Customer Reviews

Onslaught Reborn (Marvel Comics)

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Onslaught Reborn brings readers back to the "pocket universe" created by Franklin Richards, son of the Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, to save some of the heroes from dying in the wake of Onslaught's destruction. For those that dont know, Onslaught was basically a deus ex machina used to reboot the Marvel Universe and trim away a lot of the fat so to speak that was created in the 90's. The story is done as a ten year anniversary for the saga that helped re-imagine, and eventually bring back some of Marvel's most important characters (i.e. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk etc.).

Thought destroyed, Onslaught has been resurrected and is setting his sights on Franklin whose power he wants for his own. About to be captured by Onslaught, Franklin attempts to flee him by escaping into the Reborn Universe, where he also brings back the heroes there including the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and their enemies. Onslaught though is able to follow him, and decides on conquering the Reborn universe for himself. To do that, he wants to find the most powerful being on the planet, and the story moves from there.

The story itself isnt particularly strong. The issues are more of a slugfest between characters than plot and dialogue. It's really geared more to action loving readers, and if that's what you like it's what you'll get. I dont think the story was bad, but at the same time outside of a small twist at the end there is nothing that particularly sticks out about it.

Loeb and Liefield themselves are a bit contentious when it comes to how much people like them. I guess you can boil it down to "there's no accounting for taste" because some people like them, some hate them. Liefield's art is particularly a sticking point for many. He is known to exaggerate physiques and has a very scratchy detail style. You may like it, you may hate it, but I would honestly look up some of his other work because when people dont like it they tend to hate it to the point it actually ruins the story for them. I thought for the most part it was more toned down than normal, but you could still tell it was him.

The book does have some extras in that it has all the regular and alternate covers and some sketches, so think of it as like the bonus material on DVD's. Nothing too special, but kind of neat.

If you like action then it's probably a worth while read, just dont expect a grand story or any heart wrenching moments. I found the series entertaining, but nothing more. It's not a must, but if you have the extra money, I say why not?

Writer Jeph Loeb and artist Rob Liefeld have their problems but usually their work is at least fun and entertaining.

Not this time.

In the mid-90s Marvel tried to reignite interest in some of their older properties by outsourcing these characters to a group of hot artists and writers (including Liefeld). A villain named Onslaught cast the Avengers and Fantastic Four into another reality where they started their careers anew. This experiment called 'Heroes Reborn' lasted a year, gathered some impressive sales, but was soon forgotten.

So it's anyone's guess why Marvel, Loeb and Liefeld decided to revisit this.

The story is wafer-thin, an accident revives Onslaught and he attacks the Fantastic Four. Young Franklin Richards flees to the Heroes Reborn universe where these alternate versions of Marvel Heroes must defeat him.

The book fails on any number of levels. Loeb forgets very basic story-telling requirements like telling us who is who. There's a guy in a white jacket with a sword and I'm still not sure who he is, he's not named once.

The plot points are either completely predictable or come out of left field. Wolverine puts in one his most pointless cameos ever. The alternate versions of Marvel characters are pretty dull, especially compared to more recent projects like the Ultimate Universe. How they're different from their mainstream counterparts is never made clear. The ending is pointless, everything ends up just where it started except for one minor character who dies (but not really).

Liefeld's art is about the same as it ever was, either you like it or hate it.

Really I can't think of anything to recommend this book.

Onslaught. If there was ever a name that could send chills down my spine for all the wrong reasons, it would have to be Onslaught. Memories of the late 90's Marvel mega-crossover are not good to say the least, and things haven't changed much with Onslaught Reborn, a mini-series celebrating the ten year anniversary of the event, written by none other than Jeph Loeb and drawn by Rob Liefeld. The story, for lack of a better word, picks up with Onslaught back from the dead and threatening the universe, with everyone from the Avengers to the X-Men to the Fantastic Four to the Hulk responding. What little sense can be made from Onslaught Reborn is just plain bad to say the least, starting with Loeb's nearly incomprehensible plot and atrocious dialogue. Since Loeb has returned to Marvel, his work (Wolverine: Evolution, Fallen Son, Ultimates 3) has ranged from decent to awful, and Onslaught Reborn is every bit awful as one can possibly imagine. What makes it worse is the artwork from Rob Liefeld, whose style has not changed one bit, and his depictions of everyone involved resemble that of laughable action figure designs. If for some reason you enjoyed the Onslaught storyline from back then, Onslaught Reborn is not worth your time at all, and may very well be one of the worst titles to come out of Marvel in a while. Avoid at all costs.

Onslaught Reborn visits a time when the entire Marvel Universe was made over in a pocket universe by Franklin Richards because of the Onslaught Epic.

Well, this book brings Onslaught into that pocket universe.

It was nice to revisit old faces of the reborn universe, especially the Reborn version of Bucky. She is a spunky young character who'd probably fit well in the regular Marvel universe and to me THE FACE of the Heroes Reborn Universe because she's the only hero, as far as I can tell, that only exists there.

We also find out who the reborn version of Hawkeye really is --- which to tell you the truth is something they should have left alone. It didn't work to make him start saying 'bub' all of a sudden just for this series.

Most of the writing is great and the art is what I imagined this universe looking like already --- bringing back Rob Liefeld. Most of the art is just decent, but there are some sweet splashes in scenes involving the Hulk and Thor.

This series was good, but not terrific. If you are interested in the Heroes Reborn universe check out Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four, probably the best of the Reborn titles.

The cameback of one of the great villians of the marvel universe and its confrontation with the greatest heroes of the marvel universe. And with a twist in the end...