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When I saw this was on the list of trade paper backs coming from Marvel a time back, I knew deep down I had to have it. Not really for any sentimental feeling but I wanted the whole collection in one easy place and I really wanted to reread it to see if the story stands up 12 years later. Of course, I am coming in with a very critical eye. I read comics as a child until 1996 when this, with the Clone Saga which ran around the same time, got me really down on Marvel (which was the only thing I read) and actually lead me to stop reading comics altogether until about 2003. I wanted to check this out to see if it really deserved to be as hated by me as it was all those years ago or if it was just part of me growing up and entering high school. Anyway, this collects a bunch of issues from the beginning of the epic, some are complete, others are just a page or two where an Onslaught related thing happened (and this literally touched every part of the MU). I imagine this will be at least 4-5 volumes considering I have 60 comics in my collection Onslaught related. Well, we can’t worry about those since we only have the first one here for review.
Spoiler Warning
I figure I would write down each title involved in here and review it title by title. Of course, like I mentioned above, some titles are only a few pages so those will be a little shorter. There’s a nice two-page summary detailing some major plots you need to know prior to jumping into the Onslaught epic.
-X-Men #53- And we are off! Jean shows up at a clothing store where she is kidnapped by Onslaught. Beast is still captured and Dark Beast is impersonating him at the Mansion. Juggernaut appears from the shadows at the home of Psylocke and Archangel then heads towards the mansion. Onslaught takes Jean on a trip through the professor’s mind and a secret he has hid from her, that he loved her. The secret was from way back in X-Men #1 I believe (the 1963 one, of course, not the 1991 one). Jean wants to know who Onslaught his but he’s not saying. He drops her back off at the clothing store with Onslaught written on her head. Jean realizes that Onslaught is one of the most powerful psi minds on the planet. We also get a look at Joseph (who is Magneto but he doesn’t know it yet). This was actually a very start to the Onslaught storyline.
-Uncanny X-Men #334- Juggernaut heads to the mansion and takes out Gambit and Bishop then meets Jean Grey, the only person he trusts. Professor X is acting weird, talking down to people, including Cannonball. Dark Beast, impersonating Beast, tries to help a devolved Wolverine but can’t. Yeah, this was the time when Wolverine had no nose. I can’t even begin to explain this to people who didn’t read comics at the time. Cyclops has a weird meeting with Xavier who acts really crazy then asks for help and then disappears. Jean and Juggernaut go to a psi-shielded chamber. So far, this story is still going strong.
-X-Men #54- Cannonaball is depressed about what Xavier said to him last issue but Cyke cheers him up. They find out about Juggernaut being there from Gambit and Bishop and they go looking for him. They don’t know that Jean and Juggernaut are in a psi-shielded area learning more about Onslaught. Cyke tells Professor that Juggernaut is there and Xavier turns off the mansion defenses. Cyke also sees Xavier has been looking up Franklin Richards’ info on the computer. Finally, Jean learns who Onslaught is and tells Juggernaut to run away, Juggernaut runs but is attacked by Onslaught, who rips the Gem of Cyttorak from him. Xavier then calls the X-Men to his office. Onslaught is a totally kick-ass villain protrayed here, as he quickly took out Juggernaut. No problems thus far.
-Fantastic Four #414- This is just one page here where Franklin meets a friend named Charlie, who looks a lot like a young Xavier.
-Avengers #400- This is another one-pager where X-Man shows up to request help from the Avengers since he tells them that Xavier is insane. The little paragraph they have prior to the two one-page scenes are very helpful.
-X-Men: Onslaught #1- And this is where the you know what hits the fan. Jean sends out a distress call and then is attacked. We look into the events that caused this. The X-Men are in the office of Xavier and things are fine, as Xavier tells them the dream is over. Jean finds Juggernaut in the Cytorrak crystal and the true Xavier is revealed. Onslaught appears and takes out the X-Men in short order. The X-Men regroup and ponder how to proceed. They know that Xavier is somewhere in Onslaught and they must save him. We take a break and we learn that only Franklin can see his friend, Charlie. We also see X-Man trying to bring the Avengers to the X-Mansion. Onslaught again takes out the X-Men and Jean sends out her distress signal. Finally the X-Men regroup and stave off Onslaught for a short time. Onslaught takes out Bishop and leaves, with Dark Beast. The issue ends with a Sentinel being activated. This was a really good one-shot issue showcasing how bad Onslaught really is, and first suggestion that Onslaught looks like Magneto.
-Uncanny X-Men #335- Ozymandias meets with Apocalypse who says the age of heroes is about to be over and Watcher is there to witness it. The Avengers fly to the Mansion and find it is destroyed. For some reason the X-Men and Avengers have a quick squabble until they learn that Onslaught is the common enemy. Excalibur and X-Force join the fray. This is really just putting the pieces on the board with all the common threads converging together. Wolverine breaks off on his own, Excalibur makes mention of the Xavier protocols, X-Force shows up to help, Cable is out on his own, and Onslaught and Dark Beast hide in an old Morlock tunnel. We see Xavier deep inside Onslaught. I have to say, the art of Madureira is as visually striking as it was when I first saw it more than a decade ago. I don’t think his stuff on the Ultimates 3 is as good as this was. The story was a bit more boring than the previous ones but like I said, it just put the pieces on the board for the major goings on later on in the epic.
-Avengers #401- Now we start with the tie-ins in non-X-titles. The Avengers, with Gambit, seek out Magneto. They find him with Rogue in South Carolina and immediately start fighting him, not realizing that he doesn’t know he is Magneto. Scarlet Witch, who detailed how horrid it was being in the original Brotherhood, realizes this is not the same man and calls off the hostilities. Magneto and Rogue join the Avengers to take on this Onslaught threat. I can honestly say that this tie-in wasn’t too bad. So far, the story has not gotten out of hand and all the characters are in specific places and reading them sequentially has helped.
-Fantastic Four #415- The FF and some of the members of the X-Men find Onslaught in the Baxter and a huge fight erupts. For some reason, Onslaught really wants Franklin. He is posing as Charlie to show Franklin he can create places in his mind that are almost realistic. Even an onlooking Apocalypse and Watcher wonder what Onslaught needs Franklin for. The X-Men and Fantastic Four valiantly battle Onslaught but are no match for the behemoth, as he walks away victoriously with Franklin.
-Cable #34- Storm finds Cable who is battling a Hulk controlled by Onslaught. He battles different carnations (the smart Banner version, Gray hulk, and finally rampaging monster) as Apocalypse warns of the dawn of Apocalypse. This was an extended fight scene and the first of many unwanted tie-ins that really were there to move books.
-Incredible Hulk #444- Hulk and Cable continue their battle as Storm joins. Eventually Storm and Cable stop Hulk who wants to team up with them to stop the guy who took over his mind. Like I said above, this was where the cracks of the Onslaught story started to show. This could have easily been told in one story but it was seperated into two to move comics. If you think this is bad, this is only the first volume. Onslaught literally reached everything, from Punisher War Journal to Sensational Spider-Man to Green Goblin. I have about 60 issues downstairs of just Onslaught related titles. This was a downer to end Volume 1.
-The Bottom Line- I was totally surprised by how well the issues read a decade later. Every issue, save for the last two, told a very good story, was scripted together very well and continuity wise wasn’t a problem. True there were some art miscommunications (Jean having different clothes on between issues but only a scene later, and in one of the issues we see the old version of Bishop drawn) but they were minor. There were some funny preludes I never noticed before, like Thing reading a horoscope saying he would be with thirty of his friends soon on a trip, possibly a reference to Heroes Reborn and a funny inside joke of Amalgam Overpower, a take on the Marvel Overpower card game. I can honestly say I was expecting to hate this but I found I couldn’t. The core titles it ran in, like I said, were scripted very well so no major gaffs in continuity took place. You know where every character is and it all made sense. Perhaps it read better sequentially than it did when comics came out every week, as someone may read say Avengers before one of the X-titles but having it in order here really helps. There were a couple of extras, too. There was a house ad for the Onslaught series beginning which I clearly remember as well as the variant cover to X-Men 54 and the original cover to the TPB from 1996. The trade is a little small for $30 but so far the story has been handled exceptionally well. For those wanting to relive the mid 90’s of comic book extravagance, this is a fond reminder, for those looking for a solid story beginning, this is also a nice place to look. I will go mildly recommended if you can find it for less than $30.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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