A Visit With the Fantastic Four

After visiting with some local fans of theirs, the Fantastic Four get another mail delivery from their mailman Willie Lumpkin. Reading their fan mail, the Fantastic Four responds to readers' letters:

After trying another serum to change him back to human form, Ben and Reed tell the story about how they met in college and eventually fought together in the military, they then retell the origin of the Fantastic Four. Sue later gets upset by reader mail that expresses people's dislike of her and question her usefulness on the team, the Fantastic Four angrily defend Sue.

They remind readers of the times that Sue had helped save the entire team, such as their battle against the Skrulls, and when she saved the team from Dr. Doom's death traps. After to cheer Sue up they take her aboard the flying saucer they have had since their adventure on Planet X where Sue finds a surprise birthday cake waiting for her. As they celebrate Sue's birthday, Willie is slogging back to the Baxter Building with another bag full of fan mail for the Fantastic Four.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Willie Lumpkin

Continuity Notes

• It is stated that both Reed Richards and Ben Grimm fought in World War II. This is further depicted by an appearance of Reed working with the OSS in Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos #3 and Ben fighting in the South Pacific in Captain Savage #7. However, given the sliding time scale of Earth-616 this has become an impossibility. History of the Marvel Universe #2 introduced the Sin-Cong Conflict, stating that all characters with military service who saw conflict fought in this war prior to the modern age. Although no explanation is given, it should be presumed that the “Reed Richards” and “Ben Grimm” who appear in Sgt. Fury and Captain Savage were not THE Richards and Grimm but relatives.

The Impossible Man!

An alien being from the planet Poppup arrives on Earth and appears before a group of hobos seeking entertainment. When he asks the homeless men for food they tell the alien that the only way he can get food is with money. Taking this as literally as possible, the alien goes to a nearby bank and takes bags full of money, using his shape shifting powers to get past a teller. When he is stopped by police they begin to shoot at the alien, who quickly turns into metal to deflect the bullets, sending the police fleeing. The authorities then call in the Fantastic Four to handle this alien being and they find the extra-terrestrial gorging on food at a fancy restaurant. Asking where he came from, the Fantastic Four learn that this alien came from the planet Poppup where his people evolved into being that could change shape into any form in order to deal with any threats to their lives.

When they tell the alien that he cannot just steal money, he points out that nobody tried to stop him, leading to the Thing and Human Torch to try to subdue the cocky alien, however his shape changing powers defend him well from any attack. Learning that this alien is on vacation, Sue tries to reason with him explaining that he can't just break Earth laws. When she asks the alien what his name is, he explains that Popuppians do not have names because they "know who they are". When he tries to walk out of the restaurant another fight breaks out and the Thing coins this alien as "impossible", prompting everyone to begin referring to him as the Impossible Man.

The Fantastic Four chase the creature outside where they battle him some more. When the army sends in soldiers, Reed tells them to stay back, prompting the Impossible Man to change into a bomb. Reed quickly uses his stretching power to toss the "bomb" into the air where it explodes harmlessly. Flying around on wings, the Impossible Man is then brought down when the Human Torch uses his powers to create a hypnotic pinwheel out of flame. Eventually Reed deduces that the Impossible Man is encouraged by people's reaction to his antics and that he is starved for attention. He then sends out a message to everyone in New York to simply ignore the Impossible Man. Miraculously the people of the city do just that and begin to ignore the impish alien's destructive games until the Impossible Man grows so bored with the lack of attention he decides to leave Earth, vowing that he nor anyone else from his race will visit the Earth ever again, much to the relief of the Fantastic Four.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Impossible Man

Continuity Notes

• It has been later established in New Mutants Annual #3 that while the Impossible Man can change shapes, these shapes adopt his basic colour scheme of green and purple. This story shows him changing colour as well as shape, as the basic rules regarding his shape shifting powers was not implemented at the time of publication. That or one could chalk up the different colours as being a colouring error.

• Between pages six and seven of this story, the Impossible Man gets caught up in a battle across time between the New Warriors and Doctor Yesterday as seen in Marvel Comics Presents #160-163.