Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #19
Cover Date: Apr 66
Title: "Lo! Now shall appear-- the Mimic!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Werner Roth - Penciler
Dick Ayers - Inker

Review/plot:
This issue introduces the Mimic, a seemingly one-off villain threat who turns out to have a lot more appearances in him.

The Mimic is not a mutant. Calvin Rankin got his powers in an accident in his father's lab, giving him the ability to copy the attributes of others. So far this seems to have meant copying the natural non-mutant abilities of regular people (being good at baseball, being knowledgeable of school subjects, etc.) but he seems pretty unsurprised the first time he runs into mutants (Beast and Iceman) and picks up their powers.

When a bunch of construction workers see Mimic attacking a seemingly normal group of teenagers, they turn into an anti-mutant mob, leaving the actual mutant X-Men a bit unsure what to do.

Mimic's powers fade a short time after he's out of range of his source, but he realizes that from the encounter he was able to deduce the secret identities of two of the X-Men.

He soon encounters Jean Grey as well...

...and follows her home to Xavier's school.

Thanks to their superior training, the X-Men are able to defeat the Mimic...

...but he escapes with Marvel Girl and it turns out it was all a ploy to lure them back to the deserted mine where Mimic's father moved him after his powers started getting him in trouble. His father built a machine that was supposed to make Mimic's power absorption permanent, but was killed by angry locals when the machine drew so much power it caused power outages throughout the county.

It turns out Calvin's father was actually secretly working to remove his powers, so when the rest of the X-Men arrive, Xavier lets him activate the machine, and then Xavier (of course!) wipes the mind of the now powerless Mimic.

This issue also introduced Vera. She'll be a longtime on-and-off-again love interest for the Beast.

The Mimic is a weird looking guy. Werner Roth isn't Jack Kirby, but this was a fun issue.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 5 - first Mimic. First Vera Cantor.

Chronological Placement Considerations: The X-Men are said to be fully recovered after their fights with the Sentinels and Magneto "in the past few months"

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

when Mimic absorbs someone's abilities, does he absorb their handicaps/skills, too? it seems like he at the very least gets their learned skills, because he was able to defeat a boxer without having any training. if all he absorbed was the boxer's innate abilities (quicker reflexes, higher endurance, etc), it wouldn't give him the learned skills to actually fight and win. he also very easily starts flipping around like Beast after a 10 second meeting - something Beast spends hours in the Danger Room perfecting.

so, keeping that in mind, does he also absorb Cyclops' inability to control his optic blasts, as well? if so, why didn't he knock everyone out by accident once he got Cyclops' powers? he couldn't know about Cyke's disability, and he really shouldn't know that Scott wears special ruby quartz glasses, should he? in which case, he's just got regular sunglasses on at first and then funny goggles after he changes into his costume, none of which block optic blasts.

It probably is over-thinking things in a Silver Age story where the author probably never once considered it.
But, I'd say Cyclops disability does explain it. Mimic wouldn't need to know about that.
Mimic probably picked up the ability to master Cyclop's blasts without the disability that hampered Scott, so it's how Cyclops would have been able to use that power had Scott not been injured.

This was my first issue of a comic book from the 1960s, by the way. I've always had a soft spot for Mimic.

On the first page, Marvel Girl appears to be reading Monsters Unlimited #6, a humor magazine written by Stan Lee. Truly a master of self-promotion.

I've always liked the concept of the Mimic but found Rankin's personality offputting.

Mimic, Taskmaster and Superadaptoid need to form into a super-villain team and wreak havoc

I'd be more inclined to put the Super-Skrull in there as a counterpart to the Super-Adaptoid and Mimic since the Taskmaster doesn't copy actual powers. He also tries to keep a low profile. Still the basic idea of such a team-up is pretty awesome.

Mimic feels too much of a patsy to be on a villain team. Could see the Super-Skrull and Super-Adaptoid though; maybe Rogue and Mystique together in the early days prior to the Miss Marvel incident though.

A shame they didnt use mimic more, i could see endless possibilities here!