Issue(s): Marvel Two-In-One #60
Cover Date: Feb 80
Title: "Happiness is a warm alien!"
Credits:
Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio - Writer
George Perez - Penciler
Gene Day - Inker
Jim Salicrup - Assistant Editor
Roger Stern - Editor

Review/plot:
Don't listen to the Thing on the cover; there's nothing funny going on around here. Because there's nothing funny about the Impossible Man. Zany, wacky, & goofy are all appropriate words, but not funny. On the other hand, the issue isn't terrible, either. It has a few cute moments, and the Mark Gruenwald/Ralph Macchio/George Perez/Gene Day is nothing to scoff at, even if it's for a silly downtime issue.

We'll start off with a little out of context fun.

The story is that Alicia is having a showing for her sculpture work, and the Thing is nervous that something might go wrong. The scene above is Reed Richards' attempt at getting his friend to blow off some steam. It kind of sucks when your best friend is a dickish nerd, but what can you do?

The problem is that the Impossible Man is feeling "lonely", as demonstrated by the fact that he's wrapped himself around the Thing's naked bottom.

But he really is lonely, and he convinces the Thing to let him go to the party as well, so long as he remains a hat.

The party turns out to be a more counter-culture affair than the Thing was expecting, leaving him feeling out of place in his tux.

Also at the party is the book's creative team.

And, in my favorite scene from the issue, so is the Puppet Master.

But the villains of the story are the long forgotten Terrible Trio.

Yogi Dakor puts their minds into Alicia's statues and they attack the Thing.

The Puppet Master is an obvious person to blame for statues coming to life, but luckily the Thing doesn't make the assumption and attack him. The battle turns when Alicia gives the Thing permission to smash up her statues. Previously he had been holding back to avoid destroying Alicia's works of art.

"Handsome" Harry Phillips is described as a pansy when he passes out after his statue is destroyed.

When it's all over, Impossible Man ponders the O'Henry-ish interaction between the Thing and Alicia.

And, since he's still "lonely", he decides to masturbate.

Ok, musty stuff aside, the Impossible Man is actually creating an Impossible Woman.

Although, since he's really just duplicating himself - it was once said that all Poppians are really the same person - it is sort of like masturbating, isn't it?

This is said to be the first "big public display" of Alicia's works. I know I can point to Marvels #2 for a counter-example, but not sure if at this point there was anything published that contradicted it.

In the lettercol, editor Roger Stern rejects someone's bid for a No-Prize, saying that No-Prizes are really only rewarded for important stuff, like explaining why the Wasp had wings while she was full-sized back in Avengers #3. Stern will later award that No-Prize to himself in Avengers #264.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Impossible Woman

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this between Fantastic Four #214-215.

References:

• A footnote says that the Impossible Man has been staying with the FF "off and on". He was last seen in Fantastic Four #195.
  
• The Thing helped put the Terrible Trio in jail in Strange Tales #129.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Well don't leave us hanging, what's the no-prize that got rejected?

Actually, I think I've got a No-Prize for the "first public display" thing. Alicia is blind, so everyone just assumed she knew they were on public display yet she did not!

Okay, that's probably a bit offensive...

It was someone pointing out a panel where Deathlok was shown with two bionic eyes, when he's only supposed to have one. The letter writer didn't even try to offer an explanation/fix; they wanted the No-Prize just for pointing out the mistake. Which was actually very common.

Oh yeah, those. Not really a No-Prize at all, is it? Darn, that's a bit disappointing.

Did they ever say "Make Mine Marvel" in the letter columns? In the UK reprints people used to say stuff like "so until J Jonah Jameson gets superpowers and kills Spider-Man in a battle that totals the Daily Bugle, make mine Marvel!" The UK reprints did have No-Prizes also, so I kind of wonder.

@Max - Yeah, "Make mine Marvel" was fairly common for letter writers at the time.

It was depressing how often people didn't grasp the concept of the No-Prize. The whole point was to be clever and show how Marvel didn't really make a mistake, not just pointing out mistakes.

What we think of as the standard No-Prize rules didn't come into play until the 80s. Stan Lee would give out a No-Prize for anything. So letters pages are full of people asking for No-Prizes for pointing out minor coloring errors and the like.

While i like the "it wasn't really a mistake" rules, some editors tried to establish that you only got a No-Prize for doing something really meritorious, like providing a complete listing of all appearances of a character in the days before the internet, or charitable, like donating boxes of comics to a children's hospital.

Hmm, a bit more understandable then. I do hear that they actually did used to send empty envelopes if I recall correctly.

Even into the late 90's they did. I have one I treasure.

Love the art on this issue. Doesn't look like Gene Day inked the faces of the Marvel bullpen characters though. Looks like Marie Severin stepped in.