The Mimic

This fits in with an old post of mine on the prevalence of copycat villains during the Silver Age. Cal Rankin was a young man who possessed the rather unusual ability of mimicking the abilities of any person he happened to be around. This was not a mutant ability of his own, rather it came from an accident in his dad's laboratory:

Cal grew up as a jerk, as we can see when he first encounters two of the X-Men out on a date:

And a bit later, he (improbably) also meets up with Jean Grey:

During this second encounter he realizes that she is a member of the X-Men, and follows her back to the school. At first he pretends to want to join the team, but then he fights them and makes off with Jean in a car. They follow after him and he leads them to a sealed-off cave, where his dad had been working on an experimental device to augment the Mimic's power, before his death. But it turns out that dad had actually been working on a way to get rid of his son's powers, and in the end:

He would return in X-Men #27. Jean Grey is off at college when an explosion catches her attention:

The smoke restores his powers and the explosion brings back his memories, but at first he appears really interested in joining up with the X-Men. Professor X has many sterling qualities, but being a judge of character is not one of them:

And indeed when the team encounters the Super-Adaptoid (another doppelganger, this time with the powers of the Avengers), Calvin offers to join the android:

But at the last minute, the Mimic rebels against the Super-Adaptoid and when the latter tries to steal his copycat powers, it causes an "electrical backlash" that shorts out the android (and costs the Mimic his abilities). That was essentially the end for the character in the Silver Age; he did pop up in an issue of the Hulk in 1973 and perished in that tale according to the GCD.

X-Men #14-16: The Sentinels

The long-running antagonists for the X-Men debuted in X-Men #14. An anthropologist named Dr Trask warns mankind that the mutants are among us and that they are a severe danger to mankind:



For starters, it seems unlikely that an anthropologist would be issuing this warning; anthropologists study other cultures and attempt to do so without making judgments about right and wrong (not always successfully, mind you). And later events in the story make the idea that Trask is an anthropologist very unlikely. For example, after Professor X demands a TV debate with Trask, the latter brings out his sentinels:



Okay, so now we've got an anthropologist who's skilled at making robots? Then again, maybe he's not all that skilled, for the Sentinels quickly turn against him:



This is possibly the biggest cliche of the Silver Age: robots and computers were constantly rebelling against their masters. Indeed, the series Magnus, Robot Fighter which I have discussed several times recently, is based on that premise. But there are many, many other examples, like Computo rebelling against Brainiac 5, or Wonder Man (one of Superman's robots) who briefly replaced Superman.

It also ties into one of the odder conundrums of the Silver Age. While there was enormous respect for "science", the writers were considerably more suspicious of technology (i.e., applied science). To a certain extent, this may be due to the shoddy workmanship of electronic devices of the time.

The X-Men race to the TV studio in response to a mental summons from Professor X. Most of the Sentinels leave with Trask, but one remains behind. The X-Men have a minor battle with it, when it inexplicably keels over:



Professor X hears the robot say something about a "Master Mold" before it collapses. He is also able to get an impression of the HQ of the Sentinels. The team heads there, but they get split up and the Sentinels start catching them:

Trask, now a prisoner of the Sentinels himself, learns of the real mission of the X-Men:

This story also tells us the origin of the Beast, aka Hank McCoy. His father worked at an "atomic project", as an ordinary laborer, which of course raises the question where Hank got his prodigious loquacity (of course, in the real world, he got it from Kirby's earlier "Big Words" character, who got it from "Johnny" in the Doc Savage series, who probably picked it up from somewhere else). Hank discovered that he had extraordinary agility, which he put to good use on the gridiron:

His extraordinary feats brought him to the attention of Professor X, who invited him to join the X-Men.

In the finale (X-Men #16), the team escapes from the prison where the Sentinels were holding them, and using teamwork are able to hold them off briefly. Meanwhile, Professor X has determined what stopped the original Sentinel in the TV studio; it was a crystal which interfered with the transmission signals from the Master Mold to the Sentinels. Professor X has the crystal flown to the Sentinel's headquarters. At the same time, the Master Mold is forcing Trask to create more Sentinels:

But at the last moment, Trask rebels:

Trask destroys the Master Mold and is killed in the process. The X-Men manage to escape the Sentinel's HQ via some solid teamwork.

Comments: A terrific and exciting tale with lots of excellent characterization. If the entire X-Men run had been as solid as this one, it would not have been canceled before the end of the Silver Age.

The stories described in this post have been reprinted here:

Single Issue Review: X-Men #8

X-Men had continued to specialize in one-off stories, but much like the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, they quickly found their major antagonist. Magneto (who appeared in the first issue) and his evil mutants (popping up in #4) became regulars in the early issues of X-Men, much like Dr Doom had a few years earlier in FF, and Zemo and the Masters of Menace in the Avengers.

But there really had been little development of the individual characters. Yeah, Bobby (Iceman) and Warren (Angel) had a little feud going and yes, we knew that Scott and Jean were in love with each other, but the team still really hadn't been fleshed out much beyond that.

X-Men #8 (November 1964), while still a one-off story, offered some interesting developments that would characterize the team for the rest of their history.

The book starts with what by now had become somewhat cliche in X-Men stories; an introduction in the Danger Room, where the drills were being ordered by Scott:



Later that page was the end of the snowman-looking Bobby, as he adopted the chiseled ice sculpture look that would characterize the rest of the series. It was a good move.

We had always heard that the outside world distrusted the mutants. Now we found out just exactly how much. While on a break in Greenwich Village, the Beast saves a little kid who has climbed up on a water tower. But the crowd quickly turns ugly:



This was a theme that would recur over and over in the X-Men, and clearly Stan is drawing parallels to racial prejudice here. Angered over his treatment by the crowd, Hank quits the X-Men and becomes a pro wrestler. Of course, he was the second Marvel character to enter the ring; Spiderman had a brief career as a grappler as well.

The Beast discovers the newest menace facing humanity: a fellow wrestler named Unus the Untouchable. Unus' power lies in his ability to fend off any attack:



Hank observes the Mastermind, one of Magneto's minions, in the audience. Afterwards, we learn that Unus has asked to join up with the Evil Mutants. He comes across a bank robbery in progress and steals the money from the crooks. When the X-Men face him they discover his invulnerability. Returning to the school in Westchester County, they discover that Hank is back.

But is he on the side of good or evil? He is using his scientific knowledge (previously undiscussed) to create a ray that will dramatically increase Unus' powers. At first the X-Men fight to prevent him from using the ray, but he succeeds in bathing the villain in its beam, and it turns out that he was acting for good, as Unus discovers his uncontrollable powers prevents him from doing certain necessary things, like eating:



This idea of a villain so powerful that the only way to defeat him is to make him more powerful is one that would recur many times over the years. The Beast reverses the ray's effects and Unus agrees to go back to the wrestling ring (apparently the authorities don't want him for the bank robbery).

Overall issue comments: A solid story with some movement forward in the characterization of the X-Men, especially the Beast and featuring beautiful sequential art from Jack Kirby. Unus did not go on to become one of the major villains in the Marvel pantheon, but aside from that this is an excellent example of the Marvel magic.

Superior Silver: Splash Pages

This just might be the single greatest splash page of the Silver Age of comics from X-Men #7 (September 1964). The X-Men reflected in the lens of the camera, the flash featuring Magneto, and the smiles of the four X-Men, and the rather grim expression of Cylcops, all add up to making this page just about perfect. Of course, there is one rather obvious flaw, but aside from that, it's King Kirby at his finest.

The God In the Wheelchair

One of the things that writers are constantly warned about is to avoid the "God in the Machine" or Deus ex machina ending. Apparently some of the Greek playwrights would script their characters into an impossible situation. To get out of the consequences, the writers would have a god come down from the heavens in a machine and set things right.

This is, of course, a very unsatisfying ending for the audience which expects the characters to get out of their problems through dint of hard work and inspiration and not by divine providence.

The X-Men in their early issues had a god in a machine; a wheelchair machine to be specific. Professor X was just too doggone powerful, and when they got into a big battle with a major mutant he could just wave his magic wand and make everything all right:



And in the following issue, X-Men #3:



So of course by the following issue, the X-Men were getting a little too used to having the Prof pull their bacon from the fire:



At the end of that story, Professor X is injured by a bomb blast:



But it turns out to be all part of a larger plan:



I suspect this was plotted all along by Stan. I will have to read further in the series to see if Professor X used his brain-wiping abilities again.

X Marks the Spot

In 1963, Marvel really got hopping. For September of that year, they turned out not one, but two new superhero teams. The first, The Avengers, was made up of the heroes they had launched to that point, including Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Hulk. The second group, therefore, had to be newly created. Rather than give them separate origins, Stan and Jack came up with a new concept for superheroes: They had all been born that way. They were mutants, members of "homo superior", as compared to homo sapiens.

Here's the cover:



The Flyboy is The Angel, originally Warren Worthington III. Although this issue does not reveal much more about him than that he can fly and wears a harness while in street clothes that hides his wings, the name is clearly intended to give us an image of a wealthy young preppie.

The big-footed gentleman on the trapeze is The Beast, real name Hank McCoy. He's something of a monkey-boy, capable of bouncing around at will and using his feet almost like hands. He's also a sesquipedalian, somebody who never uses a simple word when a six-syllable term will suffice.

The laser guy is Cyclops, introduced in this issue as "Slim" Summers although later stories use his given name of Scott. Although it is not apparent in the first issue, Summers is the leader of the team when away from their home base.

The gal in the background looking like she's riding a surfboard is Jean Grey, alias Marvel Girl. Her power is here described as "teleportation" although in fact it is more telekenesis as later stories will acknowledge. Jean is the source of some of the friction in the group, as everybody (except one) is attracted to her.

The lone holdout from the Jean Grey admiration society (at least in this first issue) is Iceman, shown throwing snowballs above. Bobby Drake is the youngest of the X-Men at only 16.

The villain is Magneto, certainly one of the most durable villains of the Marvel Silver Age. He too is a mutant, but an evil mutant determined to take over the Earth as its ruler.

Not shown is the regular leader of the X-Men, Professor Xavier. Although confined to a wheelchair, he possesses a superior mind, capable of telepathy at great distances.

The X-Men were destined to become one of the great teams in comic book history, although that may not have been obvious at first. In fact, they did not survive to the end of the Silver Age, being cancelled after issue #66, March 1970. But they would return in the mid-70s with different members and become extremely popular.