Featuring: X-Men
Release: February 3, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jay Gavin
Inking: Dick Ayers
Lettering: Artie Simek
(All that, and Forbush too!)
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #15 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #36 |
| X-Men #18 | X-Men | X-Men #20 |
The danger is clear– the task is yours– the moment is now!
This Irving Forbush fellow was mentioned in the last Daredevil post as well. What’s that about?
X-Men #10-18 took place over a very short span of time, with one adventure right after the other, likely knocking out of alignment with the other titles. There is now a big gap before this adventure, which hopefully brings us closer to alignment. The X-Men are healed from the battle against the Sentinels. Cerebro has been rebuilt.
Bobby and Zelda seem to be going steady now, so Zelda is setting Hank up with her friend Vera so they can have a double date. Prior to the blind date, Hank stops at the library and meets a woman… and they do not get along at all.
Guess who his date turns to be?
The already fraught romantic situation heats up when Calvin Rankin shows up. He’s basically a stalker who has been pressuring Vera to go out with him and refusing to take no for an answer. Well, he’s angry to find her out with another man and conflict ensues.
But it’s an odd conflict. He seems to have mutant powers himself… in fact he is as agile and large-footed as Beast, and has ice powers like Iceman. Coincidence?
Calvin shows up at the mansion to join the X-Men as the Mimic. He isn’t a mutant. He blocks Professor X’s probe using the Professor’s own powers. He’s wearing shades like Cyclops, and wore a harness to conceal wings. Do we start to guess the Mimic’s secret?
His logo is an M. I’ll restate this is the worst form of logo, but at least this has a stylized font.
There’s some comparison to be made to Super-Skrull. Super-Skrull was genetically engineered to have powers exceeding those of the Fantastic Four, giving a single foe with the powers of the entire team. The Mimic is basically the same concept for the X-Men. But what is the source of his power?
We learn by flashback. It’s actually an interestingly crafted tale, a mix of familiar but also unique elements. His father was a scientist and his powers come from a science accident as a child. We see him starting to realize what he can do when he is smarter than the smartest kid and can outbox the best boxer.
The boxer is named Blackie. We know he’ll grow up to be a criminal like every other Blackie we’ve met.
Calvin absorbs the talents and powers of anyone near him, but only while they are near him. They soon fade. Facing people afraid of his powers, Calvin and his father go to live in a mine. Calvin’s father works on a machine that will make Calvin’s gained skills last permanently. But locals attack the mine and his father is killed.
Calvin’s problem now is that the machine is trapped under rubble. So his plan was to lure the X-Men to him to give him the power to break through the rubble and use the machine that will make him truly powerful.
There’s a twist. His father lied to him. The machine wasn’t going to make him more powerful, but to make him normal again.
With his powers gone and the ethically challenged Xavier wiping his memory of events, Calvin Rankin can go live a normal life.
Despite all that, I suspect this isn’t the last we’ll see of the Mimic!
And despite their rough start, I’m confident Hank will be seeing Vera again.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 56/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: X-Men vol. 2.
Characters:
- Angel/Warren Worthington III
- Iceman/Robert “Bobby” Drake
- Beast/Henry “Hank” McCoy
- Cyclops/Scotty “Cyke” “Cycke” Summers
- Marvel Girl/Jean Grey
- Professor X
- Vera
- Zelda
- Calvin Rankin/The Mimic
- Blackie
- Mr. Rankin
Story notes:
- Iceman practices ice spear throwing; references Hawkeye.
- Jean is reading Monsters Unlimited.
- Beginning with a training session is the standard.
- Professor X offers X-Men a vacation.
- Zelda’s day off. Hank has blind date procured by Zelda.
- “Our Friends, The Beasts”, book at the library Hank admires. Librarian notes it’s for pre-schoolers.
- Hank argues with Vera before realizing that’s his date.
- Vera finds Calvin hot-tempered. He wants to be her friend. She had turned him down for a date today.
- Vera had helped Rankin find books on mine engineering.
- Calvin seems as agile and bouncy as Hank; then he turns icy.
- Construction workers try to save kids from the mutant Calvin; they hound Calvin like Professor X warned the X-Men they’d be hounded.
- Calvin deduces his opponents were Beat and Iceman.
- Calvin’s power vanish.
- Calvin hot-tempered. Yells at Jean for bumping into him. He deduces she’s Marvel Girl when the sugar comes to him on its own.
- Cerebro doesn’t register a mutant.
- Magneto had destroyed Cerebro, but Professor X rebuilt it, a hint much time has passed since last issue.
- Calvin goes to the mansion, revealing he knows they are the X-Men, and asks to join them.
- Professor X tries to probe Calvin’s mind, but Calvin blocks him with his own power.
- Calvin shows up wearing shades.
- Professor X has them don costumes.
- Calvin wore a binder to reveal wings.
- Professor X realizes Calvin can “mimic” those he is near.
- Mimic is defeated by the X-Men, but captures Jean and escapes.
- Calvin lives in a mine.
- Calvin’s father was a scientist and he was exposed to an experiment.
- As a youth, Calvin could outbox Blackie, school boxing champ. Good at any sport like baseball by absorbing other players; as smart as teacher in class. Students became fearful of him.
- Calvin’s father took him to live in cave once he figured out his secret.
- Father worked to build machine which he claimed would make powers permanent. It used so much power that it short-circuited every fuse in the county.
- To protect from mob, father set up explosive, and died in blast. Calvin vowed revenge.
- Machine was buried under debris.
- With X-Men present, Calvin can reach the machine; with Professor X’s mental power, can locate machine.
- Mimic clears rubble. Lab was undamaged.
- Mimic uses machine. Father’s machine actually took away powers; he had lied to his son.
- Professor X removes his memories of ever being Mimic.
| Previous | #475 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Daredevil #15 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #36 |
| X-Men #18 | X-Men | X-Men #20 |
