Uncanny X-Men #159 (Jul 82): Night Screams!Creative Team: Chris Claremont, writer; Bill Sienkiewicz, guest penciler; Bob Wiacek, inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Clynis Wein, colorist; Louise Jones, editor; Jim Shooter, ed-in-chief
Starting Line Up: Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite
Guest Star: Havok, Polaris
Synopsis: The X-Men essential break into Misty Knight's apartment to see if she's home. She's not, but her roommate, Harmony Young, a runway model, is and doesn't seem too upset a bunch of costumed weirdos just broke into her place. They explain they are friends of Misty's and needed to stop in so Kitty could change out of costume to go meet up with her parents. Storm and Kitty get to wear some of Harmony's extensive wardrobe while the guys sit around drinking beer. Meanwhile, in New Mexico, Cyclops explains Xavier's situation to Havok. Then they go back to the house where Polaris is serving dinner. They ask Corsair how long he'll be staying on Earth, then ask if he wants his sons to go with him. He doesn't know. Back in New York, Kitty calls the team from meeting her parents to ask if Storm made it back ok, which she hasn't. Cut to a hospital where she's the victim of a mugging and her throat has been slashed. Wolverine and Colossus show up and ask the doctor about her condition. The doctor explains she is doing surprisingly well, but they couldn't do a blood transfusion because they couldn't identify her (mutant) bloodtype. The doctor also explains she was robbed or raped, but attacked and throat cut. They check on Storm and find her nearly unscathed. They decide it's best she check out before she's discovered as a mutant. Back at Misty's apartment, Storm is put to bed. She starts to have a nightmare, then opens the window and lets in a strange fog. The next morning, Kitty comes back, and everyone tells her what happened and that Storm is not doing well now. Kitty checks on her. She tries to open the shades, but the light hurts Storm. Kitty notices that Storm is wearing a scarf with the initial 'D' on it. Storm says she got it from a friend. Then the light reflects off of Kitty's Star of David and causes Storm more pain. Storm throws Kitty away, and Kitty leaves in tears, believing she knows what's happening. Storm opens the window again and let's in her friend. None other than... (Are you ready for this?)... Dracula! Kitty races back in the room with an Indiana Jones outfit and a cross, but it doesn't do any good because Kitty is Jewish. But her Star of David does enough to make Dracula flee and Storm with him. Kitty explains what happens to the X-Men, and despite being skeptical, Storm is gone and they go after her. Dracula's castle is naturally in Central Park, so that's where they go. Dracula sends rats and wild dogs after them, but the team goes through them easily. Dracula isn't so easy and he holds the team off quite well. Wolverine tries making the sign of the cross with his claws, but it does no good. But when Nightcrawler does, it works enough to make Dracula send a lightning bolt to follow Nightcrawler no matter where he teleports. Kitty goes inside the castle to find Storm. Instead, she finds a coffin, so she ruins it with holy water. But then Storm attacks her. Realising it'll take more time before Storm is transformed into a vampire, Kitty tries to persude her to fight it because she can't fight Storm and will let her kill her. Nightcrawler tries to make the lightning hit Dracula, but the explosion knocks all the X-Men out and leaves Dracula unharmed. Storm appears at his side, but attacks him. The two engage in an arial battle with Storm denouncing Dracula. She refuses to ever take the life of an innocent person, but she is willing to destroy him. This earns Dracula's respect and he leaves her, removing his influence from her. Storm returns to the team, at dawn, and is ok, so she's not a vampire. The End.
Yeah, but is it good? If you're not an avid X-Men reader, you're probably thinking. "What the fuck? The X-Men fight DRACULA?" Well, gentle reader. As an avid X-Men reader, *I* was thinking "What the fuck? The X-Men fight DRACULA?" Maybe this requires some explanation. In the 70s, horror comics became extremely popular. Marvel used classic horror characters like Dracula and Frankenstein. They started off with having them in their classic settings, but then found reasons to be ressurected in modern times so they could be an active part of the Marvel universe. And fight major heroes. Like the X-Men. So here we are. But this kind of crap, if it needs to be done, is ment for the annuals. It has absolutely nothing to do with the regular X-Men continuity (and yet there's a follow up to this story). But just looking at the story itself, it's still junk. There's a ton of simple things I could nitpick like... Why does Kitty need to change at Misty's place? How is she at her parents place for the night when they live in Chicago? Why the fuck are the X-Men fighting Dracula? And so on... What absolutely boggles my mind is this issue was voted #47 in 100 Greatest Marvels poll.
Significata: Storm almost becomes a vampire (this comes up again before never being spoken of again). Cyclops and Havok actually consider going in to space with Corsair.
