Essential Classic X-Men Vol. 2 #2

X-MEN #s 29-31

What is the fate of Cal Rankin, the Mimic?  In the first of these issues, he seems to have adjusted into the arrogant outsider as a member of the X-Men that anyone could have seen coming.  The rest of the team is enjoying a little relaxation (figure skating, another sure sign that these comics were originally created in an entirely different era, referencing the fairly obscure Carol Heiss of all figures), though Scott Summers beggars off, trying to cope with the anxiety of figuring out how to control his powers, unwittingly awakening the Super-Adaptoid, apparently the Marvel version of Amazo (with far less longevity).

Mimic decides to quit the team and actually deludes himself into believing the Adaptoid will prove a better fit for his abilities (on the surface, yes), until figuring out how wrong he was, and helps the X-Men prevail, before once again seeming to lose all his borrowed abilities and returning to a normal life.  It’s about as average an issue for the team as possible, but shows off exactly the right elements.

The next one resurrects Merlin, renaming him for some reason Warlock, and apparently a sinister personality bent on world domination.  Long story short, it doesn’t work.  What’s more interesting, or perhaps perfectly obvious, is that Marvel Girl, Jean Grey, is dragged once more into the center of the plot as Warlock’s intended bride (everyone has the hots for her, possibly because she’s the only regular female character in the book). 

The final issue in this trilogy of aborted villains features Cobalt Man, who is more likely an Iron Man villain, considering his whole story revolves around Iron Man (much as Warlock had a hard-on for Thor; this kind of inter-continuity probably played a large part in making Marvel in very short order become the preferred comic book publisher, since there was a near-instant sense of familiarity with a bunch of characters who had really only just come into existence).  But Cobalt Man is also the brother of Ted Roberts, the college campus love interest of Jean Grey, solving one of the riddles in this collection, the angst of the otherwise perfect Ted Roberts, always fretting over comparisons to his brother.  Turns out his brother is just as nutty as every other egghead in Marvel, as likely to make bad decisions without really learning from them.  But once again, it’s a story revolving around Jean Grey, who perhaps is not coincidentally codenamed “Marvel Girl.”  Could it be that in some alternate version of Marvel history, she was meant to be the star of the book, and perhaps a central character in the publisher’s lineup?  No wonder that “The Dark Phoenix Saga” eventually made her one of the most memorable figures in Marvel lore.  If the company ever actually rebooted, it would be a tough argument not to make her a star again.