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New Uncanny X-Men #3
X-Men: Trial of the Juggernaut
The unstoppable Juggernaut has joined the X-Men, but can they trust him to be a hero? Meanwhile, Havok and Polaris are headed for the altar - but their wedding bells just might become a funeral dirge! As Jubilee and Husk mourn a fallen friend, the interdimensional Exiles arrive - but why are they targeting Havok? And the shocking truth about Nightcrawler's parentage is revealed when Mystique returns...and the evil Azazel rises! What is Nightcrawler's part in this villain's master plan, and can he help the X-Men escape Azazel's demonic dimension before Iceman loses his head?! Elsewhere, the Juggernaut takes on Alpha Flight - and finally faces up to his violent criminal past! Luckily, he's got a gamma-powered lawyer on his side... COLLECTING: UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) 425-436; EXILES (2001) 28-30; MATERIAL FROM X-MEN UNLIMITED (1993) 40, 48
392 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 2019
About the author
Chuck Austen
449 books16 followersChuck Austen (born Chuck Beckum) is an American humor novelist, comic book writer and artist, TV writer and animator. In comics, he is known for his work on X-Men, War Machine, Elektra, and Action Comics, and in television, he is known for co-creating the animated TV series Tripping the Rift.
In his most recent prose novels, Chuck Austen has been going by the name Charles Austen.
In his most recent prose novels, Chuck Austen has been going by the name Charles Austen.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 23, 2020
Marvel tries to disguise this book as The Trial of the Juggernaut but that's only two issues of Chuck Austen's infamously terrible run on the X-Men. The meat of the book is The Draco widely panned as the worst X-Men story ever written. Austen reveals Nightcrawler's father to be an actual demon, proving all those people who demonized mutants (and Nightcrawler particularly) as spawns of the devil right. Austen's time on the X-Men was so bad he not only got booted from Marvel but the hate followed him to DC and got him kicked off Action Comics as well. You can read a recap of how he descended into eventually writing porn comics here. Austin's run is lewd and crude. All of his stories revolve around sex. Meanwhile, all of this is going on while Grant Morrison is creating an X-Men resurgence over in the other X-Men book.
The art in this is terrible. I couldn't even make out what was happening in half of Phillip Tan's pages. The costume designs are some of the worst I've ever seen. Everyone has weird headgear or variations of Oakley style glasses that also cover random parts of their foreheads. Vindicator from Alpha Flight shows up and just has a piece of metal strapped across her eyes. It's all like a child designed all the costumes. I do have to give Marvel props for putting all of the X-Men's run back in print, no matter how terrible it is.
The art in this is terrible. I couldn't even make out what was happening in half of Phillip Tan's pages. The costume designs are some of the worst I've ever seen. Everyone has weird headgear or variations of Oakley style glasses that also cover random parts of their foreheads. Vindicator from Alpha Flight shows up and just has a piece of metal strapped across her eyes. It's all like a child designed all the costumes. I do have to give Marvel props for putting all of the X-Men's run back in print, no matter how terrible it is.
November 21, 2019
The title of this book isn't a theme, it's a warning. There is one issue of great stuff in here, namely the Juggernaut subplot. The rest is "The Draco", the worst story in X-Men history, and equally cringeworthy surrounding material featuring character assassination of everyone from Polaris to Havok to Nightcrawler. The story is lewd but never sexy. The package is completed by lackluster art by Philip Tan and in-your-face lettering that does the insipid dialogue no favors. This isn't so bad it's good, it's so bad that it hurts to read. It's so bad that She-Hulk was retconned to be a clone in this story.
My advice is to read every page with Juggernaut on it, and skip every single other page, and stop as soon as She-Hulk turns up. This will be a moving ten-minute read about the cycle of abuse and self-hatred. Just pretend the rest of it doesn't exist.
My advice is to read every page with Juggernaut on it, and skip every single other page, and stop as soon as She-Hulk turns up. This will be a moving ten-minute read about the cycle of abuse and self-hatred. Just pretend the rest of it doesn't exist.
December 7, 2020
Sacred Vows (425-426). This story wrongfoots it almost immediately, as Alex prepares to dump Lorna because he's been dreaming about Annie. It's soap-opera BS. Until Austen offers an explanation for it all. That answers the wrong-footing, but doesn't do away with it. Lorna going absolutely crazy, meanwhile, is really in character [3/5].
The Dead Have No Rights (427). Austen couldn't be more transparent in his correlation between mutants and gays in this story of religious bigotry. And then the big "twist" at the end? Ugh. [2+/5]
Exiles (28-30). The resolution of the evil-Alex plot, though that just means evil Alex tries to kill everyone; and a return to the Lobo plot, though that just means the Lobo try and kill everyone and continue to push their theory that they are super-wolf mutants or something. A fighting mess. [2+/5]
The Draco (428-434). This is a hard story to assess, because it's such a mix of the good and bad. The backstory on Mystique in the prologue, showing her manipulated before she was the manipulator: that's great. The acknowledgement that Kurt is her son: also great. And the "B" story bringing some resolution to the Juggernaut/Sammy plot is strong too. But the whole Kurt/Azazel plot is deeply problematic. The worst part is that this is where Austen really doubles-down on his idea of "mutated" species, such as the angel mutants, the demonic mutants, and the feral mutants. Bleh. Everyone else has pretty much rightfully ignored this. But Azazel isn't actually a demon here, no matter what later writers have said. He's an ancient mutant who apparently led to the stories of the devil in the bible. That could have been good. But mired with all the other luggage of Austen's bad take on mutants, it's instead forgettable [2+/5].
The Trial of the Juggernaut (435-436). The rehabilitation of the Juggernaut was always Austen's best plot. This one takes some crazy turns (like shacking up with She-Hulk and fighting a 10-year-old Juggernaut), but otherwise gives some nice conclusion to this plot [3/5].
Animals (XMU #40). A nice sequel to Mystique's origin story in "The Draco". Yeah, Austen doesn't do nuance, but this is a good intro to Mystique and Sabretooth and their journey to the New World. [4/5]
Control (XMU #48). Mystique as SHIELD spy [3/5].
The Dead Have No Rights (427). Austen couldn't be more transparent in his correlation between mutants and gays in this story of religious bigotry. And then the big "twist" at the end? Ugh. [2+/5]
Exiles (28-30). The resolution of the evil-Alex plot, though that just means evil Alex tries to kill everyone; and a return to the Lobo plot, though that just means the Lobo try and kill everyone and continue to push their theory that they are super-wolf mutants or something. A fighting mess. [2+/5]
The Draco (428-434). This is a hard story to assess, because it's such a mix of the good and bad. The backstory on Mystique in the prologue, showing her manipulated before she was the manipulator: that's great. The acknowledgement that Kurt is her son: also great. And the "B" story bringing some resolution to the Juggernaut/Sammy plot is strong too. But the whole Kurt/Azazel plot is deeply problematic. The worst part is that this is where Austen really doubles-down on his idea of "mutated" species, such as the angel mutants, the demonic mutants, and the feral mutants. Bleh. Everyone else has pretty much rightfully ignored this. But Azazel isn't actually a demon here, no matter what later writers have said. He's an ancient mutant who apparently led to the stories of the devil in the bible. That could have been good. But mired with all the other luggage of Austen's bad take on mutants, it's instead forgettable [2+/5].
The Trial of the Juggernaut (435-436). The rehabilitation of the Juggernaut was always Austen's best plot. This one takes some crazy turns (like shacking up with She-Hulk and fighting a 10-year-old Juggernaut), but otherwise gives some nice conclusion to this plot [3/5].
Animals (XMU #40). A nice sequel to Mystique's origin story in "The Draco". Yeah, Austen doesn't do nuance, but this is a good intro to Mystique and Sabretooth and their journey to the New World. [4/5]
Control (XMU #48). Mystique as SHIELD spy [3/5].
May 20, 2024
Not much of Juggernaut for a book called 'Trial of the Juggernaut'. It combines issues of Alex/Lorna planning on getting married, Lorna turning evil, Alex turning evil (and rapey 😬), Mystique's backstory as Nightcrawler's mother, a whole arc of Nightcrawler's parentage, then a few pages of Juggernaut's attempts to be part of the X-men and ending up on trial, and finally a backstory of Mystique being coerced to have sex with Sabertooth for protection. There was a surprising amount of sex scenes that were handled poorly in this book and waaaay too much sex assault overtones.
Sidebar, I thought it was pretty messed up to have the X-men hire shapeshifting erotic dancers to shapeshift into their friends/co-workers at Alex & Lorna's bachelor/bachelorette parties. Like that's not going to be awkward as fuck when the gossip gets out. Also, Jean, Scott, & Nightcrawler tend to be portrayed as the more empathetic, sensible X-men so it's kind of weird that they're the ones who hired the erotic dancers. Especially Scott's use of the dancers to 'show' Alex that Alex is really in love with Annie.
Sidebar, I thought it was pretty messed up to have the X-men hire shapeshifting erotic dancers to shapeshift into their friends/co-workers at Alex & Lorna's bachelor/bachelorette parties. Like that's not going to be awkward as fuck when the gossip gets out. Also, Jean, Scott, & Nightcrawler tend to be portrayed as the more empathetic, sensible X-men so it's kind of weird that they're the ones who hired the erotic dancers. Especially Scott's use of the dancers to 'show' Alex that Alex is really in love with Annie.
December 9, 2022
Okay, so, again, this wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't the black hole of awfulness I've been hearing about for years. It was just some bad X-Men stories, and those are a dime a dozen. But I will make a few points:
1) Azazel was not a demon. He was a long-lived mutant, stories about whom fed into the mythology of the devil. This is basically the same thing that happened with the mutants of Arako in the current x- books. That is explicitly laid out in the text. I'm not defending The Draco as a good story, but a lot of the bitching about it concerns this point.
2) Lorna Dane's characterization is awful. Like particularly so. Austen is pretty bad at most characters, but Lorna is worst done by him. He almost makes up for it with the telepathic therapy issue, but she goes right back to being shitty. Iceman is notably bad too.
3) Juggernaut is still treated surprisingly well but Austen. It's like the one thing he consistently does right.
4) Those wolf guys were back for a couple of issues. I have no idea what happened to them. They just kind of disappeared when they were no longer needed to serve the action. I don't expect to ever see them again.
5)The art varies. It's generally fine, though the storytelling is often muddled. I don't know how much of that is on the artists and how much is on the script.
6) It would be nice to have a Mystique story that doesn't necessarily involve her banging a bunch of guys for no reason. In general, Austen seems to love cheap soap opera sex plots and throws them out willy-nilly. It can be pretty gross and exploitative at times.
7) If you treat this story as the meaningless nonsense that it is, it's actually kind of fun. It's not so bad it's good, but it is entertaining garbage.
Again, based on the super low Chuck Austen curve I'm using, I give it 3 stars
7)
1) Azazel was not a demon. He was a long-lived mutant, stories about whom fed into the mythology of the devil. This is basically the same thing that happened with the mutants of Arako in the current x- books. That is explicitly laid out in the text. I'm not defending The Draco as a good story, but a lot of the bitching about it concerns this point.
2) Lorna Dane's characterization is awful. Like particularly so. Austen is pretty bad at most characters, but Lorna is worst done by him. He almost makes up for it with the telepathic therapy issue, but she goes right back to being shitty. Iceman is notably bad too.
3) Juggernaut is still treated surprisingly well but Austen. It's like the one thing he consistently does right.
4) Those wolf guys were back for a couple of issues. I have no idea what happened to them. They just kind of disappeared when they were no longer needed to serve the action. I don't expect to ever see them again.
5)The art varies. It's generally fine, though the storytelling is often muddled. I don't know how much of that is on the artists and how much is on the script.
6) It would be nice to have a Mystique story that doesn't necessarily involve her banging a bunch of guys for no reason. In general, Austen seems to love cheap soap opera sex plots and throws them out willy-nilly. It can be pretty gross and exploitative at times.
7) If you treat this story as the meaningless nonsense that it is, it's actually kind of fun. It's not so bad it's good, but it is entertaining garbage.
Again, based on the super low Chuck Austen curve I'm using, I give it 3 stars
7)
November 15, 2021
Reading through this, but doing my review for The Drago separately. When I open that can of worms, I want to do it strictly on The Drago (the actual Goodreads page for it) and not here. In the mean time, here's a little review of the other three stories.
Sacred Vows 2.5 out of 5: Not a particularly interesting read. The art style kind of reminded me of the artist from the New 52 run of Red Hood and the Outlaws which isn't bad.
The Dead Have No Rights 2.75 out of 5: Similar to Sacred Vows, not a particularly interesting story. I liked it a little better than Sacred Vows a pinch and the art was better imo.
Unnatural Instinct 3 out of 5: My favorite of the three. Good artwork and the story wasn't bad. I also liked the introduction of Nocturne a.k.a. Talia Wagner, Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) and Wanda Maximoff's (Scarlet Witch) daughter from another universe.
Trial Of Juggernaut 2 out of 5: A pretty weird decision involving Juggernaut and She-Hulk. Enough said.
Last few issues 3 out of 5: No real complaints or praise.
2.65 stars rounded up to 3 stars
Sacred Vows 2.5 out of 5: Not a particularly interesting read. The art style kind of reminded me of the artist from the New 52 run of Red Hood and the Outlaws which isn't bad.
The Dead Have No Rights 2.75 out of 5: Similar to Sacred Vows, not a particularly interesting story. I liked it a little better than Sacred Vows a pinch and the art was better imo.
Unnatural Instinct 3 out of 5: My favorite of the three. Good artwork and the story wasn't bad. I also liked the introduction of Nocturne a.k.a. Talia Wagner, Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) and Wanda Maximoff's (Scarlet Witch) daughter from another universe.
Trial Of Juggernaut 2 out of 5: A pretty weird decision involving Juggernaut and She-Hulk. Enough said.
Last few issues 3 out of 5: No real complaints or praise.
2.65 stars rounded up to 3 stars
September 19, 2024
This volume collects: Uncanny X-Men #425-436; Exiles #28-30; X-Men unlimited #40 and 48.
This was a pretty good volume. As it collects different series, the art style and the story tend to change but none of it is bad. While the cover makes it look like this is all about the Juggernaut it isn't. The first part of the story revolves around Alex Summers not marrying Lorna and throwing her into a murderous rage. We also see Wolverine and Juggernaut trying to help a young mutant boy who is being pushed to join a band of mutant werewolves. Finally, there is the Juggernaut story where Juggernaut's rage gets him into trouble as he tries to help a young, abused mutant boy.
An entertaining comic, though nothing amazing. The artwork and story have managed to survive the time well.
This was a pretty good volume. As it collects different series, the art style and the story tend to change but none of it is bad. While the cover makes it look like this is all about the Juggernaut it isn't. The first part of the story revolves around Alex Summers not marrying Lorna and throwing her into a murderous rage. We also see Wolverine and Juggernaut trying to help a young mutant boy who is being pushed to join a band of mutant werewolves. Finally, there is the Juggernaut story where Juggernaut's rage gets him into trouble as he tries to help a young, abused mutant boy.
An entertaining comic, though nothing amazing. The artwork and story have managed to survive the time well.
October 27, 2023
I wasn't reading Chuck Austen's X-Men run when it came out, so I only know The Draco and Lorna's Wedding Meltdown stories through people hating them. But twenty years later, read in a whole collection, I have to say, I enjoyed them. I get why people didn't at the time, and continuity has wisely walked a wide berth around them, but these stories are fun action with unique costume risks taken.
April 20, 2024
A lot going on in these dozen+ issues. Art had some downfalls but didn't make the story less appealing. Nightcrawler's birth explained, Alex' wedding debacle & other small players get some page time.
February 4, 2021
A pretty good collection that I can’t remember half of from when I read it before.
September 27, 2021
Liked:
Exiles 3 part story - with good/bad Havok.
Juggernaut/Sammy subplot
Not so good:
The Draco (which makes up most of this tpb, tbh)
Exiles 3 part story - with good/bad Havok.
Juggernaut/Sammy subplot
Not so good:
The Draco (which makes up most of this tpb, tbh)
October 8, 2025
Most of this is absolutely awful, but the Juggernaut and Raven stories are actually kind of great.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews