X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught Vol. 1

X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught #1

by Jeph Loeb, Scott Lobdell, Terry Kavanagh

One of the most powerful villains the Marvel Universe has ever seen changes everything for the Children of the Atom and Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Behold the psionic force of nature known as Onslaught - but what dread foe could terrify the unstoppable Juggernaut? As Cable battles Post, herald of the oncoming doom, Nate Grey faces a ghost from his past- and Onslaught gathers his forces! The Avengers join the X-Men to work out a battle plan - but could the answers lie with finding Magneto? And Charles Xavier has a troubling proposal for the Fantastic Four. But when Onslaught's identity is revealed, who will be the traitor to the cause?

COLLECTING: CABLE (1993) 32-33, UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) 333-335, X-FORCE (1991) 55, X-MAN (1995) 15-17, X-MEN (1991) 53-54, X-MEN UNLIMITED (1993) 11, ONSLAUGHT: X-MEN (1996) 1, AVENGERS (1963) 401, FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 415

Genres: Comics, X Men

440 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 2020

About the author

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.

A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly well done for a 90's X-Men event. I like how it's slowly built up over a couple of years, preceded by Onslaught's harbingers. It is interesting that it's an X-Men event that ends up affecting the Avengers and Fantastic Four more than the X-Men even though they don't get involved until the very end.

There are some very good artists involved in this like the Kubert brothers, Joe Madureira, Ian Churchill, Mike Deodato Jr. and Carlos Pacheco along with a few clunkers.

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of different comics telling the tale of Onslaught. Written and drawn in the 90s and that has its issues. The art has not aged well and the story also has its own ups and downs.

The X-Men and Xavier are under threat from an amazing enemy named Onslaught. Even the most powerful of friends and enemies fall before him. But who is he? Jean Grey and Juggernaut try to figure out the mystery, while the rest of the X-Men and Avengers prepare to fight him.

Once we figure out who he is, throw in a Fantastic Four appearance, and we find he has a desire to kidnap the young Franklin Richards, but that is where the volume ends. Perhaps in an another volume? This didn't help the story. The middle part of the volume was the best written, but that is not saying much.

An ok addition to my collection.

[Fez Vaccaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the start of the updated Onslaught collection, replacing the Complete Epics. This collection, however, is expanded from that one by including: Cable's earlier discovery of Onslaught's identity; Nate Grey's battle with Holocaust, who has become an emissary of Onslaught in this reality, and; Rogue and Joseph (Magneto?) crossing paths.

I did enjoy this more than I thought I would, I really liked the build up in the later part of the volume, as the threat level escalates. I know Onslaught is much-maligned by certain parts of fandom but as a kid who grew up in the 90s, I enjoyed what I read then and I'm enjoying reading it all together in one package now. I thought the build-up from the "Road to Onslaught" trades and first part of this collection did have a decent payoff once Onslaught was revealed. If they can keep the pace going, I think I will enjoy this crossover a lot.

Art is great too, it's a who's who of 90s artists - Churchill, Skroce, both Kubert brothers, Joe Mad. Some early work from Epting, Deodato and Pacheco too.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, I really have not missed the 90's style of mainstream comic book writing. Good for when you're a kid who wouldn't know good writing if it slapped him across the face, a slough to get through as an adult with a more sophisticated palate.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 3 out of 5]

90's comic art was weird...