X-MEN #36 (1967)
by Roy Thomas & Ross Andru
Sure the Locust and Cobalt Man were lame, but they’re still better X-Men villains than Mekano.
Professor X is not going to show up this time, because as part of the Factor Three storyline he’s currently in a coma.
Security at the X-Mansion is so bad that a couple of regular burglars manage to sneak in (???) and they’re beaten up by Beast.
This is an interesting opportunity: with Xavier around he would normally just mind-wipe them, but what are the X-Men going to do without him?
EXACTLY THE SAME THING!!!
Technically speaking they’re not lobotomizing them, but WOW has this aged poorly!
To save Xavier, the X-Men have to travel to Europe. The details are not important for this story, but I don’t recommend checking out the Factor Three storyline because it’s soooooo boring.
You would think that with both Angel and Xavier being rich it would be easy to go catch a plane, but nope!
So the X-Men have to try getting some money at a welfare center (!!!)…
…which doesn’t really work because A) they’re minors B) they’re very sketchy C) they ride around in a Rolls Royce so it’s hard to believe they REALLY need money!!!
We’re told they don’t just sell the car because it belongs to Xavier, which is all well and good… but why exactly don’t they call the Avengers or the Fantastic Four to help? At this point they’ve already teamed up a couple of times!!!
No, the best solution is for the X-Men to find jobs as construction workers.
SERIOUSLY.
Honestly? If they just did THIS instead of turning their school into a paramilitary organization, mutants would probably face far less discrimination.
Not saying it would END discrimination, because I can easily see this turning into a “mutants are stealing our jobs!” thing, but still.
Untapped story potential there.
Guys, just leave Xavier and join a union. You’ll probably make tons of money in construction.
The X-Men’s car gets towed away (!!!!), so they have to make a friend.
Is it just me or is Jean a bit too judgmental here?
Way to spoil the fact he’s going to be the supervillain, Thomas.
Beast and Iceman have a different plan on how to raise money quickly.
So at this point you might be wondering: wasn’t this supposed to be about a supervillain?
And here he is, at the end of page 10.
Of a 20 page story.
The X-Men haven’t done ANYTHING in the story up to this point, and they’re already been tricked into getting bad publicity.
Even Spider-Man is not THIS bad with his relationship to the public!!!
Iceman even gets handcuffed by regular cops because he has “used up” is ice powers.
Despite, you know, still being completely covered in ice.
So what DOES Mekano bring to the table? Well, he’s strong enough to knock out Beast…
…he can leap like a kangaroo…
…and he doesn’t like books.
Clearly the kind of guy you can reason with, according to Cyclops.
I think I understand why Angel sucks so much in the Dazzler series.
The writers probably took inspiration from the Roy Thomas run.
Thankfully Mekano is SO lame that, after he leaps away, he almost kills himself.
And then we discover Mekano is the son of the philanthropist that owns the library, not to mention the guy who gave the X-Men a lift earlier.
The philanthropist is so moved by the X-Men saving his son that he gives them the money they need to go to Europe.
Money well spent, I’m sure.
Historical significance: 0/10
And he was never seen again.
Silver Age-ness: 9/10
On the Marvel scale, when else are you going to see such a casual use of mind control?
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
This was really, REALLY bad. Like, embarrassingly so.
Roy Thomas continues to struggle to find anything interesting to write about the private lives of the X-Men, and even the normally awesome Ross Andru artwork looks incredibly stiff (maybe it’s the George Bell inks?).
All of that could be salvaged by some fun superhero action… but Mekano is legitimately one of the worst supervillains I’ve ever seen.
How close is this to the modern character? What modern character?
Mekano has never, EVER shown up again.
Do you know how dull you have to be as a 60s character that is not used ONCE after his first appearance!?
You’d have to be Mekano!!!
