Onslaught springs his trap, but he isn’t the only one who has a plan in X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation #1 by writer Si Spurrier, artist Bob Quinn, colorist Java Tartaglia, and letterer Clayton Cowles. From start to finish, this is just a fabulous comic.

In a nutshell, this whole issue is about two competing traps. One is Onslaught’s, as he gathers all of the mutants of Krakoa in one big party and has Xavier erase all of the memory back-ups in Cerebro. Over in Legion’s new Temple on Arakko, Nightcrawler, and Legion, after freeing Pixie to use her soul knife to free others, talk to Cortez and Lost and reveal the truth- Orchis had been experimenting on Lost for years, putting Onslaught into her, where he was nourished by her hatred for Cortez. She forgives him, and things get interesting as the party relocates to the Temple, and the combined mutants of Krakoa don’t fight Onslaught but embrace him. With the threat ended, Nightcrawler and Legion begin the next phase of their plan- the Legionaries.

Spurrier does a fantastic job throughout this issue. There are so many great moments in this issue, from the reveal of Onslaught’s trap to the interplay between Lost and Cortez to Nightcrawler and Legion’s trap and so much more. Every plot beat in this issue adds up to something exceptional. This whole time, Nightcrawler has been trying to find a new way forward, and Spurrier uses this issue as the perfect encapsulation of that. Instead of fighting Onslaught, they outthink Onslaught and then embrace him. It’s a novel way of doing things, and it works for this book so well because Way Of X wasn’t a conventional X-Men book. It wasn’t trying to be one. It was about one man trying to make sense of a new and different world from the one he grew up in. Nightcrawler’s religious upbringing demanded that he find an answer to things that was beyond resurrection, and this issue shows him finding it.

The fact that it’s forgiveness that gives them the power to defeat Onslaught is beautiful and a completely unexpected twist. Another one is that Spurrier can give Fabian Cortez, one of mutantkind’s biggest scumbags, a sympathetic hero moment. It’s weird to look at that character and not hate him, but Spurrier pulls it off masterfully. Everything about this comic is so unexpected, and that’s one of the things that makes it so very great.

Quinn and Tartaglia nail the art in this book so hard it’s not funny. There’s an amazing spread of Onslaught standing over the butchered Krakoa that looks amazing. In fact, Quinn does a great job with Onslaught throughout, but that’s not all he does. From giving Nightcrawler a new costume to the layout of Legion’s Temple to the revelation of how potent Dust’s powers can truly be, the visuals in this book are top-notch.

X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation is one of the best X-Men comics of the Krakoan era. Spurrier built something special in Way Of X, and this comic is the culmination of that and gives readers a glimpse of the future, one that will hopefully still be worked on by this team. Quinn and Tartaglia give the whole thing the marvelous visuals it needs to impress. This comic was a huge surprise in the best possible way, a triumphant book that is one of a kind.

Grade: A+