Think of it as an early April Fools
At the end of this issue it says, 'hope you enjoyed this offbeat issue' and promises things will be back to normal next issue. And I for one am pretty thankful about that. It's great to have a goofy issue once in awhile that only intends to be lighthearted fun, but I like to be able, in my mind anyway, to separate these stories from what I (if not Marvel) considers essential continuity. In fact, despite in the past blasting issues of FF (and other comics) that I saw as too goofy, I actually like off-the-wall stories - when that was the creator's intention. It's only the stories that were meant to be serious and fail terribly (FF #3 for example) that really irk me.
O.K., so what do we get in this issue? Well, two stories, actually. The first is a sort of day in the life of the Fantastic Four. It introduces Willie Lumpkin, the FF's mailman, and has the Four answering their reader mail. As you have probably guessed, it breaks fourth wall, and is essentially Lee & Kirby's answers to their fans and critics. One of the unintentionally hilarious bits features them getting upset over the cries of 'tokenism' at having Invisible Girl be on the team, but amount to little more than a damsel in distress - although, by stories end, they're back to treating her in a condescending way - in this very story! LOL!
The second story - the one Stan Lee still defends, but admits was his biggest misstep, probably due to hate mail - introduces the incredibly goofy 'Impossible Man'; an alien that can turn into anything at will - even a bomb, and blow himself up! As you can imagine, it's a completely silly story, and couldn't be anything but.
Fun for a change of pace, but let's get back to 'Clobberin' Time!'
