Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men annual #7
Cover Date: 1983
Title: "Scavenger hunt"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Bret Blevins & Michael Golden - Penciler
Bill Anderson, Terry Austin, Brett Breeding, Sam DeLaRosa, Michael Golden, Stephen Leialoha, Tom Mandrake, Al Milgrom, Josef Rubinstein, & Bob Wiacek - Inker
Eliot Brown - Assistant Editor
Louise Simonson - Editor

Review/plot:
Well, it's nobody's favorite, the Impossible Man. The excuse is that it's Assistant Editors' Month, so i guess if you have to do something zany you might as well bring in the zaniest of all. Instead of appearing in the regular X-Men comic, Claremont was able to get his contribution to Assistant Editors' Month in an annual, which tucks it nicely away in a standalone story where it doesn't have to bother anyone. Except me.

The Impossible Man's on a scavenger hunt. He and his people are competing to determine who gets to be the leader of their new planet. Poppy starts by showing up masquerading as Galactus...

...and he steals the X-Men's Mansion.

After that, he grabs Nick Fury's eyepatch, Zabu, all of the Wasp's costumes, the window to Dr. Strange's townhouse, and the Black Queen's (which would have meant Jean Grey's) Hellfire Club outfit. This means guest appearances by Fury and Valentina (Steranko-ish tribute)...

...the Avengers (thought balloons make it clear that Iron Man is James Rhodes, not Tony Stark)...

...Dr. Strange, and others.

Then he heads to Marvel's Studio to try and collect Stan Lee, but he's on the west coast.

The X-Men catch up with him there (and there's cameos by a lot of Marvel creators and editors).

Next a group of aliens show up to extract vengeance from the Poppians for all of the nuisances they've created...

..but Lilandra is able to mitigate the situation.

It's actually a well-written and cute story. But i can't overcome my dislike of the character.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Lilandra is still with the X-Men, but there's talk of her having to leave for the Shi'ar Empire to deal with her sister's takeover (she's sure taking her sweet time about it, though), so this has to take place before Uncanny X-Men #177 and New Mutants #13, when she leaves, but after Uncanny X-Men #174. And despite what the cover shows, Cyclops does not appear in this issue, suggesting that it takes place after his wedding in #175. Iron Man's appearance (actually James Rhodes) needs to be on the East Coast for this appearance; MCP has him here between Iron Man #175-176. Ka-Zar and Shanna the She-Devil's appearance is relatively context free; they just have to be on friendly terms. In between issues #28 and #29 of Ka-Zar the Savage works well enough.

The MCP lists Jean Grey's father Dr. John Grey as appearing in this issue, but i think that must be a mistake.

References:

• When She-Hulk is zapped by Rogue's power drain, Jarvis says that the medical computers know how to fix her from the time the Avengers faced Rogue in Avengers Annual #10 (incorrectly listed as #7).
  
• While at the Hellfire Club, the X-Men see the unconscious body of the White Queen, who's been passed out in Uncanny X-Men #169. The X-Men learned that it was Mastermind who put her in a coma after they defeated him in Uncanny X-Men #175.
  
• The Impossible Man and his wife left the Earth to find their own planet to populate in Marvel Two-In-One #60. They needed a new planet because Galactus ate their old one in Fantastic Four #175.

Crossover: Assistant Editors' Month

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I noticed you've mentioned a couple times the Rogue absorbing Shulkie bit (here and in the Questprobe 4 review) but I would like to see some panels of it since it does feel like certain Rogue absorption are important.

Added the scans!

Wow, Rogue's ripping out of her outfit and is growing her classic hairstyle...I think Jen had just as good an influence of her as Carol. (well j/k on the last part)

Odd at the end, the choice of then-nearly-40-year-old Tom Selleck as the iconic sex symbol for two teenagers to go wide-eyed and drooly over. I know Claremont had a running thing with the New Mutants being fans of MAGNUM, P.I., but my recollection of the time is that Selleck was a little out of these girls' demographic. His biggest fans were women more Moira MacTaggert's age. Kitty and Illyana would be into a twentysomething actor or musical performer, and there were a lot of them to choose from in 1983. But I guess Selleck in a Hawaiian shirt (or Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones get-up) does read more clearly than would a panel of Matt Dillon or the singer of Duran Duran.

One of only two Impossible Man stories I actually like (the New Mutants Annual is the other). He's annoying, but it works, because the X-Men are so clearly annoyed with him. A fairly amusing annual and a good use of Assistant Editor's Month.

This is also the issue where we first learn that Rogue and Sebastian Shaw have battled before.

While I understand your animosity towards the Impossible Man, fnord, I think Impy worked best playing off the Thing. All in all, this was a fun,lightweight issue that goes down like cotton candy. Although I think Kitty and Illyana were definitely out of the Tom Selleck-drooling demographic! Piggybacking off Ataru320's comments, maybe the boys from Def Leppard would have been more appropriate.

Def Leppard would have been very iffy. They really had just broken through in the US with their third album, and there first two albums weren't even huge successes in Britain. "Magnum P.I." had been a decent-sized hit for several years by the time this album came out.

As Todd says, Tom Selleck would just come across more clearly, to the audience as well as Kitty and Illyana. Bo and Luke Duke (to pick an example) would be more appealing to the girls even if they'd never watched "The Dukes of Hazard," but look at that final page and tell me they would have recognizable to anybody.

Actually, when I started 8th grade in late Summer 1983 Def Leppard had already become massively popular over the past few months, so they would have been a reasonable choice. The Dukes of Hazzard, on the other hand, had pretty much lost their charm by this time.

Some thoughts from a guy who was in junior high when Magnum started airing:

1) I knew several girls Kitty and Illyana's age who were absolutely in love with Tom Selleck. Joined the fan club and everything.

2) The Dukes had indeed run their course by the time this annual came out (summer '83, correct?) In fact, most of the preceding season featured the "fake Dukes" who replace Bo and Luke for 18 episodes. The show was never the same after that.

3) Summer '83 was still too early for a lot of people to know who David Lee Roth was, believe it or not. Yes, the partying males were aware of Van Halen, but their run of video hits on MTV hadn't begun yet. The album 1984 wouldn't be released until the end of the year and it was the string of "Jump," "Panama," and "Hot for Teacher" that made DLR a household name. Prior to that, their MTV presence consisted of two performance videos from Fair Warning, neither of which was shot or edited particularly well, and a video for Diver Down's "Pretty Woman" that was pulled almost immediately because it featured a transvestite twist at the end. Other than that, there was the occasional interview or concert clip, but seriously, the number of high school girls who had any clue who David Lee Roth was spiked AFTER that "Jump" video came out.

4) The Def Leppard suggestion is fair, but those guys were never the characters that Van Halen, and especially Dave, were.

Among the Imp's collection is a pair of the Hulk's torn purple trousers. Imp v Hulk - what have we missed?