STORY: "A Voice As Deep As Thunder" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciller), Tim Townsend, Mike Dell, Vince Russell, Al Milgrom (inkers), Richard Starkings, Kolja Fuchs, Comicraft (letterers), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor, editor-in-chief)

ONSLAUGHT, PHASE TWO Onslaught continues to cause havoc in New York, while inside him Professor X is trapped with Franklin Richards. Ultimately Thor rescues Professor X, but this only makes Onslaught stronger.

What you need to know:

• We're still in the Onslaught crossover here, so the answer is not a great deal. However, there are a couple of things in here that are genuinely important - principally Xavier's loss of his telepathic powers. (Don't worry, he gets them back in thirty issues or so.)
• Apocalypse and Uatu the Watcher hover around commenting on everything, which is mainly to build up Apocalypse's role in Cable #35. As always, the script spends an awful lot of time telling us how enormously impressive Apocalypse is while the plot manages to avoid giving him anything remotely impressive to do.
• There's a vaguely interesting subplot scene in which Gambit tries to offer Joseph moral support despite the fact that he doesn't like him much. Ain't Gambit nice? Joseph's angst, of course, derives from the fact that lots of people have picked up on Onslaught's connection with Magneto, and at this point everybody thinks Joseph is Magneto (because at this point, so did the writers).
• Onslaught's getting more powerful, first by merging Xavier and Franklin's powers and then by getting rid of Xavier. Not quite sure I follow the logic of this bit, and I'm not quite sure the writers do either.

Comments: Yeah, well, it's more Onslaught. It's actually not a badly put together issue, but there's not much to be said about it. Big nasty villain smashes things up, forming part of a godforsaken crossover with no plot. What more can you say?

Feature characters: Professor X, Phoenix III, Rogue, Joseph, Psylocke, Bishop, Cyclops, Iceman, Gambit (the latter three next in Incredible Hulk #445, then Bishop and Iceman in Fantastic Four Vol 1 #416, then Professor X, Phoenix, Rogue, Joseph and Cyclops in X-Men Vol 2 #56, then all but Psylocke in Onslaught: Marvel Universe, then Iceman in Avengers 1999 f/b; all last in X-Men Vol 2 #55); Storm (last in Generation X '96 f/b; next in Onslaught: Marvel Universe, then in Cable #36, then in X-Men Vol 2 #57, then in XSE #4, then in X-Men '96, then in issue #338)

Guest stars: Franklin Richards (between X-Men Vol 2 #55 and Cable #35)

Villains: Onslaught (last in X-Men Vol 2 #55; next in Cable #35); the Sentinels (last in X-Men Vol 2 #55; next in Punisher Vol 3 #11); Apocalypse (last in Fantastic Four Vol 1 #415; next in Cable #35)

Guest appearances: Uatu the Watcher (last in Fantastic Four Vol 1 #415; next in Cable #35); Mr Fantastic (next in Incredible Hulk #445), the Human Torch II (next in Wolverine #105), the Thing (next in Fantastic Four Vol 1 #416), the Invisible Woman (next in Cable #35; all four as the Fantastic Four; all four last in X-Men Vol 2 #55); Thor (next in Thor Vol 1 #502), Hawkeye I, the Vision, Iron Man III, Giant-Man I (the latter four next in Incredible Hulk #445; all five next as the Avengers); Ant-Man II (last in X-Men Vol 2 #55; next in Fantastic Four Vol 1 #416); Cable (last in Incredible Hulk #444; next in X-Force #58)

STORY: "Know Thy Enemy" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciller), Tim Townsend, Mike Russell (inkers), Richard Starkings, Comicraft (letterers), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Bob Harras (editor, editor-in-chief)

In the aftermath of Onslaught, life begins to return to normal for the X-Men, while Operation: Zero Tolerance prepare to make their move.

What you need to know:

• Professor X is feeling rather depressed after the events of Onslaught. Yes, it's a "my god, am I truly capable of such a thing" story. This is set-up for his decision to hand himself over to government custody in X-Men Vol 2 #57.
• Mutants are being blamed for the loss of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four (and a few others), following the rather contrived way in which Onslaught: Marvel Universe set up its climax to make sure the X-Men looked as bad as possible. Graydon Creed is making political capital out of it, kicking off the storyline where he runs for President.
• The Daily Bugle decides to begin an investigation into Creed's activities. The use of Spider-Man's archenemy J Jonah Jameson as a sympathetic character is a nice touch - after all, he's supposed to be a good journalist when he isn't dealing with his blind spot, Spider-Man. This begins a rather meandering and pointless plot in which Jameson investigates Creed and Operation: Zero Tolerance, but never really seems to achieve anything.
• Joseph is now living with the X-Men permanently. Immediate reaction to this comes in the form of Rogue being chummy with him (behind the scenes) and Cannonball avoiding him (presumably because he still doesn't trust Magneto following his betrayal as mentor of the New Mutants).
• Quicksilver is now staying with the X-Men following the apparent death of his wife Crystal (who was one of the more minor characters shoved off to the Heroes Reborn universe) and the dissolution of the Avengers (as seen in flashback in Avengers 1999). This of course allows the creators to get him in the same story as Joseph, who's still meant to be his father Magneto at this point.
• Psylocke's being distant again. This is the Crimson Dawn plot. How dreadfully exciting.
• Psylocke also mentions that Archangel is "not feeling well." This is foreshadowing for the events of next issue.
• Bastion's aide Harper makes his first appearance here and is immediately established as a shape- changer. Presumably this is because he's given himself superhuman powers using Operation: Zero Tolerance's nanotech.

Comments: Onslaught is finally out of the way, and we can get back to business. Post- crossover issues are traditionally Scott Lobdell's best stories. This isn't the best, but it does have a nice sense of shellshock after the recent events, which really did rewrite the face of the Marvel Universe for the next year. Much of what happens in this issue is just people sitting around the Mansion doing not a great deal. But the ripples from the recent events, and the status quo change that Onslaught inflicted on the Marvel Universe (essentially removing all the bright, shiny heroes that the public trusted), are present in the background, creating a genuine sense of unease. Joe Madureira's artwork fits perfectly when it's being restrained; it jars a bit when he goes into outright comedy mode. In particular, he seems to be drawing the Beast at the same size as the Hulk, which is just plain wrong. His ripple effect cover is wonderful, though.

At the end of the day, this is a tone-setting issue for the rather grim year to come. Yes, I know - they're all grim years in the X-books. But who knows, maybe if Operation: Zero Tolerance had achieved the same sense of understatement as this issue, it would have been a rather more successful affair. The year doesn't live up to the promise of this issue, as we'll see.

Feature characters: Professor X (last in Onslaught: Marvel Universe; next in X-Men Vol 2 #57, where he leaves the X-Men); Iceman (last in Avengers 1999 f/b), Phoenix III, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Joseph (the latter two b/s), Bishop, Cyclops (next in X-Force And Cable '96/2; all last in Onslaught: Marvel Universe), Archangel (b/s), the Beast (next in Generation X #21; both last in Avengers 1999 f/b), Cannonball II (last in Cable #36; after the above, all but Archangel, Gambit, Rogue and Cannonball next in X-Men Vol 2 #57, then Bishop in XSE #1-4, then all but Archangel and Joseph in X-Men '96, then Wolverine in Wolverine #106, Wolverine '96 and Marvel Fanfare Vol 2 #2, then Psylocke again in X-Men Vol 2 #57, then all but Bishop in issue #338, then Bishop in X-Men Vol 2 #58, then in issue #339, then the Beast in Beast #1-3, then Rogue in X-Men '97)

Guest star: Quicksilver (between Avengers 1999 f/b and X-Men Vol 2 #57)

Villains: Bastion, Operation: Zero Tolerance (both between X-Men Unlimited #11 and Generation X #20); Harper (first appearance; next in X-Men Vol 2 #57); Graydon Creed (last in Spectacular Spider-Man #237; next in X-Factor #127); the Sentinels (last in Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 #416; next in X-Men '96)

Guest appearances: Peter Parker (next in Spider-Man #73), J Jonah Jameson (next in X-Men Vol 2 #57), Robbie Robertson (next in Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 #417; all last in ??Amazing Spider-Man #416)

STORY: "A Hope Reborn, A Past Reclaimed" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira, Salvador LaRocca (pencillers), Tim Townsend, Vince Russell (inkers), Richard Starkings, Kolja Fuchs, Comicraft (letterers), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Mark Powers (associate editor), Bob Harras (editor, editor-in-chief)

Apocalypse restores Archangel's original wings, and Pyro loses control of his powers in a church.

What you need to know:

• The key thing is that Archangel gets his original wings back. Ozymandias pops up to make it perfectly clear that this is something Apocalypse is doing, and to strongly hint that there's some kind of ulterior motive which we should all be desperately afraid of. To date, no writer has picked up on this, and it seems safe to assume the creators never had any particularly clear idea in mind.
• The X-Men start showing Joseph what he did when he was Magneto. (Of course, he never was Magneto, but remember - the creators haven't decided that yet.) Joseph is suitably horrified, although he shows vague glimmerings of being nasty when the X-Men try to subdue Pyro later in the story.
• Psylocke suddenly develops the power to teleport through shadows, and acts as if this shouldn't come as a surprise to the X-Men. Is this heading anywhere interesting? Of course not.
• Archangel feels drawn to a church where Pyro is speaking to the priest. Is there any particular logic to this? Of course not.
• Pyro is trying to warn everyone about "her" and makes vague comments to the effect that he no longer wants to kill "him", and "they" are going to kill him as a result. What all this is presumably meant to amount to is that his former teammates in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are going to kill Graydon Creed, led by Mystique, but he's turned against the idea. Unfortunately, this isn't what eventually saw print in X-Factor, the series responsible for that storyline. Since X-Factor had a distinct habit at this time of changing plotlines midstream, this may not necessarily by the fault of this issue's creators.
• Pyro's still suffering from the Legacy Virus, which is fair enough. His appearance in this issue raised some eyebrows at the time, since he'd just been killed off in Daredevil #355 and no attempt is made to explain it.
• There's more of the Daily Bugle investigating Graydon Creed.
• Iceman and Cannonball have gone undercover in the Creed campaign team. Obviously the now-departed Professor X had all the imagination in the team, since they're using the pseudonyms Drake Roberts and Samson Guthry. (Yes, that's right, Sam Guthrie uses the pseudonym Sam Guthry.) Plainly only a complete moron would fail to see through identities like that. Fortunately, Creed is a complete moron.
• Creed's volunteer co-ordinator Carly Alvarez makes her first appearance. She'll hang around in the background for a while, make one comment suggesting that she may have a plot thread, and then do absolutely nothing. Such is life at the tail-end of the Lobdell era.

Comments: Welcome to the world of incoherent nonsense. It's dropped plot central in this issue, as the two main plot threads both go absolutely nowhere. So Archangel's got his wings back. Is this heading anywhere? No. So Pyro's on the run from somebody. Is this heading anywhere? No. So the Daily Bugle are investigating the Creed campaign. Is this heading anywhere? No. This is, unfortunately, an example of all that's wrong with the X-books at this point - a load of vague hints and disconnected foreshadowing where the pay-off either never existed or never saw print. And to the extent that this issue does fit into any actual storylines, they're X-Factor storylines. Otherwise, since the issue is just lead-up to a story that never happens, it's hard to say much about it. (But those pseudonyms are really stupid, aren't they?)

Feature characters: Cyclops, the Beast, Phoenix III, Iceman (all last in X-Men '96), Wolverine (last in Marvel Fanfare Vol 2 #2), Joseph (last in X-Men Vol 2 #57; the latter five next in X-Men Vol 2 #58, then Wolverine in Elektra #1, 3); Storm, Gambit (both last in X-Men '96; both next in X-Men Vol 2 #58, then Gambit in Spider-Man Team-Up #5, then in DC/Marvel: Access All Areas #, then both in issue #340); Archangel (appears between pages in X-Men Vol 2 #57), Psylocke (last in X-Men Vol 2 #57; both next in X-Men Vol 2 #61, then Archangel in X-Men '97, then both in Psylocke And Archangel: Crimson Dawn #1-2, then Archangel in X-Force #67, then both in Psylocke And Archangel: Crimson Dawn #2-3, then in issue #348)

Guest star: Quicksilver (between X-Men Vol 2 #57 and #59)

Villains: Ozymandias (between X-Men Vol 2 #55 and X-Force #67); Pyro (last in Daredevil Vol 1 #355; next in X-Factor #129); Graydon Creed, the Creed Campaign Team (first appearance; all last as members of the Friends of Humanity in X-Factor #128), Carly Alvarez (first appearance; all next in X-Men Vol 2 #58); Avalanche (b/s; last in X-Factor #109; next in X-Men Vol 2 #106)

Guest appearance: J Jonah Jameson (between X-Men Vol 2 #57-58)

STORY: "Fight And Flight!" (24 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Adam Kubert, Cedric Nocon (pencillers), Jesse Delperdang, Scott Hanna (inkers), Richard Starkings, Comicraft (letterers), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Mark Powers (associate editor), Bob Harras (editor, editor-in-chief)

When Spider-Man tells the X-Men about J Jonah Jameson's investigations into Graydon Creed, the X-Men decide to follow him, only to get caught up in a terrorist attack by Havok.

What you need to know:

• Yuck. Awful, awful issue. But let's go through the motions. This issue continues the going-nowhere subplot of Jameson's interest in Graydon Creed's campaign.
• The X-Men are in full-on idiot mode in this story. Aside from the fact that there's no clear reason why they'd want to tail J Jonah Jameson in the first place, they stupidly choose to use their single most visible member, the Beast, who's guaranteed to be recognised in thirty seconds. And indeed he is.
• Havok shows up here as a villain, because that's how he was being written in X-Factor at the time. The creators of that title later decided that he was faking all along, which makes this homicidal actions in this issue rather hard to justify. His colleague here, appearing for the first time, is later named as Ever. He's the guy in the hologram of Gene Nation in issue #325 who never actually appeared in the story, but the significance of this - if any - has never been explained. Ever goes on to make several appearances with Havok as this dreadful Brotherhood storyline continues in X-Factor.
• Bastion kills a Daily Bugle journalist who discovers Creed's true parentage (he's the son of the supervillain mutants Sabretooth and Mystique).
• More X-Factor plots (oh, goody) - Mystique is still planning to kill Graydon Creed but changes her plan when she sees the X-Men tailing him. None of which has anything to do with this title at all.
• Jean is having glitches with her telepathic powers, which is footnoted as being a reference to a plot in X-Man. I don't recall there being any such plot, and I suspect this is the result of a late plot change in that title.
• Spider-Man... ah yes, Spider-Man. This story saw print during the universally panned clone storyline in the Spider-Man books. Consequently, the man in the Spider-Man costume in this issue isn't Spider-Man. It's his clone Ben Reilly, the second Spider-Man. That's why there's vague and cryptic allusions to Peter Parker as Spider-Man's "friend" - Lobdell's obviously trying to avoid getting into the details of the storyline. At this point, Reilly was supposed to actually be the original Spider-Man returning to the role after giving it up in the 1970s (long story), which is why he makes several anachronistic comments about the X-Men roster, such as calling Jean Grey by her 1970s codename.

Comments: Basically a giant plug for the ongoing Brotherhood storyline in X-Factor, a storyline that saner minds would have kept rather quiet about instead of inflicting it on the flagship titles. Lobdell has a brave stab at persuading us that we're looking at the real Havok (only to have his efforts undermined by the inept handling of the story in X-Factor), and does rather better than Howard Mackie, the main writer of the story, had been managing. Nonetheless, the plot is just plain silly, as the X-Men continue to wander around to no great purpose, and Havok launches a downright idiotic attack on Jameson for no sensible reason.

The art is mixed - half the book is drawn by the excellent Adam Kubert, and looks great. The rest is drawn by Cedric "Who?" Nocon, and is a rather poor affair all told. On the whole, one to avoid.

Feature characters: Cyclops (next in X-Men Vol 2 #59, then in X-Men Unlimited #13, then in Silver Surfer Vol 4 #123, then in DC/Marvel: All Access #2, then in X-Men Vol 2 #60-61, then in DC/Marvel: All Access #3-4, then in Wolverine #111, then in X-Men Unlimited #15, then in X-Men '97, then in Marvel Holiday Special 1996/5, then in issue #342); the Beast (next in X-Men Vol 2 #59, then in X-Men Unlimited #13, then in Silver Surfer Vol 4 #123, then in Wolverine #111, then in X-Men Unlimited #14-15, then in Beast #1-3, then in issue #341); Phoenix III (next in X-Men Vol 2 #59, then in X-Men Unlimited #13, then in Silver Surfer Vol 4 #123); Iceman, Joseph (both last in X-Men Vol 2 #58; both next in X-Men Vol 2 #59, then Joseph in X-Men Unlimited #14, then in X-Men '97, then in issue #341); Wolverine (last in Elektra #3; next in X-Men Vol 2 #59, then in Venom: Tooth And Claw#13, then in DC/Marvel: All Access #2); Bishop (last in X-Men Vol 2 #58; next in X-Men Vol 2 #59, then in X-Men Unlimited #13, then in Silver Surfer Vol 4 #123, then in X-Man #22 b/s, then in X-Man #23, then in DC/Marvel: Access All Areas #3-4, then in Wolverine #111, then in Cable #41, then in X-Men '97, then in Marvel Holiday Special 1996/5, then in issue #341)

Guest star: J Jonah Jameson (between X-Men Vol 2 #58 and ??Sensational Spider-Man #11)

Villains: Graydon Creed (between X-Men Vol 2 #58-59); Havok (between X-Men Vol 2 #58 and X-Factor #131), Ever (first appearance; next in X-Factor #139, where his name is revealed; both teamed as the Brotherhood); Bastion (between Wolverine '96 and X-Man #22)

Guest appearances: Spider-Man II (between Spider-Man #74 and Spider-Man Team-Up #5); Peter Parker (in f/b; between Spider-Man #74 and Spider-Man Team-Up #5/2); Mystique, Forge (both between X-Factor #128-129)

STORY: "Relativity" (22 pages)
Credits: Scott Lobdell (writer), Joe Madureira (penciller), Tim Townsend (inker), Richard Starkings, Kolja Fuchs, Comicraft (letterers), Steve Buccellato (colourist), Mark Powers (associate editor), Bob Harras (editor, editor-in-chief)

Creed has Iceman's father beaten up after he makes sympathetic comments about mutants in a TV interview, and Iceman decides to leave the X-Men to take care of him while he recovers.

What you need to know:

• This issue ties up the running subplot about Iceman's father being a bigoted moron which had been prominent over a year before. And does so fairly satisfyingly, in fact.
• Sam's been so successful at his undercover work that he's now Creed's personal assistant. Yet another example of the sort of cretinism on Creed's part that made him such a failure as a villain. Fortunately, this is the last we see of Creed - his storyline is shunted over to X-Factor, where he is mercifully killed. Mercifully for us, anyway.
• This story also has the first appearance of Creed's absurdly large bodyguards, later named as Boyd and Mathers. It's vaguely hinted in future stories that they're somehow involved in the plot to kill Creed, but do you really care? They'll be back in Operation: Zero Tolerance, anyhow.

Comments: It's still the god-awful Creed plot, but this one's got something to recommend it. It's basically a load of characters - Bobby, Sam, Ororo and Creed - talking about their relationships with their fathers, which is a bit more interesting than it sounds. Particularly good is Ororo's monologue about how she relates to parents who have been dead for years, which ends up with the obvious "I wish they were alive", but gets there by a more interesting, and accurate, route than you might imagine.

Joe Madureira is back on the art, and does a pretty decent job considering that this is a conversation story - not exactly what he's best known for. In fact, some of his artwork here is extremely good, when he's keeping his manga tendencies under control and using a bit of understatement. When he goes melodramatic, on the other hand, it's all a bit much to take seriously.

Feature characters: Iceman (last in X-Men Vol 2 #59; leaves the X-Men; next in DC/Marvel: All Access #3); Storm (last in X-Men Vol 2 #58), Phoenix III (last in Silver Surfer Vol 4 #123; both next in X-Men Vol 2 #60-61, then in DC/Marvel: Access All Areas #3-4, then Storm in X-Men Unlimited #14, then in Cable #41, then both in X-Men '97, then in Marvel Holiday Special 1996/5, then both in issue #342); Wolverine (last in DC/Marvel: Access All Areas #2; next in X-Men Vol 2 #61, then in Wolverine #107-111, then in X-Men Unlimited #15, then in X-Men '97, then in Marvel Holiday Special 1996/5, then in Marvel: Shadows And Light #1, then in issue #342); Gambit (last in DC/Marvel: Access All Areas #2; next in Wolverine #111, then in X-Men Unlimited #14-15, then in X-Men '97); Cannonball II (last in X-Men Vol 2 #59; next in X-Factor #130, then in X-Men Vol 2 #60, then in DC/Marvel: Access All Areas #34, then in Wolverine #111, then in Beast #1-3, then in X-Men '97)

Supporting characters: William Drake (last in X-Men Vol 2 #59 b/s; next in X-Men Unlimited #15)

Villains: Graydon Creed, the Creed Campaign Team (all between X-Men Vol 2 #59 and X-Factor #130); Agent Boyd, Agent Mathers (first appearance of both; issue #346 reveals their names and the fact that they are secretly Prime Sentinels; both next in X-Factor #130); Carly Alvarez (in f/b; last in X-Men Vol 2 #59; no further appearances)