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We’ve reached the end, well, at least the end of the Onslaught Complete Epic. There’s still Heroes Reborn and Onslaught Reborn but this is the end of one of the most convoluted Marvel storylines in existence, ranking right up there with the Spider-Clone tragedy which came out around the same time. It was just too massive a storyline to be worth anything, especially with all the tie-ins. This would showcase the end of what was a really long, drawn-out storyline, that even 10 years later I still harbor some ill-will about.
Thankfully this volume starts off with a two-page recap that can’t even begin to acknowledge everything that’s happened in the Marvel Universe.
Spoiler Warning
-Fantastic Four #416- This would be the last issue of Fantastic Four, though it resumed the numbering at #500. So the heroes are together and plan their offensive against Onslaught complete with all the old FF villains showing up for old times sake thanks to Onslaught’s telepathic powers. Weak issue, especially a weak ending to the first Marvel heroes.
-X-Men #56- The heroes still gather and plan an offensive, but Professor X goes off on his own. Well, nothing really happened here.
-Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1- This was the culmination of months of stories, and a story I can’t even remember reading. I remember New Warriors comics from 1991 but not this. Anyway, big fights (aptly illustrated by Adam Kubert) highlight this issue, with all the non-mutant superheroes (the FF, Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, Dr. Doom, and others) sacrificing themselves to end the threat of Onslaught. The actual reason why they were able to destroy Onslaught wasn’t the best explanation and it really only served the purpose to do the whole re-launch thing. I didn’t stick around for comics much longer than this, and although I can appreciate the fight scenes and the art, the story was still disjointed and wasn’t a satisfying conclusion to months and months of tie-ins.
-Cable #36- Franklin and his grandfather try to help Cable, but its only Cable who can help the techno-organic virus he’s plagued with. Moving right along.
-Uncanny X-Men #337- The X-Men gather for supper with what’s left of their group, and minus Charles Xavier. I can’t complain about the Joe Mad art and story wise it was a good way to end the tumult around the X-Men and launch the next story.
-X-Men #57- Valerie Cooper shows up to take Xavier away, the rest of the X-Men don’t like that, but Xavier willingly goes anyway. Again, this is a nice way to push the X-titles into a fresh direction.
-Onslaught Epilogue- Xavier is held captive with another mutant girl, and long story short, Xavier helps her escape. This was really a story pushing the Bastion Zero Tolerance storyline rather than the Onslaught thing, and I don’t think we ever saw that mutant girl again.
-X-Men: The Road to Onslaught #1- This actually sets up the Onslaught storyline perfectly, actually explaining it in places where the story fell apart. Looking back, it was a good idea but it just collapsed on itself with the inclusion of other writers and titles being thrown in.
-The Bottom Line¬- It ended, so that’s one good point. Anyways, this storyline was plagued by a lot of things. It started off well, better than I remembered, but once it got out of the X-Books it started collapsing. There were way too many tie-ins, plot points were lost over time, and the conclusion seemed too quick and easy and was probably just used as the restart to the Lee/Liefeld titles than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, there were some good issues in here, and things like seeing the Joe Mad art and the Kubert brothers at the top of their game makes these volumes noteworthy. I can’t really recommend these in good conscience as I still see it as the epitome of the extravagances of an age in comics that nearly crushed itself. 1996 saw an end to all that, and comics were changed forever. All the people buying issues hoping that they turn a profit saw no returns (because usually millions of copies were sold and there were too many) and the story-telling was sacrificed in the name of pretty art and scantily clad women. I can’t forget the shiny covers, either. The Onslaught story, to me, stands a turning point in comics, where the decadence of the decade ended and a new era would emerge where story-telling was the main thing people noticed.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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