X-Men: Curse of the Mutants - X-Men vs. Vampires #1

History

The issue was produced as part of the sprawling 'Curse of the Mutants' publishing initiative written primarily by Victor Gischler, which ran across Marvel's X-titles from July 2010 to May 2011 and launched alongside the new X-Men (vol. 3) ongoing series. Rather than using a single creative team, Marvel assembled a roster of writers — James Asmus, Christopher Sequeira, Peter David, and Rob Williams — paired with separate artists including Tom Raney, Sana Takeda, Mick Bertilorenzi, and Doug Braithwaite, with cover art by Nick Bradshaw and Jim Charalampidis. The editorial team working above the individual story editors included group editor Axel Alonso, with Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief — a structure reflecting Marvel's standard event-anthology production pipeline of the period. The decision to reprint the first part of Uncanny X-Men #159 (the 1982 Claremont/Sienkiewicz 'Night Screams!' story) was a deliberate curatorial choice, contextualizing the new event within the X-Men's longest-running vampire mythology.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published November 2010 by Marvel Comics as issue #1 of a two-issue miniseries, part of the larger 'Curse of the Mutants' crossover event (July 2010–May 2011).
• Contains four original short stories — 'From Husk Til Dawn' (James Asmus/Tom Raney), 'I'm Gonna Stake You, Sucka' (Christopher Sequeira/Sana Takeda), 'Rue Blood' (Peter David/Mick Bertilorenzi), and 'Survivors' (Rob Williams/Doug Braithwaite) — each spotlighting a different X-Man.
• The Magneto-centric story 'Survivors' reveals that a vampire Magneto encounters during the battle against Xarus's forces is Leo Zimm, a Jewish friend he believed had died in the Nazi concentration camps — who became a vampire to escape, and whom Magneto is implied to mercy-kill.
• Peter David's 'Rue Blood' introduces the plot device that Rogue's absorption power does not work on vampires, and centers on a vampire who believes Rogue is the reincarnation of his 19th-century beloved lost to racial violence.
• Villain Xarus — Dracula's son and the new Lord of the Vampires — appears in this issue (in the Dazzler segment, where his light-deflecting pendants protect a vampire clan from Dazzler's powers), consistent with his role as the crossover's primary antagonist.
• The issue reprints the first part of Uncanny X-Men #159 (July 1982, titled 'Night Screams!'), written by Chris Claremont with art by Bill Sienkiewicz and Bob Wiacek — the foundational story of Storm's encounter with Dracula, which marked Dracula's first appearance in the X-Men's corner of the Marvel Universe.
• Cover art is by Nick Bradshaw and Jim Charalampidis; Axel Alonso served as group editor with Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief.
• The full contents of both issues in this miniseries were later collected in the hardcover 'X-Men: Curse of the Mutants – Mutants vs. Vampires,' which also collected Storm & Gambit, Smoke and Blood, and Blade one-shots alongside Uncanny X-Men #159.

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