X-Men Headcanon 20: Onslaught

An exhausting follow-up to the Age Of Apocalypse and the lull before this era, I'm just putting the Prelude to Onslaught and Onslaught books together as an era. It's simple. Much more simple than the convoluted mess of the actual crossover.

This was the first point where I began to doubt I could finish this project. 

X-Men Prelude To Onslaught by Scott Lobdell, Jeph Loeb, Terry Kavanaugh, Josh Ostrander, Jim Lee, Fabien Nicieza, Larry Hama, Mark Waid, Todd Dezago, Warren Ellis, Andy Kubert, Ian Chuchill, Pasqual Ferry Steve Skroce, Val Semeiks, Rick Leonardi, John Romita Jr, Tom Grummett, Adam Kubert, Jeff Matsuda, Adam Pollina, Nick Gnazzo, Bryan Hitch, Mike S Miller, Steve Epting, and Casey Jones
X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, Iceman, Wolverine, Storm, Psylocke, Bishop, Cannonball
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Sunspot, BoomBoom, Siryn, Warpath, Caliban
Generation X: Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Chamber, Husk, Monet, Skin
1st Appearances: Bastion
Also Featuring: X-Man, Threnody, Madelyne Pryor, Seline, Trevor Fitzroy, Post, Gateway, Dark Beast, Juggernaut, Holocaust, Robert Kennedy, Blob, Genesis, Blaquesmith

This is a fairly well-edited primer for the upcoming Onslaught event. Containing some whole issues of X-Men, Cable, and X-Man, it also has highlight sections of the other X-books that influence this event, going as far back as the 1991 relaunch story involving Bishop and Fitzroy.

You could conceivably start reading here and only be sort of confused about all of the continuity that feeds into this event, as opposed to completely lost. Unfortunately, the entire event that follows is an unsatisfying read, so you're honestly better just skipping this era completely.

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Onslaught The Complete Epic Volume 1 by Mark Waid, Scott Lobdell, Tom DeFalco, Jeph Loeb, Peter David, Andy Kubert, Joe Mad, Paul Ryan, Mike Wieringo, Adam Kubert, Pascual Ferry, Mike Deodato, Chris Pacheco, Ian Chuchill, and Angel Medina
X-Men: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Wolverine, Storm, Psylocke, Gambit, Bishop, Cannonball
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Human Torch, Thing, Franklin Richards, Scott Lang, Nathaniel Richards, Lyja the Skrull
Avengers: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, Black Widow
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Sunspot, Siryn 
Excalibur: Moira MacTaggert, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Meggan, Pete Wisdom, Colossus
Also Featuring: Professor X/Onslaught, Dark Beast, X-Man, Juggernaut, Hulk, Rogue, Joseph, Apocalypse, Ozymandias, Uatu, lockjaw, Crystal, GW Bridge, Dum Dum Duggan

If you're steeped in X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Hulk lore, this is a complex read. If you lack knowledge with any of those titles, it's annoying. I usually blame this on Marvel Editorial but I think this is just a case of a cool conceit that drew in too many characters and was unweildy to write, read, or edit. Nothing in this volume sucked, every issue was mediocre superhero fare (so, three stars out of five) but as a whole it suffers from being difficult to keep track of.

Basically, Charles Xavier and Magneto's minds got tangled up a bit before The Age Of Apocalypse and he's now a supervillain with a nebulous take-over-the-world plan that's so difficult to comprehend that it awakens Apocalypse who, along with Uatu The Watcher are like "let's see how this mess pans out." Onslaught targets the Age Of Apocalypse refugee X-Man as well as the Fantastic Four child, Franklin Richards as part of his master plan.

We also see Dark Beast amongst the X-Men, Cable and Storm battle The Hulk, and the Avengers get thrown in mostly because Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's daddy seems to be somehow involved.

The interest I had after reading the prelude volume waned considerably while I was reading this, and I'm not looking forward to reading the rest of this series.

If you're a new reader, don't start here, it's a mess.

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Onslaught The Complete Epic Vol 2 by Warren Ellis, Larry hama, Howard Mackie, Todd Dezago, Tom Defalco, Terry Kavanagh, Jeph Loeb, Josh Ostrander, Casey Jones, Randy Green. Val Semeiks, Jeff Matsuda, Herb Trimpe, Stefano Raffaele, Mike Wieringo, Mark Bagley, Joshua Hood, John Romita Jr, Steve Skroce, Anthony Castrillo, and Tom Lyle
X-Factor: Forge, Polaris, Random, Mystique, Wilc Child, Sabretooth
X-Force: Domino, Siryn, Sunspot, BoomBoom, Warpath, Shatterstar, Caliban, X-Man
Also Featuring: Moira MacTaggert, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Psylocke, Wolverine, Elektra, Gateway, Onslaught, Dark Beast, Havoc, Fatale, Spider-Man, Mary Jane, Sentinels, Ben Reilly, J Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Ben Ulrich, Philip Ulrich, Mr Sinister, Arclight, Harpoon, Vertigo, Scalphunter, Threnody, Punisher, GW Bridge, Dum Dum Duggan, Dr Strange, Juggernaut

Even worse than the previous volume, this collection is bogged down by stale writing, The Clone Saga era of Spider-Man, a focus on The Sentinels which leads to Onslaught barely even being in this collection, and a couple of issues focused on nobody's favorite X-Man, X-Man.

There is a fun Green Goblin issue betwixt the Spider-Clone nonsense but it's not enough to make this collection worth reading. This is a definite Skip in the X-Men chronology.

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Vol 3

Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Human Torch, Thing, Franklin Richards, Scott Lang, Crystal
X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke,Gambit, Bishop, Cable, Joseph
​Avengers: Hawkeye, Hank Pym, Iron Man, Vision, Thor, Capt America, Falcon, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Janet VanDyne, Black Widow
X-Force: Domino, Sunspot, BoomBoom, Siryn, Warpath, Shatterstar, Caliban
Also Featuring: Onslaught, Apocalypse, Uatu, Hulk, Post, Mr Sinister, X-Man, Threnody, Scalphunter, Arclight, The Sentinels, Holocaust, Hela, Wolverine

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​Vol 4
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Human Torch, Thing, Franklin Richards, Scott Lang, Nathaniel Richards, She-Hulk
X-Men: Prof X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Best, Angel, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, Gambit, Bishop, Cannonball, Joseph
Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, Hank Pym, Hawkeye, Falcon, Quicksilver
Inhumans: Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, Gorgon
X-Force: Cable, Domino, Caliban
Also Featuring: Dr Doom, Sentinels, Onslaught, Puppet Master, Alicia Masters, Cassie Lang, Kang, Psycho Man, Lyja, Super Skrull, Paibok, Blastaar, Mad Thinker, Namor, Black Panther, Agatha Harkness, X-Man, Uatu, Hulk, Bastion, Graydon Creed, Spider-Man, J jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Val Cooper , Trish  Tilby

I guess if you've read this far, why not finish with this volume where they throw everything at a giant climax which they then show you will be completely meaningless and instantly undone in the next event. But if you haven't started, man, you can dodge a pretty big bullet by not reading any of this series.

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