Uncanny X-Men #149 (Sep 81): And the Dead Shall Bury the Living! Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Dave Cockrum & Josef Rubenstein, artists; Janice Chiang, letterer; Glynis Wein, colorist; Louis Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite
Guest Star: Cyclops
Synopsis: As the X-Men continue to repair the Danger Room, Prof Xavier is gathering as much information on Magneto as possible, trying to calculate his next move. Kitty busts in to show Xavier her new costume (Marvel Girl with leg warmer and rollerskates. He it was 1981.) Her phasing though the computers erases all it's data. Xavier orders her to leave and tells her individual costumes are earned at graduation. Kitty sadly walks through the Danger Room, so the rest of the team has a game of catch with her (and by with I mean they are catching her) to cheer her up. Xavier then orders them all to the briefing room. He sends the four experienced X-Men to Magneto's old Antartic base to see if they can find anything on him there. Wolverine finds Kitty stowing away. Storm chastises her. They arrive and descend through the tunnel Phoenix used to escape long ago. Parts of the complex appear to have been cleared on the lava as if someone was trying to access particular systems. They split up and explore further. Kitty picks Colossus to go with. Storm goes on her own. She hears the voice of Garrok, whom she let plummet to his apparent death last time the X-Men were in the Savage Land. Garrok admits to be working for Magneto. She radios Wolverine, who senses nothing. Meanwhile, Colossus and Kitty are attacked by a half melted Garrok. He knocks out Colossus, then goes for Kitty. She phases through him and it causes him great pain. He smashes a wall holding back lava, and while he and Colossus will survive it, she wll not. Storm senses the oncoming lava and calls on the Antarctic wind to cool and stop it. Someone hurls Colossus in a block of ice at her. Wolverine and Nighcrawler hide and wait for Garrock. He sees through the ambush and takes them both out. Kitty finally emerges from the lava, having phased at the last minute. She heads off to save her fellow X-Men. Garrock creates a bottomless pit (for intents and purposes) so he can throw Storm down it in revenge. Kitty arrvives, wakes Wolverine and Nightcrawler, and they all try to attack Garrock. It does no good as Garrock throws himself along with Storm down the pit. Wolverine can hear Storm somewhere not too far down the pit. Kitty walks down (keep in mind she can walk on air as well as phase through objects) into the pit and finds Storm on a ledge. Garrok is also there. He lashes out, but once again she phases through him. The pain causes him to fall down the pit... again. Nightcrawler teleports Storm out of there and the X-Men head back to Xavier to report Magneto is up to something. In Magneto's city, Cyclops and Lee are given weird outfits to replace their rags. Magneto asks his guests how they're doing. He then tells Cyclops he can remove his blindfold since his powers won't work on the island. Oh yes. He knows.
Yeah, but is it good? Pretty much just filler to kill time until issue #150, but it was an ok job. The location made sense. And I guess Garrok made sense. He was in the area at the time and bears a grudge against the X-Men. Although he wasn't exactly the most interesting villain the first (issues #116-118). In fact that story kinda sucked. This is really a chance for Kitty to show she's worth something to the team. She saves the day. And the X-Men need another active member since boring Angel left. I should point out I don't think the Angel character itself has to be boring. He was just written into a nothing role at this point in the series. He'll get his time again. And now get ready... Magneto!
Significata: Kitty's first mission on the team. Kitty is revealed to be a computer whiz. Storm becomes more like a mother figure to Kitty. Garrock dies... again. He was working for Magneto. Magneto had escavated for of his Antarctic base. He's up to something. Magento reveals he knows Cyclops' identity. Mutant powers (except Magneto's) don't work on his island.
