Issue(s): Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular #2
Cover Date: Sep 91
Title: "Improlog / Impquest / Mincing words / This Savage Land / Asgard is my witness... / Everything's happening at the zoo! / No imp here gets out alive"
Credits:
Michael Gallagher / Renee Witterstaetter / Barry Dutter / Marie Javins - Writer
Rick Leonardi / Barry Crain / Keith Wilson / Steven Carr / Kieron Dwyer / Phil Winslade - Penciler
Harry Candelario / Ian Akin / Keith Wilson / John Beatty / Kieron Dwyer / Phil Winslade - Inker

Review/plot:
Ok, which of you horrible people bought so many copies of the first issue of this that Marvel thought it would be worth making a second?

The "plot" of this issue is that one of the Impossible Family's 4,000+ children was left on Earth during their vacation last year. So they all go back to look for him. Queue the usual bad puns...

...and random celebrity impersonations that some people apparently find funny.

There are always a few actual funny moments, like when the Impossibles confuse Ka-Zar with Quasar, and anything making fun of Henry Pym.

Of possible "continuity" interest is that while searching for their missing kid, the Impossibles wind up finding and adopting a Skrull.

(They do get their missing kid back too.)

A missed opportunity happens when the Impossible Man meets Thor, and decides therefore to research Norse mythology before a visit to Asgard. He goes to the library and gets a book. But when he's in Asgard, he meets the Warriors Three and says, oh, yeah, i know them from my book.

It would have been funnier if he said, "Waaaaaiiit a minute! I read all about the Norse gods and there was no mention of any Warriors Three!".

The book ends with this clip-n-send, which someone seems to have defaced.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: There are a lot fewer Marvel characters appearing in this issue compared to last year's, making the book easier to place. The two considerations are that Henry Pym is with the West Coast Avengers and Thor has a beard. If needed, Henry Pym could just have returned to the West Coast compound to use their lab for a while, but i've fit this between Avengers West Coast #69-70 and after Thor #431-433.

References:

• Imp #4,682 was left on Earth after Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular #1.
  
• Impossible Man spends some time in the Microverse looking for his kid. He transforms himself into the Thing for protection. A footnote mentions that they teamed up in Marvel Two-In-One #60 (not that that was their first meeting).
  
• In the Microverse, Impossible Man meets Psycho-Man, who first appeared in Fantastic Four annual #5.
  
• Psycho-Man is still suffering from fear, doubt, and hate after the Invisible Woman turned his own device on him in Fantastic Four #284. Psycho-Man has actually appeared since then, but he does say in this story by embracing his hate he's able to get back to normal.
  
  
  

• When Impossible Man turns into Kurse, we are told that for a "treat" we should "start in Thor #347".

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Fnord, you might want to post the scenes where the Pyscho-Man reveals what Sue did to him, because these scenes reveal exactly what Sue did to the Psycho-Man for the first time. A while back, we had a discussion on the FF message board about what Sue did to Psycho-Man and someone asked what exactly Sue did to Psycho-Man and when it was revealed. That led to me trying to describe this issue from memory even though I hadn't read it in years, and emerick man scouring the internet for scans. I couldn't help but think at the time this would be much easier if fnord have reviewed the issue already. That's one of the major advantages of your project, fnord- it makes it easier for fans to discuss the issues.

gah - I had no idea they made two of these things.

@Michael, i didn't think he was saying anything we didn't already know, and i don't know how seriously any new revelations from an Impossible Man special should be taken, but after the way you framed the request, there's no way i can refuse! Added the scans under the Reference. Unfortunately a little blurry on the edge.