Review - X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught Omnibus

The greatest evil that Earth’s heroes may ever face has appeared. With the psychic powers of Professor Xavier and the maniacal motivations of Magneto, the entity known as Onslaught has dedicated itself to the eradication of all humans on the planet. Only the combined might of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men may be able to stop it.

X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught Omnibus collects Cable #32-36, Uncanny X-Men #333-337, X-Force #55, 57-58, X-Man #15-19, X-Men #53-57, Annual '96, X-Men Unlimited #11, Onslaught: X-Men, Marvel Universe, Epilogue, Avengers #401-402, Fantastic Four #415, Incredible Hulk #444-445, Wolverine #104-105, X-Factor #125-126, Amazing Spider-Man #415, Green Goblin #12, Spider-Man #72, Iron Man #332, Punisher #11, Thor #502, X-Men: Road to Onslaught, and material from Excalibur #100 and Fantastic Four #416. It includes work by Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, Mark Waid, Terry Kavanagh, Andy Kubert, Ian Churchill, Joe Madureira, and Adam Kubert.

Onslaught is an “epic” that began building in the aftermath of the X-Men crossover Fatal Attractions. After Professor Xavier psionically erases Magneto’s mind, his guilt over his actions and the presence of his rival’s psyche in his unconscious leads to the creation of Onslaught. This entity draws its powers from both Xavier and Magneto. It attacks the X-Men, kidnaps Franklin Richards and Nate Grey, and unleashes Sentinels onto New York City. Upon recovering from their initial battle against Onslaught, the X-Men join forces with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to prevent the total annihilation of humans. From a conceptual point of view, this makes for an absolutely thrilling premise and works to throw all of the Marvel Universe’s greatest heroes together in one epic showdown against a powerful foe. Unfortunately, the execution is so poor that it makes this crossover incredibly tedious to sit through.

This omnibus is incredibly dense and combines every possible issue related to Onslaught in one giant hardcover. The problem with that is that it means there are so many subplots and tie-ins that it distracts from the primary narrative. The main plot of this crossover occurs in the pages of the main X-Men books, Avengers, and Fantastic Four. Those issues are actually very engaging and provide readers with the emotional core of this storyline. Namely, we see the X-Men struggling with their beloved mentor potentially being the greatest evil the world has ever known and Invisible Woman fighting to get her son back after Onslaught takes him. The problem is that the inclusion of the various tie-ins distracts from this and requires readers to slog through random issues where it’s Spider-Man randomly fighting Sentinels or Cable duking it out with the Hulk while the latter is under the control of Onslaught. Personally, I’d have preferred more editing when this omnibus was put together in order to trim the filler material or to at least structure things better so the inferior material is placed at the back as supplemental reading.

Much of the variance in quality comes from the sheer number of creators working on this crossover. There are a total of 11 writers who receive credit, 26 artists, 31 inkers, and 23 colorists. This creates a lot of room for inconsistencies. The strongest issues are those penned by Scott Lobdell and Mark Waid, with art by Andy Kubert and Joe Madureira. Those are the most dynamic and straightforward. In fact, Madureira is arguably the star of this entire collection. His work is so different from the others that it naturally stands out and the anime-inspired aesthetic is as bold as it is expressive. There’s also an issue of Cable by Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill that’s quite good, which features Cable and Invisible Woman forging an uneasy alliance with Apocalypse in hopes of undermining Onslaught’s schemes. Churchill’s work is always really spectacular. It’s vibrant and emotive in a way that most of the artists’ work in this omnibus is not.

X-Men/Avengers: Onslaught Omnibus requires a lot of patience. It’s not a streamlined crossover that has a general through line. It’s messy and it’s long. Given that it’s one of Marvel’s earliest attempts at a company-wide crossover, it’s understandable as to why it is as mediocre as it is. Unlike future events that would be contained within mini- or maxi-series, this one is spread out over just about every Marvel comic imaginable from this era and its structuring lacks direction. There’s no part one, two, three, and so on. Some of the issues collected in this edition are enjoyable. There’s a lot of gorgeous art to be found and some interesting character development, especially for the X-Men. Sadly, it’s buried within unevenness. As a concept, Onslaught is brilliant and is something I’d love to see tackled again (though not in the main Marvel universe) as a way of making up for the original’s shortcomings. As it is, the Onslaught Omnibus may not be a purchase I’d recommend unless you’re a true completionist.

RATING: C-

Review - X-Men: The Road to Onslaught Volume 3

Onslaught’s herald has arrived and he is determined to test the might of the X-Men. He kidnaps three of the X-Men’s strongest members – Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Iceman – and forces them to battle against him. With no help from their allies against this monstrous foe, the X-Men must overcome seemingly impossible odds to defeat him. Meanwhile, the Beast is forced into a game of cat-and-mouse with his counterpart from an alternate reality and Archangel fights to save Psylocke’s life as she lays near-death after her encounter with Sabretooth.

X-Men: The Road to Onslaught Volume 3 collects Uncanny X-Men#329-332,Archangel #1, X-Men/Brood#1-2, X-Men Unlimited#10, X-Men #50-52, Wolverine#101, and Xavier Institute Alumni Yearbook. It features writing by Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, Mark Waid, Larry Hama, and more. The art includes work by Bryan Hitch, Andy Kubert, Joe Madureira, and more.

Of the three volumes Marvel collected under the banner of The Road to Onslaught, this one is the weakest. The quality of the issues varies and very little of the stories included actually serve as a prelude to the Onslaught saga. This volume begins with a two-parter where Archangel and Wolverine team-up with Doctor Strange in order to seek a mystical solution to saving Psylocke’s life. It’s one of the better stories in this collection and features some fantastic artwork by Joe Madureira. Having Doctor Strange as a guest star also provides a nice change of pace as it gives the X-Men someone different to interact with. X-Men: Brood, a limited series by John Ostrander and Bryan Hitch, is another highlight. The art is expressive and the storyline itself has a nice weight to it. It also happens to give Jean Grey and Iceman an opportunity to show off their abilities, which I always appreciate. The narrative itself takes the X-Men to a small town where a woman has unexpectedly become a Brood queen and has been turning others in her town into her spawn. This has drawn the attention of another faction of Brood, which has been sent to the town to destroy her and her offspring. The X-Men get caught in the conflict and task themselves with finding a way to cure the woman of her affliction. It’s admittedly a little predictable, but it’s enjoyable. The main gripe here is that it has nothing to do with Onslaught and comes across as rather tangential in the grand scheme of things.

Oddly enough, the material that does connect to Onslaught ends up being some of the least interesting work included here. One of the main arcs includes the Beast from the 616 universe being replaced by his Age of Apocalypse counterpart. It begins in X-Men Unlimited #10 and carries into the main X-books as a subplot. The AoA Beast learns all he can about our Beast and then leads him into a trap in order to hide him away while he takes his place amongst the X-Men. He does so in order to escape the notice of Mr. Sinister. Overall, it’s an odd storyline that feels random and unnecessary. The AoA Beast isn’t an especially captivating villain and it takes a lot to actually believe that he could replace our Beast without being noticed by the X-Men, especially since he does some things that would be suspicious. The other major Onslaught-related storyline is the X-Men’s face-off with Post, Onslaught’s herald. Storm, Cyclops, Iceman, and Wolverine are spirited away to an unknown location and are forced to fight Post. He’s a big and powerful enemy for them, which means that most of the issue is spent with the X-Men in battle. The action-oriented narrative is quite nice, but it’s not as spectacular as it could be. It’s suggested that Storm’s powers are somewhat hampered, but even still she’s not utilized like she could be. Perhaps the best thing about this issue isn’t the comic itself, but rather the one that succeeds it. Iceman is left injured after the conflict and he opts to confront Emma Frost, as she was previously able to control his powers in a way that he’s been unable to. It’s a really fantastic character-focused one-off issue and it really gives us insight into Iceman’s character.

At its core, X-Men: The Road to Onslaught Volume 3 is just a collection of mediocre storylines that don’t benefit from being collected in a rather lengthy trade paperback. Some issues are better than others, largely due to the fact that the creative teams are not consistent throughout. Arguably, the issues written by Scott Lobdell are the strongest. They’re more engaging and have the right balance of action and character development. It also helps that he’s also teamed with the best artists in this collection – like Joe Madureira and Bryan Hitch. Conversely, the issues written by Mark Waid are the least entertaining. These are the ones more focused on the Beast/Dark Beast subplot. Overall, X-Men: The Road to Onslaught Volume 3 isn’t worth its cover price. My recommendation is to merely purchase the Uncanny X-Men issues digitally (or physically if you can find them) since they’re the best of the bunch, plus maybe the Brood limited series by Ostrander and Hitch.

RATING: C-

Review - Avengers/X-Men: Bloodties

Tensions between the human and mutant populations on Genosha have reached their peak. The Avengers have been instructed to stay away from the island nation out of fear that they may interfere with attempts at diplomacy. They ignore this order for personal reasons – the daughter of the Avengers Crystal and Quicksilver has been kidnapped and taken to Genosha by the fanatical Fabian Cortez. They infiltrate Genosha and team-up with the X-Men to rescue the innocent girl caught in the crosshairs of the human-mutant conflict.

Avengers/X-Men: Bloodties collects Avengers#368-369, Avengers West Coast#101, X-Men #26, Uncanny X-Men#307 and Black Knight: Exodus #1, written by Bob Harras, Dann Thomas, Fabian Nicieza, and Scott Lobdell. It includes art by Steve Epting, Dave Ross, Andy Kubert, and John Romita Jr.

Bloodties largely builds upon storylines set in place in the X-books, such as Mutant Genesis and Fatal Attractions. A desperate Fabian Cortez has lost his place among Magneto’s Acolytes and seeks to make a name for himself by kidnapping Magneto’s human granddaughter. He’s completely unhinged and is living in fear of retribution at the hands of the immensely powerful Exodus. This places him directly in conflict with the X-Men and the Avengers, who join forces in order to stop him. Since the narrative depends so heavily on previous X-Men arcs, it feels as if the Avengers have been dropped directly into the X-Men’s world and are forced to deal with issues they otherwise would be oblivious to. They’ve long stayed away from fighting for mutants and protecting them, but here they see what their inaction has resulted in – extremism on both the human and mutant sides. Since the Avengers are an officially sanctioned organization that has to follow the orders of certain authorities, it creates an interesting contrast against the X-Men. Xavier’s mutant band of heroes are freedom fighters who are able to fight for what is right without being entangled in any bureaucratic red tape. The opposite is true of the Avengers. They’re reactive and are essentially weapons pointed at whatever big problem governments may have.

The character who stands above the rest in this crossover is Crystal. With her daughter Luna in the arms of a maniac, it is her desire to rescue Luna that drives the plot forward and gives the arc its emotional throughline. She’s portrayed as a mother unwilling to sacrifice or compromise in finding her child, which means that she has ignore the orders the Avengers have been given from the authorities and infiltrating Genosha. We get a lot of great character moments between Crystal and some of the other cast members. She and her estranged husband Quicksilver put aside their differences to work together. Furthermore, Crystal spends the bulk of her time with her sister-in-law Scarlet Witch by her side. I really love their dynamic as Wanda’s sisterly concerns and supportiveness help to counterbalance Crystal’s more frenetic state of mind. Another character that manages to steal the spotlight is Sersi. In the middle of this crossover, she has an explosive battle against Exodus. It’s intense, vibrant, and showcases just how powerful Sersi is. It’s quite possibly the most memorable scene from this arc.

The art for this crossover is surprisingly very consistent, even though there were multiple artists working on it. Steve Epting and Andy Kubert’s work is really quite similar. This provides a similar aesthetic between the Avengers’ main title and the adjectiveless X-Men book. I’m fond of their styles as it’s very streamlined and the uncomplicated nature of their pencils allows for the colours to truly pop on the page. They’re also very expressive artists and excel at capturing all kinds of emotive states. John Romita Jr. has a style all his own, but it works in tandem with Epting and Kubert’s pencils. It’s a little more sophisticated and kinetic. Romita Jr. is especially fond of doing splash pages, which can be really effective for action sequences. Dave Ross is probably the weak link of the bunch. His artwork in the pages of Avengers West Coast is passable, but feels very ‘90s. The lines aren’t as crisp and clean, while characters often look permanently angry.

The ‘90s was a decade that provided crossover after crossover for the X-Men books, many of which were overdone and overstuffed. Avengers/X-Men: Bloodties is a nice change of pace in comparison. With just five parts to it, it’s a shorter crossover and places its focus on the characters affected most by Fabian Cortez’s actions. This gives this arc a more intimate feel to it and also ensures that its personal approach to storytelling elicits sympathy and engagement from the reader. Bloodties has a lot of memorable action sequences too. The Sersi vs. Exodus brawl alone is spectacular. Crossovers between the X-Men and the Avengers are rare, so Bloodties is a really nice treat and one that fans of both teams should check out.

RATING: B+