April Foolish - The Impossible Man?????

It's April Fools Day and I'd like to celebrate that most delightful of utterly foolish holidays with one of the delightful of utterly foolish comic book characters. Impossible Man is an outrageous character who can do outrageous things, and all to get a chortle or even a guffaw from his targets. He craves attention. 

While he does rate the cover this was an oddball issue of the FF since it featured not the usual single book-length story but rather two smaller adventures. So in his debut poor Impossible Man doesn't even rate the full treatment given others like Miracle Man, Mole Man, and Kurgo Master of Planet X. Impossible Man is really the first interstellar threat the FF faced since sending the Skrulls to munch in the meadows in the second Fab 4 adventure. 

Part of a long tradition of tricksters, Impossible Man, from the planet Poppup in the Tenth Galaxy, first arrived on Earth in the eleventh issue of the venerable Fantastic Four comic circa 1963. He was an interplanetary tourist looking for a good time and found until the Fab 4 figured out that ignoring this cosmic pest was the best way to send him packing. And he did for a long long time. 

The green man from space disappears from the pages of the FF  and everywhere else until the advent of the "Bronze Age of Comics" and then, then he finds himself more comfortable in a comic book landscape where self-aware irony was more wildly appreciated by the fanboys who dominated the market. Impossible Man was the Deadpool of the time, a character who clearly seemed to be aware of his narrative reality and who altered himself like a strange blend of Plastic Man and Snapper Carr, a mascot but one with mad skills. He returns in the pages of the Fantastic Four when they are in the midst of one of their periodic struggles with Galactus and to keep the "Big G" from gobbling up Earth, Impossible Man offers up Poppup and we learn if you've met one Poppupian you've met them all. They give Galactus intergalactic gas and the reader a whimsical treat. Then with all the Poppupians having become Impossible Man he comes again to Earth to see what he can get up to. 

In a tale which was dreamed up by Roy Thomas and drawn by George Perez, the FF along with Impossible Man are trying to get from Central Park to the Baxter Building and it's a hectic mess of a commute. It ends up in the Mighty Marvel Bullpen where we meet Stan, Jack, Roy, George, Archie, Len Wein, and the imposing John Verpoorten among others. This little side trip was inspired by Jack Kirby's cover for the issue which show Impy making use of Iron Man's gauntlet and Thor's hammer. How'd that happen? Well a visit to the Marvel offices supplies the answers. 

For a bit Impossible Man was a resident of the Baxter Building and so showed up alongside Ben Grimm in a light-hearted tale about Alice Masters and her statues coming to life thanks to three relic villains from days gone by in a fun issue of Marvel Two-In-One. It's mostly hijinks and not real danger that makes this bouncy tale spring to life, written by Ralph Macchio and Mark Guenwald and drawn magnificently by George Perez with Gene Day inks. 

Impossible Man gets a back up story in this low-key but fondly remembered issue of MTIO. It's in this issue that he makes a female version of himself and sets out to find a new world for the a Poppupian people. Ron Wilson draws a fine story by Tom DeFalco with some tasty Chic Stone inking. 

The journey didn't last long as Impossible Man turns up in this issue of Spider-Woman by Chris Claremont and Steve Leiloha. To be honest this story never really gets going and Impy's transformations lack the potency of earlier appearances. 

Things are much improved in an X-Men annual in which Impy is back on Earth and runs the mutants ragged running across the Marvel Universe attempting to stop his wild scavenger hunt which includes things like Nick Fury's eyepatch, Doc Strange's window, and the X-Men's entire school among many other things. There are diverse hands on this one but Chris Claremont and Michael Golden lead the way. 

A few years later Claremont takes up with Alan Davis to showcase a battle across the globe between Impossible Man and Warlock of New Mutants fame. The New Mutants chase after the ever-changing pair as they duke it out to determine dominance. It's a weirdo-on-weirdo fest of the finest order. 

Jim Valentino takes up the Impossible Man challenge next in the pages of Silver Surfer with Ron Lim supplying the art. Impy often makes other races across the galaxy angry and he hopes that the former herald of Galactus can give him some cover when the shooting breaks out. There are some tasty transformations in this one for certain. 

In his first "Summer Vacation Spectacular" from 1990 Impossible Man really breaks out in all his goofy glory. He comes to  Earth to visit and rampages across the Marvel Universe interacting with Spider-Man, Quasar, Dr. Strange, She-Hulk, the Wasp, the Invisible Woman, Doc Doom and even the Punisher. We have a network of related short yarns by talents like  Roy Thomas, Greg Capullo, Mark Gruenwald, Rurik Tyler, Jim Valentino, Danny Bulanadi, Aaron Lopresit, Luke McDonnel, Peter David, Butch Guice, Barry Crain. and more under one of my favorite Al Milgrom covers. 

The following summer in 1991 the Impossible Man returns looking for his lost kid, number 4,682. This time he encounters Psycho Man, Hank Pym, Thor, and assorted Asgardians. The talent in this issue includes Mike Gallagher, Barry  Crain, Kieron Dwyer, Phil Winslade, and others under Michael Golden's awesome cover. The X-Men do not appear though. 

Marvel Comics Presents from that same year supplies yet another tale connected to the summer spectacular in which Impossible Man checks in with Daredevil thanks to writer and artist Dave Manak. 

The final Impossible Man yarn in this collection is from 1995 and is full of all the hyperbolic flaws of that era when Impy checks in with Cable and the X-Force while they are on vacation. He wants the taskmaster Cable to take three of his slacker kids in hand and make something of them. It all hits the beach thanks to writer Jeph Loeb and artists Matt Ryan and Rurik Tyler. 

This is a fine fun collection of zany stories which offer glimpses into the broad spectrum and history of Marvel Comics for nearly thirty years. Beginning with that classic first story by Stan and Jack and winding its way all the way forward to the time when Marvel nearly went bust. It's a fun read if you can find it cheap. What better way to celebrate April Fool's Day than indulging in some Impossible Man. 

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