Era #10, Part 12: Holy War (Uncanny X-Men)

Grade: C-

Things do not really get all that much better in this third volume of Chris Austin's Uncanny X-Men run. There are some interesting topics explored in these three stories but they come across to me as a little too forced. 

Rules of Engagement: Canada's superhero team Alpha Flight arrives with the FBI and local police to remove mutant children from the school. Of particular interest is Sammy Pare who has befriended Juggernaut, a known international criminal.  

Holy War: The Church of Humanity crucify six mutants on school grounds leading to a final confrontation and the truth behind Nightcrawler's ordainment. 

Sacred Vows: Havok finally confronts his true feelings about Annie and calls off his wedding with Polaris during the ceremony. His fiance does not take the news well and dramatically lashes out endangering the guests.

Chris does a great job capturing the humanity of the characters he is focused on, but he continues to portray the rest of the team in a cynical light. Juggernaut grows very close to a young outcast mutant who must return to his troubled home while Nurse Annie must deal with her prejudice against mutants in order to help them and her mutant son. Both of them receive plenty of unexpected attitudes from the X-Men. 

Adding to the characters acting out of their norm is Polaris. She is uncharacteristically mean and reacts in a way reminiscent of her time merged with Malice. I am glad to see Chris doesn't go with the normal superhero soap-opera tropes (it is not Malice), but I have a hard time believing that suddenly being a snotty, entitled jerk ready to kill anybody who disagrees with her is a natural reaction to recent traumas.

Finally, a pet peeve. The Church of Humanity plot includes an awful conspiracy that just feels too far-fetched, even for comic books. It was a clumsy way to address Nightcrawler's priesthood and a waste of a really good villain setup using religious zealotry. The story also includes the deaths of Skin (of Generation X) and Jesse Aaronson (of X-Force). Why? We haven't seen these characters since their titles ended, and now they were killed to prove a needless point? Very disappointing.

[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #421

[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #422

[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #423

[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #424

[4-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #425

[3-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #426

[5-Stars] Uncanny X-Men (1963) #427

Collected in Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 3): Holy War