the recurring format, it gets really, really monotonous. Somewhere around the X-Men or Avengers, I seriously considered just putting the book down altogether. If you were a fan of one of those characters, and had their spread as a poster, that could be cool but as a series of vignettes? No, thanks.
The other problem is that, even setting aside the extremely long introduction, there's no real story here. There's some character bits to show you how many of the characters are different from their original, and many of those are interesting, but they're not even vignettes. Just a couple of lines of dialogue or a couple panels of action. Spider-Man and Professor X probably get the most extended 'treatment' by way of that comic-within-a-comic bit, but most of the characters get as much focus as their origins earlier in the book. There's a set-up for an "Secret War" type of story, but we never get that. A battle starts and we end on some more meta-speaking-to-the-reader stuff, leaving mid-fight.
The "evil doppleganger" idea is hardly new. That's even acknowledged in the book itself. But you need to do something with that idea, not just leave it sit there for the readers to sort out. This feels like the concept from an adventure module for the old Marvel Superheroes Role-Playing Game from TSR back in the day. We get the set-up and we're in charge of the telling the story, but it's up to the players to play out the actual adventure. It's not the module booklet itself that it was fun; it was in seeing the story actually play out with your friends around a table covered in dice and chips and Mt Dew. And we're missing that part in Marvel Dimensions.
The book came out a couple weeks ago from Abrams ComicArts, so it should be readily available from your favorite bookstore. It retails in hardcover for $29.99 US.
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