The year was 1996. I was 16 years old and had only been collecting comics for about three years. It was the summer of Onslaught.
I remember being excited for the big linewide crossover. Finally, the thing the X-books had been teasing since the end of the Age of Apocalypse – not to mention the reveal of Bishop’s longstanding X-traitor – was going to come to fruition, and the conflagration was going to draw in the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and a whole big chunk of the Marvel Universe.
Look, it’s the Watcher and Apocalypse, just standing off to the side and talking. This must be important!
And it was. For its time. For getting Marvel’s Avengers-adjacent heroes off the board and into another reality, where their fates would be controlled by Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld until they lost interest or couldn’t make deadline anymore.
It wasn’t all bad, really. I have a soft spot for the panel where Cyclops bares his teeth, angered by the sight of Onslaught holding Xavier captive inside him, and suddenly commanding Captain America and a whole bunch of other non-X heroes into battle.
And it was funny watching Wolverine lumber around on all fours with no nose and a bandana over his eyes, during that period when Elektra was helping him regain his humanity after failing the adamantium rebonding process under Tyler Dayspring. God, remember that guy? That guy sucked.
Ultimately, Onslaught is one of those villains who has their place in time and doesn’t work as a recurring baddie. Like Stryfe or Proteus or Bastion or Knull (come at me, goo people). He’s more concept than character. Definitely more rule-of-cool than actually cool.
But he did his damage, and part of that damage is what we see in this exclusive preview of next week’s Sentinels #2. Check it out, and keep scrolling for the basic deets.
And for our coverage of the first issue of Sentinels, click here.
(W) Alex Paknadel (A/CA) Justin Mason
OPERATION: SHAW!
The Sentinels have their orders: enter an enemy nation, infiltrate a maximum-security prison and escape with Sebastian Shaw! Can Lockstep bring his people home safely? Will Shaw get the better of the new Sentinels, or does a greater shadow hang over Graymalkin Prison?
Rated T+
In Shops: Nov 20, 2024
SRP: $3.99
Buy Sentinels #2 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
