This was decent, but the "love interest" thing was laid on pretty thick. I wasn't sure if I was reading X-Men or watching Dawson's Creek (which I've never actually watched so maybe I'm way off here). I felt like they were just going to make everyone hook up in every possible combination. It was like, "Oh no! Villains are trying to destroy the universe, damn Angel is hot." Or 'The Earth is literally about to explode! I'm not sure if I really love Lorna, what should I do?"

I liked the Juggernaut story line a lot and the mutant strip club scene was hilarious. ( )

There are several storylines in this book. Their titles in the original issues were "Rules of Engagement" (issues 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 UNCANNY X-MEN: 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 that on some level they figured out that their deal with the Governor of New York wasn't as clean as they had thought. The Governor wants to use the riot that took place in 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 Professor X's politely understated request to Mr. White reminded me of Captain 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. (I could also point out that it would have been more likely that onlookers would have recognized Nightcrawler and wondered what the X-Men were doing than to have had the effect the Church of Humanity 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 runner up 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 former Generation X classmate'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 to have the body relocated 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 student 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. ( )