Uncanny X-Men Volume 3: Holy War TPB [Paperback]

Chuck Austen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2003 | Series: Uncanny X-Men (Book 3)

The return of the Canadian super team Alpha Flight... but do they return as friends or foes? The hunt for the mysterious religious sect known as the Church of Humanity concludes, but what secrets will they have in store for one of the X-Men? Plus: A wedding between two of the X-Men's longtime members!

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics (September 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785111336
• ISBN-13: 978-0785111337
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,204,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There Are Several Storylines in this Book, January 6, 2004

By 

Ann E. Nichols (Sierra Vista, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Uncanny X-Men Volume 3: Holy War TPB (Paperback)

Their titles in the original issues were "Rules of Engagement" [421-422], "Holy War" [423-424], "Sacred Vows" [425-426], and "The Dead Have No Rights" [427]. The Lorna-Alex-Annie triangle takes up more of the book than anything else, so I guess "Holy War" made the title because its issues were the only ones with Wolverine on the cover. It certainly isn't the best story.

My preference is for the ongoing reformation of the Juggernaut subplot [see UNCANNY X-MEN: HOPE and UXM: DOMINANT SPECIES]. Cain Marko takes a big step in the opening story. I know from early back issues that Professor Xavier has long wished that he and his stepbrother could truly be brothers. Their scene together has a really nice ending. I'm happy for both of them.

Alpha Flight was at a disadvantage in their fight with the X-Men. I think on some level they figured out that their deal with the Governor of New York wasn't as clean as they thought. (The Governor wants to use the riot [see NEW X-MEN: RIOT AT XAVIER'S] to shut down the school.) Unfortunately for Alpha Flight and the cops, the Juggernaut is an extremely loyal friend -- and he considers some of the people at Xavier's to be his friends. (Can you say, I sure hope Prof. X has his checkbook handy? I thought you could.)

Speaking of Prof. X, Sage has suggested that Xavier, Jean, and Emma are too powerful to be trusted [see X-TREME X-MEN: SCHISM]. Perhaps that's why Prof. X doesn't use his telepathy at all during this crisis. Instead, he spends most of it on the phone with his lawyer. (At one point, the tone of X's politely understated request to Mr. White reminded me of CPT Kirk's famous suggestion when he's about to be sucked into the Doomsday Machine.)

Because I'm Catholic, I expected to be deeply offended by "Holy War". I found myself laughing instead. Besides the "The Rapture" error, Mr. Austen has Catholic characters quoting from THE NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION BIBLE, which is Protestant. The Church of Humanity's discarded plan, which involved Nightcrawler, demonstrates no understanding of how our Pope gets elected. (Not to mention that it would have been more likely that people would have recognized Nightcrawler and wondered what the X-Men were doing than to have had the effect the C of H wanted). The facts that Mr. Austen needed are readily available on the Internet, so there's no excuse for his lack of research.
Not even the aftermath of a sickening attack on the school at "Holy War's" beginning can save it from being the stupidest story in the book.

The runnerup for that title is "Sacred Vows". Even though there's no indication that Cyclops told Prof. X about the way Lorna was acting in "Holy War", her behavior in NEW X-MEN: NEW WORLDS and UNCANNY X-MEN: DOMINANT SPECIES should have made Xavier suspect that Lorna might need therapy before getting married. Alex's spectacularly bad timing didn't help.

Except for the very unsubtle last panel, "The Dead Have No Rights" is a pretty good story. Jubilee has to deal with a bigoted cemetery manager while Husk guards their late mutant friend's grave. I'm assuming that the bigot believes that bodies must remain intact for the Resurrection of the Dead at the Second Coming of Christ. Otherwise, his refusal to wait to see if Xavier will pay doesn't make sense. Archangel gets to do a noble deed that I don't think was very wise, considering the way his power works.

Other bits of this book that I also liked were Lorna's wedding plans phone call with her mom, a joke about Kurt's tail, the bachelor and bachelorette parties, Cain and young Sammy's disagreement over who's the best-looking lady at Xavier's, Alex's kindness to Cain and Cain's repayment, Cain's reaction when Chamber and Husk have an argument while Husk is trying to unbury the big guy, and Cain's gentleness with Carter and Sammy. Some fans might enjoy Stacy X's farewell video to Warren.

I'd recommend buying this book for the Juggernaut reformation subplot. If you enjoy reading jaw-droppingly stupid stories that you have to wonder how they ever got past an editor, you might want to buy it for "Holy War". I'm a little surprised that Marvel allowed those issues to be reprinted without adding a page apologizing for that story's errors of fact as well as the implicit assumption that we Catholics are blithering idiots.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Austen just doesn't get the X-Men, October 21, 2003

By 

Blake Petit "Novelist, columnist & reviewer" (Ama, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Uncanny X-Men Volume 3: Holy War TPB (Paperback)

This was just about when I realized I just couldn't justify blowing money every month on "Uncanny X-Men" anymore. Chuck Austen, although he has shown some talent on books like "Superman: Metropolis," is totally wrong for this series. Iceman and Polaris are written entirely out of character, Havok's relationship with "Nurse Annie," which bordered on the necrophilic to begin with, just went into plain goofy at this point, and Austen went to great lengths to essentially cut out the heart of Nightcrawler, one of the few characters in comics to devoutly express any religious faith whatsoever. This isn't an X-Men I want to read, and I'm gone as long as Austen is around. Thank Heavens we still have Grant Morrison writing "New X-Men"... for now.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Austen's writing is offensively bad, December 30, 2003

By 

Eric K. Pavlat "Eric Pavlat" (College Park, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Uncanny X-Men Volume 3: Holy War TPB (Paperback)

In this storyline, we not only see Austen's inability to write convincing dialogue or understand a character's personality (especially Havok and Nightcrawler), but also his incredible anti-Catholic bias and his complete refusal to do even the most basic research. In this story, Nightcrawler essentially loses his Catholic faith and ends up in the "messy middle," with a vague belief in something good out there that kind of hopes we'll be nice. Meanwhile, a villainess gets her driving motivation from having formerly been a nun who was raped by a priest, then forced to get an abortion. Add in references to the Crusades and the Inquisition, and we're right in the middle of a huge anti-Catholic rant.

The story hinges on a fringe group's desire to take advantage of the Catholic dogma relating to the rapture. Surprise! To the Catholic Church, all forms of millenarianism (such as the rapture) are not dogma, but heresy! Pretty big plot hole. Keep this one in the warehouses, where it belongs.