THE NEW 52-OMAC #1

Depending on who you talk to, OMAC was either Jack Kirby's WORST piece of work or a hidden gem. It was created at the end of Kirby's stint with DC and legend has it that the book only existed because Kirby was contracted to turn out 15 pages a week and this is what he came up with. The book was cancelled after 8 issues, with the character of Buddy Blank (OMACs host as it were) being brought into the continuity of Kirby's KAMANDI making him the boy's grandfather. The  character also showed up in COUNTDOWN. DC also got the bright idea to make the OMACS a part of  the lead-in to INFINITE CRISIS, making them cyborgs who take over humans in order to assassinate  super powered individuals. For purists like me, it was nice to see the name get used but not the OMAC I grew up with.


As part of DC Comics "soft reboot" of their titles, Dan Didio, Keith Giffen and Scott Koblish  are resurrecting the character or at least a new version of it. And they have truly turned it  into a Kirby tribute of sorts.


We get introduced to Cadmus Industries: "the corporate leader in genetic research". We meet  Jody Robbins and Tony Jay, who are looking for their co-worker Kevin Kho. Next thing we know,  all you know what is breaking loose and a blue skinned behemoth with a mohawk calling himself  OMAC appears and proceeds to tear up the place for several pages. Employees are gathered  outside and we meet Martin Welman, the Vice President of Research who is having a phone  conversation with someone, exclaiming the "security has been breached" and the "lower levels  have been compromised".


Sure enough, we get a view of the underground: "the true Cadmus Project". And here we see an  old familiar face-Lord Mokkari...straight from Fourth World. OMAC arrives and is met by an army of  defenders led by the old DNA Alien himself, Dubbilex. He does a little mid reading and we get a  very brief glimpse of OMAC's younger life. The blue skinned one is prodded towards a goal by a  mysterious voice in his head and he proceeds to track down the mainframe in Cadmus and destroy  it. Making his way back to the surface, OMAC transforms into Kevin Kho who is told to call his  worried girlfriend by the mysterious voice in his head. In a great final full page panel, we  get to see Brother Eye.


I wasn't going to buy this book, as I am still a bit ticked off by the OMAC PROJECT from a few  years back. But I happened to have some extra disposable income one week and picked it up. I  have to say I was pleasantly surprised by it. I mean, I'm the first to admit that, good or bad,  I am a Kirby fan and always have been. I smiled through his great Fourth World books and  grimaced at things like SILVER STAR and CAPTAIN VICTORY. But, square fingers and all, Jack  could certainly tell a story and draw some great action. And I have happy memories of this dumb  little book from back in the day. So, despite it being the contractual comics, I liked it  because it was a quick read and pretty mindless.


So I bought the book with my disposable capital and liked it a lot. I won't go as far as saying  I loved it because there are some things I don't like. First the good: Keith Giffen and Scott  Koblish are rocking the Kirby look right down to the square fingers. In fact, Koblish' inks are  very reminiscent of Mike Royer's. The book SCREAMS KIRBY: the plotting, the panel design, the  big, epic fight scenes. You would swear someone dug up Jack and put him back to work and STILL  wouldn't give him his artwork back. Dan Didio obviously has a love for the characters Jack  created and I love the fact he's dropped Cadmus and some Fourth World elements right in the  first issue. It's obvious with Geoff Johns dropping Darkseid into his plot for JUSTICE LEAGUE #1  that DC is going to go that route, although we did destroy the New Gods awhile back and did  this whole convoluted storyline with the Anti-Life Equation during FINAL CRISIS. Let's hope we  don't make a mess of it.


On the negative side, a lot of action and very little plot development. Okay, we meet three  named co-workers of Kevin Kho, see the real Cadmus in action and get a lot of fighting. But  little else. And to have Kho missing on page one and OMAC show up on page three...well, if you  didn't think that Kho was going to turn out to be the big blue guy then you obviously need a  plot where you have it shoved down your throat. That's kind of like having Bruce Banner be  noticeably absent and the Hulk show up. Also interesting is that Jack originally conceived OMAC  as the everyman turned hero, much like he had done with Captain America. With this guy and the  blue skin and some pretty fractured dialogue, he seem more like a blue Hulk with a mohawk.


Overall, I am planning on giving this book a few issues anyway in hopes that plot exposition  will improve. For now, I just get the joy of geeking out at some good Kirbyesque style.

BTW: look for the mysterious hooded stranger in panel #4 on page 6. Can't miss it as DC has  started putting a rose colored glow around the being, just to make it easier to spot.