Broken Frontier

Summer’s here along with the inevitable family vacation. Looking for something to pass the hours on a long car trip while mom and dad “debate” whether or not that shortcut was a good idea or not? Need something to stall the call of “are we there yet?” for a few miles? You might want to stop at your nearest comic shop for a few of these solutions…

Even after 16 years, The Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular #1 brings a smile to my face. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Fantastic Four #11 (February 1963), the Impossible Man was a comedic foil for the team in the early days (a magic that was later recaptured when Jim Valentino and Ron Lim brought “Impy” into a similar role for the early 90s Silver Surfer). A Poppupian, the Impossible Man shares a group mind with the rest of his race, as well as the ability to shape-shift into, well, anything that pops to mind (although he always retains his distinctive green and purple coloring). This one-shot brings Impy, the Impossible Woman and all their Impossible kids to Earth on summer vacation (and, over the course of several short stories, into contact with many of the best and brightest in the Marvel Universe…well, the best and brightest for 1990 anyway).

First up Michael Gallagher and Barry Crain introduce Spider-Man to the Impossible Man in “How Green Was My Villain?!” I had always known that many of Spidey’s greatest foils had animal gimmicks, but with this tale, the realization dawned that an inordinately large number have a purple/green colour scheme. Not an easy look to pull off.

One of my absolute favorite stories in this collection teams the Impossible Girl with one of my all-time favorite “B” heroes, Quasar (remember, waaaay back in’90, he was just coming off the launch of his own solo title), against one of my all-time favorite “B” villains, Madcap. Kind, sweet, and also funny, “Girl’s Don’t Want to Have Fun” is an oft forgotten contribution by the late Mark Gruenwald, along with Howard Mackie and Rurik Tyler.

“Impossible but Strange” brings Impy and Ralf the Impossible Dog to visit Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorium. Workhorses Roy and Dann Thomas, along with a young Greg Capullo, let their puns hang out here, showing a lighter side to a character that seems to give many writers a hard time.

“Fashion Victims!” matches the Impossible Woman up with the Invisible Woman, She-Hulk and the Wasp, allowing readers to marvel at Jackson Guice’s ability to draw really big “80s hair,” while Jim Valentino gives readers the greatest Marvel team-up ever, as the Impossible Man meets the Punisher.

Finally, before wrapping the issue up with a gag ending that’ll probably only make sense to us geeks that followed the Marvel Universe faithfully back in 1990, the Impossible Kids invade Dr. Doom’s armor. Strangely enough, you could almost take this story in continuity as the kids try and turn the armor into a clubhouse, and the not-so-good Doctor sees opportunity in even the most humiliating situations.

Well creased and read, The Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular #1 helped see me through more than one family road trip and can be usually found kicking around quarter and dollar bins. But beware of the infamous second issue…it’s about as entertaining as me trying to do comedy…which is to say not very ;)

A more recent summer fun release is Fantastic Four Presents: Franklin Richards – Son of a Genius Super Summer Spectacular (I think it’s an unwritten rule that all “summer fun” issues must have incredibly long titles). Quite possibly the greatest all-ages concept to come out of Marvel in years (even if it does riff pretty hard on Calvin & Hobbes), the Son of a Genius comics star Franklin Richards (4 ½ year-old son of the Fantastic Four’s Reed and Sue Richards) and his robotic sidekick H.E.R.B.I.E. (originally created for the Fantastic Four animated series when the Human Torch couldn’t be used due to licensing rights).

Creators Chris Eliopoulos (story & art) and Marc Sumerak (story & script) portray Franklin as a mischievous child, unable to help himself from playing with his famous dad’s fantastic inventions. By nature, H.E.R.B.I.E. is the high-strung, neurotic robot nursemaid and moral compass that frequently finds himself on the humiliating clean-up end of Franklin’s misadventures. For this outing Franklin takes up little league, visits the bottom of the ocean, switches brains with H.E.R.B.I.E., uses a moleculowhatchamacallit and brings a comic book to life. 

Fun for kids of all ages, the Franklin Richards comics are ones I can speak highly enough of.

Finally, any summer vacation trip needs an activity book. While not strictly speaking a “summer fun” issue, the Powers Coloring/Activity Book can certainly be used to fit the bill. A bizarre collaboration by the Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming, this little treasure offers up mazes and connect-the-dot puzzles along with helpful safety tips such as “do not spend your life working on a revolutionary scientific discovery that hasn’t been fully tested, because when you are targeted for assassination by the mob who won’t do a great job of trying to kill you, the only way to save your own life will be to use the experiment on yourself, and though it will give you remarkable powers, it will probably scar or disfigure you making you a reject from normal society and drastically reduce your chances of ever ‘getting any’.” Crack out your crayons!

OK kids, that does it. You keep yourselves busy with these comics, or else I’m turning this article around and we’re going right back home!