Onslaught: The Event that Changed Marvel Comics Forever Part 2
Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man joins the fray
The Onslaught continues! Last week we took a look at “Onslaught: Phase One” and the general state of Marvel Comics in 1996. Things were not so great for Marvel or the comic book industry writ large, and those in charge hoped that this companywide event and the eventual reboot of some of their properties by Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld would be the shot in the arm the publisher needed. We’ll get to that later, but for now let’s dive into “Onslaught: Impact One” with our favorite heroes.
Onslaught: Impact One
Let me start by saying that I have no idea what the difference is between a “phase” and an “impact” in terms of how Marvel is labeling these chapters in the event. My first thought is that the main story takes place in the “phase” issues while ancillary bits take place in the “impact” issues, but Wolverine #104 is an “impact” issue with the full explanation of Onslaught’s origin. Seems like that should be part of the main story, right? Oh well. Anyway, this issue by Larry Hama and Val Semeiks is a weird one. Hama was cranking out a bunch of weird comics as the writer for both Wolverine and Venom at the time, and I love him for it. This issue features Wolverine and Elektra being shown by the mutant Gateway how Onslaught was created.
As mentioned last week, Xavier basically absorbed Magneto’s id when he wiped his mind back in X-Men #25 by Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert. It then merged with his own id to create a being of psionic energy. This comic makes it much more literal as Magneto’s id (referred to as his “dark ego” which is not what Freud would have called it, but that’s okay) becomes a creepy little gremlin on the astral plane and jumps into Xavier. I love comics.
From there, we hop over to X-Factor #125 by Howard Mackie and Jeff Matsuda. This is another issue that seems pretty integral to the main story, so I still don’t understand the difference between an “impact” issue and a “phase” issue. This issue sees Onslaught trying to extract some usefulness out of Dark Beast. I guess I should explain who Dark Beast is. He’s just Beast from the “Age of Apocalypse” universe who snuck over into the main universe and covertly took the place of the Beast we all know and love. Anyway, Dark Beast reveals that he has basically brainwashed Havok into becoming the evil version that he knew in his universe. He admittedly looks pretty dope (just take a look at him on the cover above).
After a battle between X-Factor and Onslaught’s goons, Onslaught successfully launches an army of Sentinels that are under his control to essentially impose martial law in New York City. This will serve as a way to get the rest of the Marvel Universe involved in this event.
I’m not sure how to slot in these next two comics, and Marvel doesn’t seem to know either. X-Man #18 by Terry Kavanagh and Steve Skroce has the “Onslaught: Phase One” stamp on the cover, but it’s part of a two issue story with X-Force #57 by Jeph Loeb and Anthony Castrillo that was published on the same day and has an “Onslaught: Impact One” stamp on the cover. Marvel collects both issues in X-Men: The Complete Onslaught Epic Book 1 and X-Men: The Complete Onslaught Epic Book 2. So bizarre. Anyway, I’m just going to slot them in here because I don’t have a ton to say about them. All you really need to know is that Mister Sinister mops the floor with both X-Man and X-Force, and he ends up capturing X-Man.
Onslaught: Impact Two
If New York City is under attack, then you know Spider-Man is going to have to do something about it! That starts with Amazing Spider-Man #415 by Tom DeFalco and Mark Bagley. Have you ever wanted to see Spider-Man fight Sentinels? Because you’re about to see Spider-Man fight Sentinels. Not just that, but you’re about to see Spider-Man fight Sentinels drawn by Mark Bagley!
Now I need to clarify something right off the bat. We are deep into the “Clone Saga” in 1996, so this is when Ben Reilly was Spider-Man. Ben is a clone of Peter Parker, but at this point we are meant to believe that Ben is the original and Peter is the clone. I’ve written about this extensively. Anyway, don’t fret because Peter Parker is in this issue as well! He had retired to allow Ben to take the Spider-Man mantle, but he and Mary Jane are stopped by a Sentinel before they can leave the city. For the record, Onslaught is using the Sentinels to eliminate anyone with superpowers. Unfortunately for Peter, they don’t care if he’s retired or not. That means we’re treated to both Ben and Peter fighting Sentinels! My only complaint is that Peter does so without a costume. It would have been cool to see them both in their respective costumes drawn by Bagley. Oh well.
The story is continued in Spider-Man #72 by Howard Mackie and John Romita, Jr. That’s right! After being treated to some badass action drawn by Bagley, we get to follow it up with more badass action drawn by Romita, Jr.! Having two of the greatest Spider-Man artists of all time illustrate this story really adds to the excitement.
As with the previous issue, this one is a blast to read. I mean Peter Parker rips the head off of a Sentinel with his webbing and destroys two other Sentinels with it. What’s not to love? The issue concludes with the two heroes running off to join the epic final battle with Onslaught. Unfortunately, they don’t get there in time to participate due to plot reasons that will become obvious later.
Spider-Man and Peter Parker aren’t the only street level heroes impacted (see what I did there?). We also get to see what’s going on with Green Goblin and Punisher. You’re probably pretty bewildered by the idea of a solo series starring Green Goblin if you weren’t reading comics in the 1990s. That decade saw multiple Marvel villains make the transition to antiheroes in an attempt to compete with the grittier comics that Image was publishing. Characters like Venom, Deadpool, Morbius, and even Sabretooth got their own books, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that Green Goblin would as well. This wasn’t, however, the Green Goblin you’re probably picturing in your head. Norman Osborn was killed off by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane back in 1973, and he had remained dead up to this point (though not for much longer). This one must be Harry Osborn, right? Nope! He had been killed off by J.M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema just three years earlier in 1993. So who the hell is this guy? That would be Phil Urich, the nephew of journalist Ben Urich. He had been created by Terry Kavanagh and Steve Butler in 1995 and promptly given his own book. This Green Goblin was a straightforward superhero without any of the Osborn baggage. That would definitely change once Dan Slott started writing him, but for now he’s just a good guy with a bunch of Osborn tech he found. In Green Goblin #12 by Tom DeFalco and Josh Hood, he faces his first big test when he’s forced to confront the Sentinels that have taken over New York City. He successfully takes one down, but his tech is irreparably damaged in the process. This probably sounds like a pretty inconsequential issue in the grand scheme of things, but this was clearly done to pave the way for Norman Osborn to return to comics later that year.
Punisher #11 by John Ostrander and Tom Lyle fills us in on what Frank is up to during this Sentinel siege. It’s always funny to me when Punisher is incorporated into these big events because he’s just a normal guy with guns. What’s he going to do about a godlike psionic entity and his army of giant robots? Fortunately, Ostrander has a good answer. Frank witnesses Sentinels shoot down a SHIELD helicarrier, so he just carries out a one man search and rescue operation for survivors. Good work, Frank.
I’m going to continue to follow the Marvel Unlimited reading guide when breaking up these pieces, so I’ll leave things here for this week. Next up we get more of “Onslaught: Phase Two” and “Onslaught: Impact Two” stories, and we finally start to feel the negative effects of having so many titles directly tied into this event.
Hi. Quick clarification: In THE RUNAWAYS Vol. 2, the heroic Green Goblin became a member of a group called THE LONERS. THE LONERS got their own mini-series. During that mini-series Phil/The Green Goblin went down a path where he going on the crazy/villainous side. That's his previous appearance from where I picked him up over in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: BIG TIME.
Another quick correction here: Tom DeFalco and Scott McDaniel created the Phil Zurich incarnation of the Green Goblin. The character was just debuted in a Web of Spider-Man issue written by Terry Kavanaugh to help launch the series.