What If Superman and Silver Surfer Tangled with Impossible Man and Mr. Mxyzptlk?
>> Rob: They don't want to destroy the universe. They want to annoy it into submission. We're celebrating comics most powerful pranksters, the pink hated pest and the green chaos Goblin. Today on Dear Watchers, an omniversal. Com book podcast where we do a deep dive into the multiverse.
>> Guido: And we are traveling with you through the stories and the worlds that make up, omniverse of fictional realities we all love. Your watchers on this journey are me, the sappy supernatural sprite, Guido.
>> Rob: Sappy or sassy?
>> Guido: No, Sappy. He's sappy.
>> Rob: Sappy, yeah.
>> Guido: I don't know why he's sappy, but no, he's sappy. Are you saying I'm sassy?
>> Rob: Yes, of course. And it's me, Boar.
>> Guido: That works on a few levels, since boredom is an important tool in Superman's arsenal in one of these issues today.
>> Rob: That's true. Because I can't say my name forward or I'll disappear. It's me, Rob Pop. I'm gone. I'm back. Before we begin our trip, our Trickster trip, todayid know what's new in our little section of the multiverse.
>> Guido: Well, while we are covering Superman, please know there are no spoilers for the new Superman movie here. But this episode is very squarely placed between Superman and Fantastic Four coming out because Superman and Silver Surfer or similar are on screen in the same month. So how could we not cover this issue?
>> Rob: And we're recording this before we've seen Superman, but it will come out after we've seen Superman.
>> Guido: Right, but. So you're free from spoilers because we couldn't even tell you Spoilers. Exactly.
>> Rob: We'avoiding spoilers.
>> Guido: Yeah, we have some amalgam in our near future, but if there's a world you want to suggest, rec cover, reach out and let us know.
>> Rob: And if you're joining us for the first time, we have three parts of our journey through the multiverse today. Origins of the story, exploring multiversity and pondering possibilities.
>> Guido: So thanks for coming along and we need you to leave us, a five star review. Don't be impish and do it immediately.
>> Rob: And with that, dear watchers, welcome to episode 164. And let's check out what's happening in the Omniverse. With our travels. Today's alternate universe and today, we have been tricked into answering the question, what if Superman and Silver Surfer tangled with impossible man and Mr. Mixelplixs? I think we'll say it different ways all throughout the episode.
>> Guido: Yeah, I mean, we could just call him Mixie, that's go by Wikipedia.
>> Rob: Just about the different pronunciations of it over.
>> Guido: I'm sure in every, like, video game and TV show they've said it slightly differently. It is. Well, I. I think it's Mr. Mixaplix, but I know it's like some people say middle picks or me, so 'go with Mixie.
>> Rob: That's fine.
>> Guido: And we, have never discussed these two. We'll get into them in a moment. We have discussed Superman so many times, I can't even tell you how many. So go to deerwatchers.com and if you click Episodes, you can search for highlights. Silver Surfer, we've talked about once in the context of Galactus, but that does feature his first appearance. So go back to episode 153, because that also is where we covered the Superman Fantastic Four crossover when we were getting excited for this summer's movie release. So that's a good one to go check out. We have talked Marvel DC crossovers a few times, but it's back in episode 97 that we did a history of them when we covered a what the spoof Marvel did of dc. So you can get a full history of when Marvel and DC have crossed over. Because this crossover that we cover today, it's theoretically taking place in our canonical universe, though I doubt that holds true. But it is taking place on the new Earth of DC, which was prime Earth at the time, and the 616 of Marvel, which has been the canonical Earth, but we'll call it Earth Imp, because these two are little imps. And I had a dog named Imp m growing up.
>> Rob: Yeah.
>> Guido: Yes. Well, because there's also Hordax. Little, Right Hand man is imp. So I loved that word even when I didn't know what it was. It was also the name of a racehorse that my father liked. So that's why I named the dog Imp. And then it was just.
>> Rob: Oh, I just figured it was because he was like also a little rascal.
>> Guido: Impbish. No. Yeah, I mean, I named him in the car when he was asleep. I didn't know what a rascal he'd be.
>> Rob: Well, we'renna talk, as you said, about these two characters we've never discussed before. So, Guido, what is your background with impossible man and Mr. Mixie?
>> Guido: Mr. Mixie. No, I think it's just mix.
>> Rob: Mr. Mixie. You sound like would be a, late night TV commercial right from that Mr. Mixie. And he's got y.
>> Guido: It helps you make shakes or something.
>> Rob: Exly. Exactly.
>> Guido: So, I Think probably like most comic book readers, I've known these two forever. I think people probably know Mixie a little more than Impy, but being a big Marvel reader, I was aware of and maybe a fan of Impossible man, especially as a kid, I just liked how silly he was. It really struck me, I think, because comics, especially in the superhero comics of the late 80s into the early 90s, didn't have a ton of humor. So that's why I gravitated to things like what the. And then things like Impossible man and Mixie, because they always injected a bit of humor into them. So I enjoyed reading them. I'm not a huge fan. I don't know all of the back catalog. I mean, Impi has very few appearances. Mixie has a good number more, but still not a ton. So I'd say I enjoy them. but this was my first really deep dive into them, certainly other than as a casual reader. What about you?
>> Rob: Yeah, this was definitely my first time reading either of them. Impossible Man, I knew who he was and his powers, but mainly from the Marvel Universe handbook and from, like, trading cards, collecting them in the 90s. so I don't think I ever read him or really knew his full backstory. Mixie definitely knew, but less. Not really from the comics, but from other media, from the Superman animated cartoon in the 90s. And then I saw that none other than Gizmo himself, Howie Mandel, played him on Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman, which I religiously watched growing up. So I definitely knew him from there. I do not recall whether he even has, like, the bowler hat, like, what he has in common, other than he is an interdimensional trickster. Like that is. That is the same, but I don't know if anything else stays the same from him.
>> Guido: Yeah, yeah.
>> Rob: And I saw, it's interestingido, too, that actually, last episode, we were actually talking about the Supergirl movie, and I did see that the Sukins who were producing the Superman movies were actually planning on having Mr. Mixoplick be the villain in Superman 3, but they wound up not happening. And interestingly, and this is perfect casting, they wanted the British comedian Dudley Moore to play Mr. Mixopple, and he was, like, a famously short actor. I think he would have been great. And then his comedy partner, Peter Cook, is one of the villains in Supergirl, so they must have had him on the brain at that time.
>> Guido: How fun. Yeah, I don't think we've seen him on the big screen, but maybe we maybe have. Well, he's been on lot of he's on screen this week.
>> Rob: That's true. And you're all like shouting at your devices going yes he's in the movie right now and we have no idea. But let's go back to the start with origins of the story right now on this very show you're gonna get the answer to all your questions. Our amazing story begins a few years ago. So in in chronological order of introduction, Mixie is first. This is Superman volume one, issue number 30. Very close to the beginning there October 1944 from DC Comics. And it's one of many stories in this comic. But this one is called the mysterious Mr. Mixelick.
>> Guido: Yes. And it's written by Jerry Siegel, pencilled by Ira Yarborough who did the inks edited by Jack Schiff. Of course at this time again as people know there are no credits in books. So these are recovered credits. This is of course co creator of Superman, Jerry Siegel. So hes still writing Superman and creates Mixie and then Ira, worked on Schusters pages and was a DC artist for many decades filling in and covering for Schuster and then went on to do also many other comic strips. So these are his co creators and this is his first appearance.
>> Rob: Well kind of. Did you see this guito that it said that due to a publishing lag time the character saw print first actually in the Superman daily comic strip from actually two different people. Writer Whitney Ellsford and artist Wayne Boring. So he was actually appearing. This was probably written first but
>> Guido: That PR first that's happened with Gambit. It's why people collect this annual that got released before GAMT's first appearance. But no, a first appearance is the first appearance designed as the first appearance constructed as a first appearance publication, timelines be damned. So this is his first appearance and his origin story if you will not to in depth with it. Basically you get a classic Mixie story here. He's playing all sorts of tricks throughout Metropolis and Superman has to defeat him. And of course the key for those who are not familiar with Mr. Mixil Polititic is that you get him to say his name backwards, he goes back to his dimension and you're done. And he's just a troublemaker. But there is a lot more to discuss in here because as our regular listeners know classic Superman is a trip and this story does not fail in that category. So I, yeah I have a lot to say but I don't know where you want to begin.
>> Rob: Yeah, I mean I think, I think the thing I was most struck by and Maybe you're going toa mention some of this too. Is that this Superman? I think we've encountered this before with some of this early Superman writing that the character of Superman himself is such a stick in the mud character.
>> Guido: And he's not even just a stick in the mud. He is a jerk. I gues he is, a total jerk. He's a jerk to Lois for sure. He wants to murder Mr. Mixaplic. He actually wants to murder him. He says, I'm going to. If that's an odd name I'm gonna have. I'd hate to be the Stonec Cutter who. I'm gonna have engrave it on your tombstone. I literally tells them, like, I'm gonna kill you now.
>> Rob: Yeah.
>> Guido: So it is. It is a very different Superman.
>> Rob: Yeah. And I love this other line that he says, now I've got to pulverize you. And really, I'm the most peaceful guy on earth. Ask my friends.
>> Guido: Yeah, he really. He's really something else. So that's really fun. and then I think Mixie's jokes, like, and this is true, obviously they escalate in nature as the universe becomes more complex also. But here they're pretty significant. I mean, they don't make a whole lot of sense why he's doing them, but I guess that's the impish part of him. But like, he gets himself hit by a car and then just pretends to be dead, but isn't actually. And then. And then he's like fooling around with a bunch of guys in a pool. and that makes the water disappear from the pool. And he wraps a guy in bandages who's like, having a hard time. he's sick. He's like, can't breathe or something. And then he moves a bridge, or a road onto a lake. Like, he just does these ridiculous things. But I think my favorite joke of his is really speaks to the whole jerky premise of these books back in this day is that at the very end, after he goes away, Lois is very upset because a story has been published in the newspaper credited to Clark Kent. That is not the story about the mayor losing his voice that it's supposed to be, but it's a story ridiculing her new hat. So cover of the Daily Planet. And Clark realizes that Mixie must have written this story and got it printed. So that is my favorite of all of his antics. What did you like?
>> Rob: Women love their hats. In the 1940s and 50s, there was.
>> Guido: Or men thought they did or then thought they did.
>> Rob: Well, you watch I Love Lucy too. There's a lot of talk about hats then.
>> Guido: Yeah, that's true. And there were women writing that.
>> Rob: But I do, I do love that kind of. I was not expecting that to be like the coda that ends it. Because actually. And I think we found this with a lot of stories from this era. It's kind of all this stuff that's happening and then it's really resolved in a couple of panels. All of a sudden that Mixie says his name backwards. He's not even really tricked, like, which is the classic thing. Of course. Maybe because it was his first appearance, they had to just have him kind of outright say it.
>> Guido: Well, I guess because Superman doesn't totally realize what it is, you can't have Superman trick him. So instead what happens is he's laughing and Superman saying like, well, I tried to say these words but Don, I tried to get you to say the word but I don't know it, so I couldn't say. And then Mixie's just laughing and saying, haa. You tried to trick me into saying the magic word clip Zik Z or whatever Mixel Pllic is backwards. And then he is gone. So I guess this is Superman's discovery that it's his name backwards.
>> Rob: Yeah, because he knows that there's a secret word but he doesn't know what it is. But yeah, it does kind of happen very sudden. So then when we get this kind of lowest coda at the end, it's actually, it works well with the flow of the rest of the issue then. And I thought, I thought Mixie himself had such a clear voice here. And I think often with these kind of early comics we've seen before that the characters can kind of sometimes all talk the same a little bit. They don't have the emphasis on characterization that they would later. But here I think, like you see him so much and that I can hear that kind of vaudevillian cadence to him. There's a one moment where he is going in and he is interrupting an art auction or museum unveiling. And he's like, where's my friend McGurk? And I'm looking for my friend McGurk. And it turns out that the art, the statue itself is his friend and his friend. And the statue starts talking and everyone's freaked out. But just like that very setup, like, it just reminds me of a classic old timey stand up comedian vaudeville burlesque act where it's like, where's my friend McGurk and that's like the setup for some quick dumb sketch.
>> Guido: They are definitely drawing on a type for this. And it's funny because I guess, you know, that's not that long ago at this point. That's 15, 20 years ago. M when this is being written. So everyone is familiar with that type and all.
>> Rob: M. Even the look, of course.
>> Guido: Bo magic powers, that bowler hat.
>> Rob: There's something WC feels, Charlie Chaplin like.
>> Guido: All and being shorter feel like. I feel like a lot of those acts, if they're not themselves shorter, they almost make themselves shorter. You even have people who would walk on their knees on the stage to like, give that sense. So, yeah, I think you're right that it's drawing on that. So I think it's a fun start. At the end, they ask you to write in if you want to see more Mixie. And obviously, either enough people wrote in or the writers didn't care and just went with it. Because he keeps showing up for the next almost hundred years. We're almost at, his centennial, obviously have to pass Superman's first. But yeah, for the last 80 years, Mixie's been with us. But before we get to Impossible man, there's one more panel I pulled out that I forgot to mention. That is the cop. Also the guy who hits Mixie. The cop wants to give him the electric chair. Y Just to be clear.
>> Rob: Yeah, yeah. And if Mixie had not revealed that this was all, a game, that that guy, that poor guy would be going to death row.
>> Guido: He going to death row back that.
>> Rob: Vigilant never driving a truck again too. So, yeah, he's ruined this man's livelihood.
>> Guido: Yeah. So let's go to 20 years later when a clear inspiration leads us to our next character.
>> Rob: This is Fantastic Four number 11 from February 1963 from Marvel Comics. It's the second story in this issue and it's in called the Impossible man exction point.
>> Guido: I guessst Sister Mexiclic did too. But we know Stan and his exclamation point. So this is written by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inked by Dick as colored by Stan Goldberg, letter by Artie Zimk, edited by Stan. These two need no intro because these are the Fantastic Four creators. So they're still on the book here year 11 issues later. And they are creating, this character that we're calling Impy, also known as the Impossible Man. So what do you think of his first appearance?
>> Rob: Yeah, I think, like you said, it is a clear inspiration. I don't know if Stan has ever said anything. And not that Stan would ever give credit to anybody else other than himself, but I do think, like, he certainly seems very inspired by Mixie right away. And in fact, like, I was even struck by the fact that this is the second story in this book, that Mixie is a backup story in Superman. It was almost like they were both like, oh, we need another. A comedic story to close out these issues.
>> Guido: Yeah. And in both cases, you just get. Maybe they were, looking for a character who could sort of mess with the heroes, but not with any sort of vily villainous plan or being villainous. So, like, even in this case, Impossible man steals money from a bank, but he does it just because someone tells him he needs cash and he doesn't realize how cash works there. And then he continues with a bunch of other tricks, but ultimately he's defeated importantly. By what?
>> Rob: P. By being ignored, which is such.
>> Guido: By boredom. And it's by boredom. Yeah. The Fantastic Four realized, like, just let him play a few things out, ignore him, and then he'll get bored and he'll leave. So he's almost like just being treated like a toddler, which makes a lot of sense here.
>> Rob: The two things that, of course, it made me think of is when you're dealing with a little kid who is trying to purposefully inore you and, annoy you, and when you ignored them, they go away. And then the other thing, and obviously this wouldn't come about till years later in A Nightmare on Elm street in the first movie, they basically, the way they defeat Freddy Krueger is say, like, oh, you're just a dream. Like, you have no power over me. So it's not quite like ignore. Well, it is kind of the same thing there. They're just like, no, you know, we'll forget you. We're just. We're not even go going toa think about you. That's the way Freddie then disappear. So there's almost a similarity there.
>> Guido: And, unlike Mixie, Impy does give us more of his background in this first issue. So he comes from the planet Pop up, and in that world, there's, there's dangers. But they're bored with the dangers because their evolutionary process is so swift that they can change themselves into anything, which is why ultimately Impi's powers are changeing into anything. He'll grow wings at one point. He'll grow. He'll become like a stone at one point. He'll turn into water at one point, like, his powers are not, omnipotent because all he can really do is transform himself. But he's, you know, all powerful in the sense that he turns himself into a buzzsaw at one point. He turns himself into flower petals at another point in this story.
>> Rob: So he really can kill either because he almost. He actually gets blown up at one point and then just puts himself back together. I know the one difference that they have here that the character that develops for the character later and certainly plays a part in the next issue that we're going to discuss is here when he transforms into whatever it is water. He looks like water. And later they have the traitts that what. He can always transform his body, but it always has to stay green. So that was something.
>> Guido: Yeah, the green and purple is so iconic for him. and yeah, I think it's fun. I think it's, not as fun as Mixie.
>> Rob: No.
>> Guido: For whatever reason, I don't know if it's. It's a little overwritten. And I think the Impossible man has a little bit less of a clear character while the plot gives him more of a motivation, if you will. I know we're overanalyyzing these two characters, but since you brought up Mixie having, like, that voice, I think Impy doesn't really have that yet. Again, his motivation is clear. He's on vacation. He's looking to, find things that are dangerous and have fun. And basically he's a toddler. And then they ignore him and he decides to go home. But his voice is a little less interesting until he has a little tantrum toward the end. But that's about it.
>> Rob: Definitely. I definitely found myself not as invested in this issue as I did the Superman. Which is interesting, being that this was from the 60s. And one of the things that Stan especially was known for was giving such distinct voices to these characters, like Ben Grimm, who's obviously big part of this issue. But it was interesting that Impossible man didn't quite have that same sense of himself that mcixie had. And I think the other thing too, that we didn't mention too, is that, Impossible man is not really his name, because everyone on his world, actually no one has a name. He just says, they all know who we. We know who we are, so we don't have names. So Ben kind of says, like, this guy's impossible. And so then he's called Impossible Man. But he, he doesn't have a name. Which is funny, since Mixie is all about his name. That's his Achilles.
>> Guido: Maybe that's on purpose. In that way, then interestingly, Impossible man doesn't come back for like a decade or more. Wow. Comes back way later in Fantastic Four. He has very few appearances overall over the last 60 years that he was created. But yeah, he doesn't come back for a while.
>> Rob: So I saw he has a son named Adolf. Impossible'like who's an introvert. He has all the same powers, but he's introverted as opposed to Impossible Man's extroverted.
>> Guido: Yeah. He has a great design, though. That's part of what makes him so recognizable. And in fact, just the month that we're recording this, July 2025. Currently, the Marvel variant covers are Impossible man variants, or they were in June into July now. And it's fun because they're taking just the COVID of the issue and sticking him somewhere on it. And it like makes sense because he just sort of inserts himself into places, pops into places. But he has that iconic green purple cone head look, which this predictates the cone heads. So I don't know.
>> Rob: Yes, it does.
>> Guido: They were inspired by him, but yeah.
>> Rob: So, well, let's see what happens when these two characters actually meet. It's time for exploring multiversity.
>> Guido: I am your guide through these vast new realities. Follow me and ponder the question, what if?
>> Rob: And today we are asking the question, what if Superman and Silver Surfer tangled with impossible man and Mr. Mixel Plick. This is Silver Surferash Superman hash1. You know, Marvel was like, it has to be alphabetical order. Silver Surfer'gotta be first since Superman is definitely a much more famous character than Silver Surfer. He would have been a little early, sooner on the newsstand, I guess, but this way. This is from January 1997 co published by Marvel and DC Comics. And it's entitled Pop with an exclamation point. Yes.
>> Guido: So this book is of course, as mentioned. Go back and listen to our history of Marvel DC crossovers. This follows the Marvel DC Mega crossover that led to Amalgam and the one shots and various books that occurred prior to it. And there's a few more one shots to come after. So it's sort of right in the middle of that era of titles still going on. It's written by George Perez, penciled by Ron Lim, inked by Terry Austin, colored by Tom Smith, lettered by John Costanza. Of course, George Perez is a legend. We've discussed him before. But in terms of his work on Marvel DC, he originally did the JLA Avengers in the early 80s, which was never released and it didn't come out until the 2000s when he was allowed to go finish it and have it come out. Ron Lim is known mostly for his work on Marvel, including on Silver Surfer and the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade stories.
>> Rob: So they kind of had a DC person and a Marvel person.
>> Guido: That's always how they would do the books. Even the amalgams M are like that. You have one and one generally, and they would flip on and off and they would also flip the order of the characters depending on the book. So my guess is while this one Silver Surfer, Superman, like the next one was probably Batman, Daredevil, or, you know, they would take.
>> Rob: That's still in alphabetical order though. So.
>> Guido: Maybe they did try to make that work well before we dig in, because these issues are a little harder to find. Less so with the recent Marvel DC omnibuss, which this does appear in, but they're still a little hard to find. So why don't we give a quick summary and then we can dive in.
>> Rob: Yes, it's about like 50 pages, right? So this is a very appre.
>> Guido: Yeahiated version published as a square bound, sort of prestige issue at the time.
>> Rob: M so Superman finds himself back on Krypton battling the Super Scrolll while Silver Surfer is a Metropolis which has been shrunken down to the size of a snow globe. What the heck is going on? Well, impossible man and Mr. Mixaplick have sent Supses and the Surfer to each other's worlds so that they can trick them and have the home court advantage. But when Impi realizes Mixie has double crossed him, it becomes a battle between the two shapeshifting tricksters.
>> Guido: Yes, so getting it right out of the way, I mean, this is not a Silver Surfer Superman.
>> Rob: No.
>> Guido: Let's just be clear that this is a Mixie Impossible man book that Superman and Silver Surfer happened to be in.
>> Rob: Yes, although it takes. Although those. The two Trickster characters don't really come into the story until about halfway through. So it's kind of. It's a funky setup that they have because it really kind of starts as a Superman Silver Surfer story and then becomes. It makes not a twite a 180, but it makes a big pivot around the halfway mark.
>> Guido: Well, except the Silver Surfer and Superman aren't interacting at that point. So that's why it's not living up to its title. Well, I guess it's living up to the slash in its title, but it's
>> Rob: Well, and in fact they don't even really, With these kind of books, you Always expect them to either a fight or really combine their powers. And to your point, they don't really come together until the end. They certainly never battle each other, which would be kind of pretty interesting. Would be interesting. So, yeah, in that point they just exchange some pleasantries, basically near the conclusion.
>> Guido: Yeah, yeah. And it's explained at one point Mixie, Or no, Impossible man, explains why it's Silver Surfer and not the Fantastic Four. I'm sure it was something narratively driven or it was the fact that the Superman Fantastic Four crossover was in the works or, I don't know what the deal is, but he picked him because he was powerful and he had some other explanation. I can't remember. But regardless, he tries to rationalize why it's Silver Surfer.
>> Rob: Well, there's almost a meta. Kind of a few meta lines that they have in there'from Impi, where Impi says of Mixie that he's jealous that you have this one foe you can always go back to. And that's probably because I'd imagine Impi, while he originated the Fantastic Four, like, they probably just didn't always know what to do with him and dropped him all around, have him mingle with other characters while Mixie is always associated with Superman. And then I think Impie also says, yeah, all my usual playmates are getting really tired of me. So maybe they were also thinking I kind of read that as a meta thing of, like, yeah, nobody wanted to deal with Impossible man and one of their stories in their books anymore.
>> Guido: It could be. And the other metaign he has is what perhaps makes this canonical, which DC versus Marvel. Marvel versus DC is in theory canonical. But at one point he says, so Superman says, okay, games's over. Get me back to my universe. And he's saying, well, it's not that easy. It required our combined powers. He calls them mixed pickles, which I like. So, Hammond McPickles, he says, neither one of us is Access, after all. And of course, Access is the character in Marvel vs. DC who can bridge the two worlds. And so it, at the time, they were trying to make it that all of these things potentially happened and the characters just don't ever talk about it. Whether or not that can hold true is up for debate. And we'll talk about in our third segment. So that's the other kind of meta line in there regarding these characters. I think my favorite part of the book is when Mixie and Impy are just fighting because they're turning themselves into different characters. And that's really fun to see Wolverine versus Wonder Woman, to see Thanos versus Elongated man, to see Goliath versus. I don't even know who he ends up fighting. But you've got Batman, Vers, Cyclops. Oh yeah, the Atom. So it's just fun. And it's only for like a panel here and there, but it's fun that they do it. It's a fun team ups. And then I like the coloring in that too. So impies are always green and purple and mixes are always orange and purple, which does become his colors. It was not his color in his first appearancees, but ultimately he always then wears the orange and purple bowler and the suit always has those colors in it. So it's really fun when it does just become a book of the two of them.
>> Rob: Yeah, I think. I think where this dragged for me. It was the first half of the book before the reveal really happens because it's Superman battling Super Skrull, which sounds.
>> Guido: Well, it's not. It's not even super scroll, not actually Super Skull.
>> Rob: It's actually Impossible Man. It skies. But it. You would think, oh, maybe that would be interesting. And it's not really Krypton. We'll find out that it's another planet. But yeah, I don't know, it just kind of doesn't quite get there. And then Silver Surfers is even weirder because he's flying around Metropolis, but then he's just battling. I don't even know this character because I don't know Superman. The Contessa.
>> Guido: I don't know either. She must have been someone at this moment in 1997, because she's was thinking.
>> Rob: Wait a second, is this Val Flex.
>> Guido: Corp at this point or something? But right, wrong, wrong. Contessa, Wrongess.
>> Rob: She seems almost exactly the same and totally Silver Surfers battling like her robots. But it's like, I don't really care. I don't know who this character is. And then he wakes up and Metropolis has been shrunk. Like there's a lot going on. And it feels like very. It also feels very text heavy there. So it's not until Impossible man reveals himself as actually being Super Skruroll and then gives us the backstory of him meeting Mixie. And I love that he does call him Mix Pickles. I think that that was very funny. But it wasn't until there that I think it really started to take off for me. And even then in the conclusion, I think there's a lot going on on who tricked who and what are the circumstances? Because Mixie is more the villain in this story, and he set certain parameters and then Superman tricks him. I started to get a little confused.
>> Guido: I agree it should have been kept a little more simple and just had fun with it. I agree that it sort of drags and is needlessly complex. I did not love it either, but it's fine. It's fun to revisit. But yeah, I did not love itah.
>> Rob: I think it would be fun to return to these characters and have a story that's more. Obviously they. Maybe it wouldn't be the main characters because they're such supporting characters in Mixie and Mi, but I would love to see them get back together again.
>> Guido: Superman and Silver Server.
>> Rob: No, no. Mixy and Impossible.
>> Guido: Oh, yeah, yeah. no, I agree with you totally. I think that would be really fun. And I think again, we'll be talking about the future of crossovers in just a minute. But I think what would be fun with them is you could be really silly, like what is. What is a multiversal omniversal gag that these two would want to pull and think, you know, get a writer who has a good idea in that way, and then I think they could have a lot of fun. And it would be. It would be almost like a Deadpool sort of fourth wall breaking, filled with antics kind of story. And I think that could be really fun. Yeah.
>> Rob: I'm not as familiar with all of Perez's work, especially as a writer, but he definitely doesn instruct me as like having being super funny, at least in. For these particular characters. Sense of humor. I think if you got someone, a writer who concentrated definitely on funny books andadool. Slapstick. Yeah, yeah. A Deadpool kind of character and. Or even I brought in a comedian, someone like a Pat in Oswald or someone like that.
>> Guido: He's written plenty of comics at this point, so. Yeah, there are.
>> Rob: Wasn't there also a character called Slapstick that is kind of the same as these two characters as well, he's even per. He looks like Impossible man, but he is Mixie's color scheme, I think.
>> Guido: Yeah, yeah, that is true. There was.
>> Rob: He could come in too. Maybe he's been retired. I would imagine he hasn't been in a lot of books lately.
>> Guido: Well, let's stop.
>> Rob: Yes. Pop into pondering possibilities.
>> Guido: Will the future you describe be avertederttederted.
>> Rob: Togeito? What are we talking about for our pondering possibilities?
>> Guido: Well, we have talked a lot about the movies and ideas we have for movie crossovers. Whether or not we think it would actually happen. Probably. We'd had a lot of that conversation in the issue of Superman Fantastic Four, the episode. But in the last month we got the huge announcement that this fall we're getting our first Marvel DC crossover in publication in years and years. And so Deadpool Batman is the main event, but they announced that there's going to be three backup stories in the issue. Daredevil, Green Arrow, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and Jeff the Landsharkk crypto. So we have the these four issues. Maybe the start of something bigger. So let's talk the future of Marvel DC crossovers in the comics. And now we know it can happen. So we're no longer speculating. Could it happen now we know it's gonna happen. What do we want to see from these? Are you excited for any of these that are coming this fall? I'd imagine this is the launch of more or the test of more. Hopefully they made a deal for a whole lot of follow up beyond this, but you know, we can go anywhere. Where do you want to start?
>> Rob: Well, starting with these. I'm not super excited necessarily for any of them, but I think like certainly sounds interesting. Deadpool and Batman I think is one of the most interesting ones. Just because of the inherent differences in their demeanor, I think.
>> Guido: I think that is by design then. I mean, I think it's almost like Deadpool Wolverine, it's what made Deadpool Wolverine work so well is that like Wolverine is this serious gruff character and once you throw him in with the wacky sort of poking the bear constantly, Deadpool, it can work in the right hands. And so I imagine that's maybe even what inspired this to a certain extent.
>> Rob: M Although not the case with someone like Captain America Wonder Woman, where they're a little bit more inherently that one I don't get.
>> Guido: I mean these are backup stories. So these could be two, three page stories. Maybe that one is going to be about, I don't know, the nature of America or something. Who knows? Like I don'I. Don't totally get or I guess he's a man at a time. She's kind of a woman at of time. Yeah. So maybe that'll be an element. Daredevil Green Arrow make a whole ton of sense. their street level political vigilantes trying to like do good and justice. And then you probably don't know who Jeff the Landarkk is, but he's a very comedic, tiny little cartoon character that was added in over the last probably 10 years now, but not that long. And so hem and crypto is going toa be ae a cute little backup, I'm sure. So, yeah.
>> Rob: Be interesting though to go the mixie Impossible man route. And maybe this is something they have planned for the future after they start with these big name marquee characters and see what are the third fourth string characters that we could partner up. And I see why you don't start with those because you got to get people to buy the books. But once people kind of buy them, who are the Mixey and Impossible Mans that would be fun to pair up that are not the characters that everybody knows?
>> Guido: Yeah, I think that would be really fun. I mean DC has done so much of this kind of thing a lot more than Marvel over the years. So I'm thinking about the Looney Tunes now. I know that they own them and that's part of why, but when they did that kind of thing, I feel like they pulled off the bench. obviously you had a Bugs Bunny, but you also had an Elmer Fudd one and you had Gossamer, the big orange thing. Like you had some weird characters in the, in the matchups. So I think that you could have a lot of fun doing deeper pulls. And I almost think if they did a, even a quarterly anthology book then you could, yeah, have a marquee name at the on the top but have a whole bunch of characters below it that people don't know. Maybe some people know. You know, you could pull out the, the New warriors or some random characters that have a small fan base but aren't going to sell the book and, but make them not the lead part of it. So I am very curious what the master plan here is. If it is that if it is like do these little one shots here and there or if they're sort of either testing or explicitly setting up something bigger. Are we gonna get a Marvel vs. DC again? Are we going to get a return to that? Are we going to get a return to Amalgam? I mean, my God, that, that would be pretty amazing. So I'm curious what the plan is but.
>> Rob: And then I love to see some villain team ups as well. I think there be lot.
>> Guido: I'm curious if they'll be in this. Maybe we don't know. So.
>> Rob: Yeah, but even to have them be more the focus of a book, I'm thinking Thanos and Apocalypse would make a lot of sense. But then further down the line there are so many other. Like I'm just thinking maybe even doing the Sinister Six or Spider Man's Rogues Gallery with The Flashes Rose Gallery. Because there's a lot of similarities between those kind of villains as well. And just have a big book of all those kind of villains battling it out amongst each other. And of course Spider man and the Flash too.
>> Guido: Yeah, yeah. I think all of those, have so much potential. I mean, I think what excites me the most, I mean, I'll enjoy Deadpool, Batman if it's good. But what excites me the most is the potential that follows this and the fact that they were able to finally get an agreement. Of course we know with these two mega, corporations, two of the biggest there are in media, it is hard to iron out all those details and the profit sharing and the future profits and stuff. But the fact that they were able to figure it out for this makes me hopeful that they, I think, like out beyond this.
>> Rob: Yeah. And I think we've talked about this before, but I don't also think we need a whole access like character or something like that to bring these together. Just. Just put them together. There doesn't even really need to be expl.
>> Guido: There doesn't have to be an explanation. I am curious about that too. In this story, again, it probably depends on if this is setting up a bigger storyline or if this is setting up a bunch of anthologies, whether or not they're going to try to give us some explanation. But I agree with you. You can have a lot of fun without an explanation.
>> Rob: One of the things I think the Mixie M. Impi story does well, they just basically they meet up in the in between dimension. They have these powers, they're switching and that's it. Like there's not some big explanation. It's not some big master story. So if they didn't want to just randomly pair these characters, you could always have some kind of interdimensional character like Mixie or Impy that is just putting them together for fun and just like that's the story and that's it. Like that's all you need. Almost like a framing device in an Oatu kind of way.
>> Guido: Yeah. But I will be curious since, I mean we're getting four crossovers and one. So I am curious what the explanation will be even in a story like Jeff the Landsharkk crypto. Like I don't know what. They're not going toa spend a lot of time on some backstory, but I would imagine they're gonna want us to understand how these two characters can meet. So I'm not sure unless it's just gonna be suspend disbelief.
>> Rob: It'which I'm fine.
>> Guido: What if, like, what if these characters meet, period? That's it.
>> Rob: Yeah. So yeah, I could see that. Maybe our friend WAU will make an appearance. Who would be a WAU and the Green Lanterns guys, I guess, because're.
>> Guido: No, probably. Well, maybe. But otherwise the monitors.
>> Rob: Oh yes, the monitors, sure. Yeah, I like that. More likely the monitor and WAU and that they're just doing a what if story.
>> Guido: They're just like, yeah. Hey, let's put these together. Yeah. Well, hopefully it's the start of more because there is so much fun potential. But I'm excited for September when these come out. These and they all 25 variant covers that that I ordered today.
>> Rob: And you know, they all had to have them even, right? They had to be a D.C. person for a Marvel person for every.
>> Guido: I'm sure I didn't even track who was doing them all, but I'm sure that is the case. Yeah. So anyway, we are excited for Superman and Silver Surfer to be seen on screen together this month. Otherwise that is a wrap. Dear watchers, thank you for listening. I have been the sappy supernatural sprite.
>> Rob: Guido and I have been boar.
>> Guido: The reading list is in the show notes. Follow us on social media. Deerw watchers go to deerwatchers.com and leaves.
>> Rob: Us a five star review. Wherever you listen to podcasts will be back soon with another trip through the multiverse.
>> Guido: In the meantime, in the words, of Impossible man, bump.
