Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #322
Cover Date: Jul 95
Title: "Dark walk"
Credits:
Scott Lobdell - Writer
Tom Grummett - Penciler
Dan Green, Mark Pennington, Matthew Ryan, & Al Milgrom - Inker
Ben Raab - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
Digital review warning.

Beast and Bishop are in Hoboken, New Jersey to see a movie when the Juggernaut crashes into town.

Joined by Psylocke, they realize that the Juggernaut is immensely afraid.

His attacker is someone called Onslaught.

This issue actually starts with Archangel getting a call from his estranged girlfriend Charlotte Jones. She's calling in an official capacity as a police officer. Some kind of "mutant on human" hate crime has occurred but we don't get to see what it is. It's later said that Professor X and Cable are in a closed door meeting about it. This is setting up the Gene Nation storyline.

Also Gambit has apparently tried to kiss Rogue and was rendered unconscious. Storm wonders why Gambit thought he would have been immune, something we can file under "ominous hints about Gambit that went nowhere".

Speaking of "ominous hints that went nowhere", Jean Grey tells her father about the death of her sister Sara, and afterwards we see Noah Dubois observing them from afar.

Actually, even the Juggernaut portion is an "ominous hint that went nowhere". Onslaught will of course be a real threat but nothing about what happens here makes any sense once Scott Lobdell finally settles on an idea for what Onslaught is meant to be. This issue is notorious for that reason. One thing i never realized is that it's the first issue of Uncanny after Age of Apocalypse. Which makes sense in that Lobdell was already setting up the Next Big Thing (even though he didn't know what it was yet). But it means some of the things that are said to lead to Xavier becoming Onslaught - his confrontation with X-Man and the final failure of trying to redeem Sabretooth - haven't even happened yet.

If you can ignore all the ways that this issue is faking us out with plots that don't matter, the issue in isolation seems important and a Juggernaut fight - even one where the narration keeps reminding us that Juggernaut isn't at full strength and so doesn't really count - is fun. And that was the secret strength of the X-books at this time; they were really good at stringing readers along.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 4 - first Onslaught (off panel/mention) and also first actions of Gene Nation

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place before X-Force #44. X-Men #42 takes place next. X-Men Prime occurred "a few days ago". The MCP considers the members of Gene Nation to be behind the scenes but it seems more that their actions occurred before the start of this issue.

References:

• Storm thinks about how Gambit has been interested in Rogue since he came to the X-Mansion in Uncanny X-Men #267.
  
• Wolverine implies that he doesn't deserve to be allowed to live in the mansion after what he did to Sabretooth in Wolverine #90.
  
• A footnote reacting to Siryn's presence on the mansion grounds tells us that this takes place prior to X-Force #44.
  
• Bishop, disoriented after Age of Apocalypse, attacked the X-Men in X-Men Prime.
  
• Sara Grey disappeared "a long time ago" in X-Factor #12 (incorrectly footnoted as #2). Jean tells her father that she was probably absorbed "shortly after" that by the Phalanx, as we saw in X-Men #36 (no footnote). Also "shortly after" is definitely relative, since the Phalanx didn't exist until after the death of Warlock, which was circa X-Factor #62.
  
• Juggernaut has been thought to be invulnerable since he first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #12.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A