X-Men #115 (Nov 78): Visions of Death!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont & John Byrne, rabelasian raconteurs; Terry Austin, illuminatin' inker; Rick Parker, looney letterer; Francoise Mowly, crafty colorist; Roger Stern, edifyin' editor; Jim Shooter, earnest editor-in-chief

Starting Line Up: Cyclops, Pheonix (DNA), Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Colossus

Guest Star: Ka-Zar

Synopsis: Wolverine immediately launches into battle with Sauron. Cyclops tries to warn him, but Sauron catches him in his stare. Wolverine sees the X-Men as demons and attacks them. Cyclops blasts him into the lake. Banshee takes to the air and goes after Sauron. Nightcrawler tries to check on Wolverine, but gets decked. Wolverine sees Cyclops attacking Sauron as a demon attacking Pheonix and attacks Cyclops again. Cyclops blasts him full force to knock him out. Banshee continues his attack on Sauron. Sauron's power starts to run out, so he takes off to find more victims. He finds Colossus. While absorbing Colossus' life force, Cyclops orders him to change to his steel form. The rush of energy blows Sauron away and he starts reverting back to Karl Lykos. Wolverine, now recovered and back to his senses, rushes in for the death blow, but is stopped by Ka-Zar. Cyclops stops the two before a fight breaks out. Ka-Zar recognises Cyclops and explains he was on his way to find the X-Men, having heard they were in the Savage Land. They go back to the village council house and work things out. Lykos explains he didn't die back when the original X-Men thought he took his life by jumping off a cliff in Antartica. He woke up in the Savage Land. He stumbled across a horde lead by a religious priestess, Zaladane, trying to resurect Garokk, their sun god. They use the body of a regular man, Kirk Marston. His body becomes petrified and possesed vby Garrok. Garrok then uses his power to destroy a city created by Savage Land outsiders. Lykos then sought out the protector of the savage land, Ka-Zar and told him what happened. Garrok then starting using slave labor to create his own metropolis. Ka-Zar then asks the X-Men for help. The team wants to help, but Cyclops declines. He says the X-Men have to leave soon and finally tell Xavier Pheonix and Beast are dead. Ka-Zar understands and leads them to a way out of the Savage Land. On their way out, they discover that Antarctic is slowly creeping in to the Savage Land. Whatever Garrok is doing, it's unbalancing the ecological balance of the Savage Land. And at the rate it's going, soon everything in it will die.

Yeah, but is it good? The battle with Sauron was a good little fight sequence. The whole Karl Lykos flashback wasn't so much. Maybe just because I don't usually care for X-Men fighting cosmic or mystical forces. I just want to see them slug it out with other mutants or mutant haters. Cyclops and Wolverine did get to duke it out for a bit, though.

Significata: Sauron explains how he's not dead. First appearance (I'm aware of) of Garrok and Zaladane. Ka-Zar guest stars. Wolverine once again questions Cyclops' leadership decisions.
  ¶ 1:05 AM