Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Uncanny X-Men #149
Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #149
Cover Date: Sep 81
Title: "And the dead shall bury the living!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Dave Cockrum - Penciler
Josef Rubinstein - Inker
Review/plot:
Xavier begins worrying about Magneto, and he sends the X-Men back to Magneto's volcano base to look for clues as to his current whereabouts. Kitty pisses Xavier off by phasing through his computers, wiping out his recent work. She's also wearing a deliberately awful costume.
Xavier informs her that individual costumes are awarded at graduation time and that she can't wear one prior. She's not supposed to go with the other X-Men (Down to four members plus Kitty with Cyclops and Angel gone), but of course she sneaks aboard the plane and Wolverine sniffs her out.
The X-Men don't find Magneto at the volcano base, but they do discover that the base has been excavated after the volcano eruption, and they run into Garokk...
...who Magneto rescued from his seeming fall to death and ordered to guard the base. He winds up getting dropped down another endless pit.
Meanwhile, at the strange island in the Bermuda Triangle that Scott and Lee Forrester are on, Magneto reveals that he recognizes Scott as Cyclops.
The X-Men's Danger Room is still being repaired as of this issue, for what it's worth.
Quality Rating: B+
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Storm reveals the Angel has left the X-Men as of last issue. Carol Danvers will be with Xavier in Uncanny X-Men #150, which also starts with the remaining X-Men flying the Blackbird and Kitty still wearing her self-made costume. Rather than have the X-Men appear in Uncanny X-Men #149 and then show up at the X-Mansion to meet Carol Danvers in Avengers annual #10, and then return to the Blackbird with Kitty still wearing her costume, it makes more sense for Avengers annual #10 to have taken place before Uncanny X-Men #149, with Carol just not on panel for this issue.
References:
- While Xavier is pondering Magneto, we see scenes from Uncanny X-Men #1, Uncanny X-Men #4, Defenders #16, Uncanny X-Men #104, and Uncanny X-Men #113.
- Garokk seemingly died in Uncanny X-Men #116, something Storm feels guilty about.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: X-Men Classic #53
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Comments
That's one snazzy shirt Scott is wearing!
Cockrum couture, natch!
This issue seems to be the first time since her introduction that Claremont brings up the disruptive effect of Kitty's phasing powers, since she accidentally wipes Xavier's data by phasing through a computer bank. Later, her phasing can also hurt Garokk; in fact, it's the only reason the X-Men win. It seems as if he's playing with the idea that her power can disrupt all sorts of energies, an idea taken to a creepy conclusion with the "Nazi Excalbur" version of her that shows up some years later.
This issue also contains an interesting letter from a reader whose hands and feet are not ordinary, and who sees Nightcrawler as "a terrific reminder ....that 'freaks' and 'normals' share at heart one common human experience.....There aren't too many characters -- in books, comics, movies, or elsewhere -- that us real-life 'misfits' can lock onto form or celebrate positive images of ourselves."
It's an interesting example of why the X-Men-as-metaphor element has value, and an example of reader response to soem of the themes Claremont was emphasizing.
