Fantastic Four 11b

The Impossible Man!

by

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

At a hobo camp, a strange, green, long-faced alien lands amongst the hobos. It claims to be hungry. When he asks the hobos for food, they inform him that the only way to get food is to have cash and the best place to get cash is in a bank. The strange alien takes this information to heart. He morphs into a small rocket jet, flying to the nearest bank he can find. Once inside the bank, he shrinks himself down so he can get under the vault door. A startled banker notices him as he returns to normal size with an audible “pop!” sound. The banker runs out of the room as the alien being takes two large sacks of cash for himself. A group of security guards notice him. After he refuses to drop the money sacks, they open fire. The alien “pops!” again, turning himself bulletproof before they can harm him.

News of this encounter is quickly picked up by local law enforcement. They contact the Fantastic Four, who have more experience in these strange cases. Reed Richards agrees to help, so the team travel out to a restaurant where the alien is. They find it at a table covered in piles of dishes and food. Thing and Reed approach the being and try to explain how things work on this planet regarding money. While devouring the food, the alien explains how things work where he comes from. On his planet of Poppup, his race has developed the ability of automatic evolution. Whenever something threatens to harm the Poppupians, they can morph their bodies to a form that counteracts that danger. He got bored of life on his planet, so he changed into a rocketship and left his home planet to have a vacation on Earth.

The Thing gets so frustrated with the alien’s demeanor that he throws a punch. Before his fist lands, the alien’s face turns into a bed of thorns that pierce Thing’s rocky skin. The Human Torch flames on in reaction to his hurt teammate. As he lunges at the alien, it evolves into a large bubble of water. Torch collides into it, which pops and douses his flame. The alien boasts to Sue that he is too much of a gentleman to hurt a lady. Sue uses her powers of invisibility to distract the alien while Reed sneaks up behind him with a stretched arm. Just as he is about to grab the alien, it morphs into a tiny rocket and flies off towards the exit, unaware that the Invisible Girl is blocking his way. He pops into a stream of flower petals to make it past her and reforms into his regular form.

The alien declares that the Fantastic Four have ruined his meal. He only came to earth to make new friends and enjoy himself, but they have spoiled that. Thing says they should all rush him at once. As the team does, the Impossible Man, as Thing dub him here, turns into a giant, fire-resistant buzzsaw that flings them all away. He continues his path of destruction outside until he sees a group of people startled by him. The Impossible Man suddenly comes to a realization; the people of earth cannot change their form the way his race can. This means he must be the most powerful being on the planet.

Chaos runs wild on the streets of New York as the Impossible Man lets loose on its citizens. He hails a cab, but turns into a frightening monster when the cabbie refuses him a ride. Impossible Man starts driving the cab himself. The Fantastic Four quickly pursue him, flying above in their Fantasticar. Thing leaps down and grabs the back of the cab to stop the alien’s momentum. He attempts to pick Impossible Man up, but fails as he makes his density too strong for the Thing to lift.

Suddenly the National Guard arrive. Reed explains the situation to them. Before they can attack, Impossible Man changes into a bomb set to go off. The soldiers flee in a panic as Reed grabs hold of the alien bomb, using his stretching powers to hurl him into the substratosphere. Impossible Man gives himself wings to glide back down, but the Human Torch creates a fiery spiral in the sky to hypnotize him. The pattern renders him unconscious, so he comes crashing down in front of the FF. Reed and Sue quickly attend to the fallen being to see that he isn’t seriously injured. As they do, the Impossible Man wakes up, excited to find out that they actually care about him. This gives Reed an idea.

Reed figures out how to beat the Impossible Man. He realizes his mannerisms are like a child’s; constantly seeking attention. So, Reed orders the group to completely ignore the alien, no matter how distracting he might be. The plan is quickly announced to the public, some of who think Reed is turning coward. Regardless, the entire population of Earth follows suit. Every prank that the Impossible Man pulls is completely disregarded and soon the being from planet Poppup grows bored of Earth. Swearing never to return, the Impossible Man turns into a rocketship and leaves the planet as the FF look on.

Notes

The first appearance of the Impossible Man, a Poppupian who, like the Skrulls, can change their body into whatever they want.

Another instance of Reed taking charge of the situation and coming up with the ultimate solution.

Fire Power: The Human Torch can make flaming spirals that hypnotize foes.

Review & Rank

This is a really fun issue of the Fantastic Four. One of the most amusing stories so far, with a lot of wacky drawings of the Impossible Man to emphasize just how over the top this new character is. This entire issue in particular, both parts 11a and 11b, seems to be aimed at the child audience.

It’s a pretty entertaining, simple story about a weird, goofy alien who visits Earth. He’s got a very unique design and personality that apes Mr. Mxyzptlk from Superman, but with Stan Lee’s touch of humor. Stan Lee’s writing style is kind of a strange combination of Shakespeare meets Groucho Marx.

I am placing this story below the Puppet Master's 1st appearance. It's not as compelling as that story is and I find it more entertaining than Thor's journey into the future in JIM 86 below it, which is another fairly simple story, but a tad too convoluted for my tastes and the artwork in it isn't as enjoyable.

Next Time - Ant-Man gets trapped in a car.