Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #159
Cover Date: Jul 82
Title: "Night screams!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Bill Sienkiewicz & Rick Bryant - Penciler
Bob Wiacek & Rick Bryant - Inker
Louise Simonson - Editor

Review/plot:
Giving Rick Bryant a credit for backgrounds per Mark's comment.

The X-Men show up at Misty Knight's apartment, where they've had a standing invitation to stay while they were visiting NYC. But they didn't know Harmony Young was living there now.

After the initial confusion, Storm and Kitty leave to visit Kitty's parents. But Storm doesn't return after dropping Kitty off. The reason? Mu-hahahaha! Dracula!

The story is set up similar to Stoker's original, with Ororo having been bit and secretly pining for the vampire while the others wonder what's wrong with her.

Kitty lays in wait and confronts Dracula when he next appears, but she tries to repel him with a cross, which doesn't work because she isn't Christian. Her Star of David is more effective.

Dracula manages to fight the rest of the X-Men to a standstill.

Wolverine making a cross with his claws doesn't work either, but Nightcrawler is a true believer and he uses some broken wood to form a cross, repelling the vampire.

Ororo eventually resists Dracula's charms. And because he has a respect for her noble spirit, he releases his hold on her.

The issue ends, as all issues should, with Wolverine drinking a beer labeled "Great White North, eh?".

But then Moira MacTaggert calls to say that Xavier has taken a turn for the worse.

This is the third time an arch-villain has fallen in love with Storm - the first being Dr. Doom (or a Doombot) in Uncanny X-Men #145-147, and the second being Magneto in Uncanny X-Men #150. Once is interesting. Three times is a bit much.

Bill Sienkiewicz on art this issue. It's not particularly dark like his Moon Knight work, nor is it highly stylized like his later stuff. But it is quite good. A nice break from Cockrum.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 2

Chronological Placement Considerations: Professor X doesn't appear in this issue, but he's still sick from the (not yet revealed) brood egg in his belly.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: X-Men Classic #63

The beer label is a reference to Bob & Doug McKenzie's Great White North, a recurring sketch on SCTV. It would get really annoying very fast.

I remember when this came out and it always drove me nuts that they never explained how Dracula grew a beard or why you had to be a true believer for a cross to work since it was never like that for years in Tomb of Dracula. Anyone know?

The beard was explained in Doctor Strange as a side effect of spells from the Darkhold that Dracula was using to enhance his powers.

Well, in that context, the cross should effect him, as Vlad was a devout Orthodox, or some argue Catholic.
Maybe his years of being undead changed that though.
heh

That interpretation stuck, as I recall Varnae being immune to all modern religious icons, as he lived long before those faiths existed.

Dracula also had a beard(albeit a little one) in ToD #1.

Dracula himself comments on his new resistances in, IIRC, Doctor Strange #61.

He explains them (and implicitly the beard) as consequences of his new involvement with "mysticism" of the Darkholders cult.

In Comics Interview #34, Rick Bryant claimed to have done backgrounds on this issue with Wiacek.

Is Kitty wearing an Indiana Jones outfit?

I actually much prefer this to Sienkiewicz's later work, but I'm fairly certain I'm in the minority on that.

I really like this story and I love the notion that such things as a crucifix only work if you believe. I also like the various religious backgrounds of the X-Men. I doubt this is the first solid show of Nightcrawler's faith, but it must be one of the earlier ones (although I think it came into play in Annual #4). The appearance of Dracula here will make it a bit better that a long-time TOD character will meet her end in an X-Men Annual.

Since Kitty's Star of David works on Dracula, that should mean she actually believes in (the Jewish) God, right? But I can't remember it ever being established she's religious in any way, mostly she comes off as a rationalist/materialist. True, she does wear the star, but I always saw that as more of a cultural thing. Has Kitty's supposed Jewish faith ever been addressed anywhere else.

Yes, in Warren Ellis's run an alien that's killing all creatures that worship some sort of deity asks Kitty about her religion and she says she's Jewish.

So that's two references in 30+ years? :) I dunno, to me it just seems contrived that Nightcrawler's Catholicism is often mentioned in the comics, Storm keeps having monologues about her Goddess, and even Wolverine's atheism gets a nod every once in a while, but Kitty's Jewish faith is only brought up when it's plot-convenient, while she's otherwise portrayed as utterly secular.

In Uncanny X-Men #210 Shadowcat mentions her Jewish background when she confronts the angry mob confronting Nightcrawler.

Kitty is wearing a Star of David in her very first appearance in X-Men 129. Byrne has said he based Kitty on a girl he knew, and that girl was Jewish, so Kitty is Jewish. How deeply she believes is a separate question. Personally, I'm not comfortable with the idea that faith can be measured quantifiably, like cholesterol. Maybe it works as described in the Bible: all you need is "faith as small as a mustard seed"; i.e., a very, very small amount is the same as a lot. In Tomb of Dracula, it's said that it's Dracula's own beliefs that determine how much he's repelled. A crucifix is better than a simple cross, and a Star of David is better than nothing. More importantly, if you read that scene carefully, it's not necessarily Kitty's belief in the Star of David that gives it power against Dracula; it could simply be the fact that the Star is made of silver.

fnord, you say this is the third time a villain his been smitten with Storm, but it's at least the fourth. There was also Minos in X-Men Annual 4. Granted, Minos is a one-shot character, but Storm thinks "something in me find this obscenity attractive." It's not odd that villains would be attracted to Storm -- she's awesome -- but it is odd that Storm is in return attracted to each and every one of them. As soon as Byrne left the book, this strong regal woman became a flailing mess. In my opinion.

Many villains are attracted to power, and Storm has plenty of that. And maybe it's same for her? The temptation to take a powerful consort and achieve her full potential. Like, dunno, becoming queen of Wakanda?