Onslaught Reborn

While perusing Borders this past weekend armed with a 30% off coupon, I happened come across the Onslaught Reborn TPB. For $15 bucks I figured what the hell I’ll go for it. That and I completely forgot to pick up when it was released in single issues, but that’s not the point.

It was a team up of some of the Heroes Reborn think tank in Jeff Loeb and Rob Liefield, revisiting the Reborn saga as a ten year anniversary. I for one actually liked the Heroes Reborn saga, if nothing else it was a change of pace (not to mention it was after that whole Crossing mess we would all like to forget).

The story starts with a narration from Bucky (the Heroes Reborn female Bucky that is) and Onslaught returning and coming after Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman should you not already know that. In an attempt to escape he uses some green globe thing (I don’t really remember what it is) and comes back to the Reborn universe, where all the heroes are. In his attempts to capture Franklin, Onslaught begins to inhabit the bodies of the different heroes, and pits them against one another in an attempt to find the strongest body that he can then take over that universe with. And so the fighting begins.

I’m not going to lie, I prefer action over drama, and while not the strongest plot if you like action this was a good series. I don’t think the plot was weak per se, but it definitely was geared to a more action packed series than a deep and meaningful one.

Liefield’s art, something many have problems with because he exaggerates the features and has a very scratchy detail style, was more toned down. You could still tell it was him, and there were some frames that definitely needed to be lightened on the details, but for the most part I thought he did a good job.

The fighting I thought was good. The frames were clear and you could easily tell what was going on. I liked the coloring too, pretty bright and vibrant, something you don’t seem to see much of nowadays.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but there are some twists in this, some good, and some make you scratch your head. You have to wonder if one or two things were intended to be done in the original series and they just never got around to it, or if Loeb and Liefield just decided to have fun with the idea.

All in all I thought the series was pretty good. Though a quick read I did enjoy it and it is definitely good for those who prefer action.