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Omega the Unknown (2007) #1-10
Omega: El desconocido
Contiene Omega The Unknown vol. 2, 1-10 USA.
Creado en 1975 por Steve Gerber y Mary Skrenes, Omega El Desconocido se convirtió en un personaje de culto de aquella década. Uno de sus lectores fue un joven llamado Jonathan Lethem, quien crecería para convertirse en uno de los escritores más prestigiosos de la moderna novela americana. Ahora, Lethem tiene la oportunidad de contar la historia de este misterioso héroe llegado desde otro planeta. Una novela gráfica en diez capítulos que aborda el género desde un original punto de vista. Especialmente recomendado para lectores adultos.
Creado en 1975 por Steve Gerber y Mary Skrenes, Omega El Desconocido se convirtió en un personaje de culto de aquella década. Uno de sus lectores fue un joven llamado Jonathan Lethem, quien crecería para convertirse en uno de los escritores más prestigiosos de la moderna novela americana. Ahora, Lethem tiene la oportunidad de contar la historia de este misterioso héroe llegado desde otro planeta. Una novela gráfica en diez capítulos que aborda el género desde un original punto de vista. Especialmente recomendado para lectores adultos.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
11 people are currently reading
499 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Lethem
236 books2,649 followersJonathan Allen Lethem (born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer.
His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. In 2003, he published The Fortress of Solitude, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
In 2005, he received a MacArthur Fellowship
His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels. In 1999, Lethem published Motherless Brooklyn, a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. In 2003, he published The Fortress of Solitude, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
In 2005, he received a MacArthur Fellowship
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
August 26, 2010
As a child, Lethem was one of the many who were touched by a strange, singular, prescient comic called 'Omega the Unknown', which prefigured the psychological depth, realism, and genre deconstruction of the early Vertigo titles (my review here). As a successful adult, Lethem desired to return to the source of his inspiration, and to make it his own, which he certainly did, but I'm not entirely enthusiastic about the way he went about it.
Lethem decided to rewrite an iconic piece of cult comic history, but for all that he claims to be a fan of Gerber's, Lethem proved himself surprisingly ignorant of who Gerber was, and of what he represents in the world of comics.
Omega was canceled early because Gerber became involved in a struggle over creator's rights--one of the first such struggles in comics, and one which helped to pave the way for later authors and artists. But as the first to throw himself into the gears of the corporate comics machine, Gerber didn't fare well in his one-man revolution. He went bankrupt and never gained ownership of his creations, and so Omega, a work ahead of its time, was taken from him and the characters killed off summarily by another author.
When Gerber heard that Lethem was to reboot the series, he reacted with anger and disbelief that someone who called themselves a fan of his would conspire with the company that he fought with so long, a company that took away his creations. And now here's a young upstart who has decided to remake it, without so much as a by-your-leave. Gerber and Lethem later spoke, and Gerber softened his critique, realizing that Lethem was ignorant and starry-eyed. Like so many new authors, he was pleased enough with the idea of writing that he never thought to ask pertinent questions.
Perhaps his naivete is a defense of his actions, but I don't see how any author can hope to achieve anything when he is working from a fundamental state of ignorance. Perhaps if Lethem truly meant to honor Gerber, he should have asked him how the story was meant to end, and then work to give it some measure of the closure it deserved.
Instead, he chose to rewrite the story as a faux-indy comic, with the requisite awkward pacing, pop-culture references, and outsider art aesthetic. I must admit this last bit confused me somewhat, as Lethem didn't draw it himself, but chose a full-time artist. The level of art I saw here was reminiscent of the artist-creator, who must do double duty to retain control of his vision, and who we forgive for his primitive, idiomatic style. Yet the art here was less studied and charming than most actual indy comics.
I think accusations of 'hipsterdom' are thrown around too often, and meaninglessly, but I will say that any viable critique of the hipster movement is always based in the observation that some people take on the trappings of a group or idea in an attempt to borrow its allure, but without comprehending it, or achieving the same purpose.
So Lethem's book, even apart from the art, seems deliberately odd, as if aberration were a style, and not a natural inclination. Primitive artists develop an idiomatic style by coming to terms with their faults and limits, not by adopting an artificial limitation, which is what Dalrymple seems to be affecting, since I have seen other works of his which did have a singular, intriguing style. Perhaps this book is just the case of a rushed or incomplete experiment on his part, which wouldn't be much of an achievement, but it's better than aping outsider artists in an attempt to capture their mystique.
The book is reminiscent of many earlier comics--not merely Gerber's Omega--with familiar story, characters, and symbols from which Lethem draws freely. The conceptual exploration, deconstruction, and internal psychic progression of the story all resemble great comics like Shade the Changing Man, The Maxx, Madman, The Tick, or Cerebus, but while Gerber was writing those sorts of stories years before anyone else, Lethem is writing them thirty years after the fact.
I must presume, based on Lethem's ignorance about his favorite comic, its original author, and its meaning in the business, that he is naively reinventing the wheel. He failed to recognize that comics didn't cease evolving after Gerber, sitting and waiting for reinvigoration. The ideas explored in this rewrite have been done before, and much better. They have trickled out through the comics industry, and into other media, and the public consciousness, leaving Lethem rather late to the game.
Even after all that time, all the change in how people look at comics, and the introduction of comics as 'art', Lethem still isn't able to improve upon Gerber's original ideas. His writing doesn't have the power, the subtlety, or the sense of poetry. Gerber's characters were human despite being archetypal, while Lethem's are cliche (and rather dull) despite being absurd subversions.
But then, Gerber was trying to write around the limitations and expectations of comic books, trying to maintain his dark tone and introversion despite being forced to include the Incredible Hulk as a secondary character. This would naturally require him to come up with creative solutions, and carefully consider what he was doing.
Lethem, on the other hand, had no apparent limitations except the most destructive ones: his own. One would expect he'd do more to overcome them, being a Certified Genius, and all (having won the prestigious Macarthur Fellowship), but then, the grant is for potential, not for achievement; and like so many other winners, he has apparently done his utmost too keep that potential at a premium by refusing have it confirmed.
Lethem had little humor, despite numerous attempts (and endless references to the book 'rumblefish'). His giant stone author surrogate was transparent, dull, and convenient, and the issue where he gives the backstory in song was more annoying than it was clever. He renamed the main character 'A. Island' (ha ha) and quickly gave in to the temptation to write a brilliant boy in the same way as he wrote the adults, which Gerber danced around, but remarkably, never stooped to.
This book was redundant, and without charm, and to some degree, the arrogance with which Lethem tackled the project is insulting to comic fans, as if a successful literary writer could expect to simply enter a new medium and, without great deliberation, do it as well as men who spent their lives championing the form. Lethem doesn't do it that well, and doesn't do himself any favors by drawing comparison to earlier explorative writers who helped to redefine the comic book.
Steve Gerber died during the run of this reimagining, and it saddens me to think that he lived just long enough to see his own creative struggles drug out again, flaunting everything he tried to do for creators, all in the name of 'honoring' him. I know this wasn't Lethem's intent, but I don't think willfully self-assured ignorance is much of a defense.
Yet there is an irony to the fact that while Gerber's original run prefigured a new, revolutionary reading of comics that would change the way they would be written and thought of in our culture forever, Lethem has took this unpredictable, unusual book, and made it into a stylized story of unexplored symbols.
My Suggested Readings in Comics
Lethem decided to rewrite an iconic piece of cult comic history, but for all that he claims to be a fan of Gerber's, Lethem proved himself surprisingly ignorant of who Gerber was, and of what he represents in the world of comics.
Omega was canceled early because Gerber became involved in a struggle over creator's rights--one of the first such struggles in comics, and one which helped to pave the way for later authors and artists. But as the first to throw himself into the gears of the corporate comics machine, Gerber didn't fare well in his one-man revolution. He went bankrupt and never gained ownership of his creations, and so Omega, a work ahead of its time, was taken from him and the characters killed off summarily by another author.
When Gerber heard that Lethem was to reboot the series, he reacted with anger and disbelief that someone who called themselves a fan of his would conspire with the company that he fought with so long, a company that took away his creations. And now here's a young upstart who has decided to remake it, without so much as a by-your-leave. Gerber and Lethem later spoke, and Gerber softened his critique, realizing that Lethem was ignorant and starry-eyed. Like so many new authors, he was pleased enough with the idea of writing that he never thought to ask pertinent questions.
Perhaps his naivete is a defense of his actions, but I don't see how any author can hope to achieve anything when he is working from a fundamental state of ignorance. Perhaps if Lethem truly meant to honor Gerber, he should have asked him how the story was meant to end, and then work to give it some measure of the closure it deserved.
Instead, he chose to rewrite the story as a faux-indy comic, with the requisite awkward pacing, pop-culture references, and outsider art aesthetic. I must admit this last bit confused me somewhat, as Lethem didn't draw it himself, but chose a full-time artist. The level of art I saw here was reminiscent of the artist-creator, who must do double duty to retain control of his vision, and who we forgive for his primitive, idiomatic style. Yet the art here was less studied and charming than most actual indy comics.
I think accusations of 'hipsterdom' are thrown around too often, and meaninglessly, but I will say that any viable critique of the hipster movement is always based in the observation that some people take on the trappings of a group or idea in an attempt to borrow its allure, but without comprehending it, or achieving the same purpose.
So Lethem's book, even apart from the art, seems deliberately odd, as if aberration were a style, and not a natural inclination. Primitive artists develop an idiomatic style by coming to terms with their faults and limits, not by adopting an artificial limitation, which is what Dalrymple seems to be affecting, since I have seen other works of his which did have a singular, intriguing style. Perhaps this book is just the case of a rushed or incomplete experiment on his part, which wouldn't be much of an achievement, but it's better than aping outsider artists in an attempt to capture their mystique.
The book is reminiscent of many earlier comics--not merely Gerber's Omega--with familiar story, characters, and symbols from which Lethem draws freely. The conceptual exploration, deconstruction, and internal psychic progression of the story all resemble great comics like Shade the Changing Man, The Maxx, Madman, The Tick, or Cerebus, but while Gerber was writing those sorts of stories years before anyone else, Lethem is writing them thirty years after the fact.
I must presume, based on Lethem's ignorance about his favorite comic, its original author, and its meaning in the business, that he is naively reinventing the wheel. He failed to recognize that comics didn't cease evolving after Gerber, sitting and waiting for reinvigoration. The ideas explored in this rewrite have been done before, and much better. They have trickled out through the comics industry, and into other media, and the public consciousness, leaving Lethem rather late to the game.
Even after all that time, all the change in how people look at comics, and the introduction of comics as 'art', Lethem still isn't able to improve upon Gerber's original ideas. His writing doesn't have the power, the subtlety, or the sense of poetry. Gerber's characters were human despite being archetypal, while Lethem's are cliche (and rather dull) despite being absurd subversions.
But then, Gerber was trying to write around the limitations and expectations of comic books, trying to maintain his dark tone and introversion despite being forced to include the Incredible Hulk as a secondary character. This would naturally require him to come up with creative solutions, and carefully consider what he was doing.
Lethem, on the other hand, had no apparent limitations except the most destructive ones: his own. One would expect he'd do more to overcome them, being a Certified Genius, and all (having won the prestigious Macarthur Fellowship), but then, the grant is for potential, not for achievement; and like so many other winners, he has apparently done his utmost too keep that potential at a premium by refusing have it confirmed.
Lethem had little humor, despite numerous attempts (and endless references to the book 'rumblefish'). His giant stone author surrogate was transparent, dull, and convenient, and the issue where he gives the backstory in song was more annoying than it was clever. He renamed the main character 'A. Island' (ha ha) and quickly gave in to the temptation to write a brilliant boy in the same way as he wrote the adults, which Gerber danced around, but remarkably, never stooped to.
This book was redundant, and without charm, and to some degree, the arrogance with which Lethem tackled the project is insulting to comic fans, as if a successful literary writer could expect to simply enter a new medium and, without great deliberation, do it as well as men who spent their lives championing the form. Lethem doesn't do it that well, and doesn't do himself any favors by drawing comparison to earlier explorative writers who helped to redefine the comic book.
Steve Gerber died during the run of this reimagining, and it saddens me to think that he lived just long enough to see his own creative struggles drug out again, flaunting everything he tried to do for creators, all in the name of 'honoring' him. I know this wasn't Lethem's intent, but I don't think willfully self-assured ignorance is much of a defense.
Yet there is an irony to the fact that while Gerber's original run prefigured a new, revolutionary reading of comics that would change the way they would be written and thought of in our culture forever, Lethem has took this unpredictable, unusual book, and made it into a stylized story of unexplored symbols.
My Suggested Readings in Comics
January 10, 2024
I love when a minor SH gets a 'remake' and added dimension from a writer/artist who starts all over. Jonathan Lethem does a fantastic job of adding a 'Stepford Wives' feel to all of society; reminded me a lot of Stanley Milgram's 'familiar stranger' and how we interact with each other (often times in a very strange way). Farel Dalrymple's art meshes well with this claustrophobic tale of identity and sum ergo cognito.
January 5, 2016
This was a trippy comic book. It attempted to merge Jonathan Lethem's literary sensibilities and Farel Dalrymple's edgy line art. Their collaboration birthed a graphic novel unlike I ever read. It's a love letter to the original series by Steve Gerber and Jim Mooney while maintaining the artistic identity of the current creators. Trippy it is.
This is a book better read in a collected edition as it is paced as a true graphic novel. I like how Marvel allowed a whole lot of creative leeway in designing in hardcover. It really pops out of the shelves. It also includes back-matter that explains the writer's impetus in adapting the original Gerber and Mooney Omega.
This is a book better read in a collected edition as it is paced as a true graphic novel. I like how Marvel allowed a whole lot of creative leeway in designing in hardcover. It really pops out of the shelves. It also includes back-matter that explains the writer's impetus in adapting the original Gerber and Mooney Omega.
January 26, 2015
Maybe it's just because I'm not familiar with the original series, but this seemed really... underdone. Also pretentious, but I'd be okay with that if it were either more intellectually rigorous, or more action-packed. Being neither, it just feels boring. The art is rather dull as well -- the lack of expressiveness weakens the effect of the robotic and otherwise emotionally stilted characters by decreasing their contrast with the "normal" ones.
August 31, 2016
So it would appear to be something of a trend to have "real" writers write comics. That is to say, writers best known for their prose, not comics writing, have been increasingly visible in the graphic novel market. It's not a bad thing, just unusual in my experience. Obviously writing for comics requires a slightly different skill set from writing novels and essays and so on, but if it's something they want to do, by all means ... come on in! The water's fine.
So Johnathan Lethem is a fan of Steve Gerber's old Marvel series from the 70's, Omega the Unknown. He states as much in his afterword. Omega was an odd series, even by 70's Marvel standards, but Lethem has revamped it and put his own unique spin on it. I don't think I've read a superhero book this unabashedly, delightfully weird since Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol. So there's this boy, Titus Alexander Island. He's been home schooled his whole life and is something of a genius but socially backward. He and his parents are forced to flee their home one day. In the process, he realizes that his parents are not who he thought they were. And there's this guy in a blue suit who's constantly getting attacked by a group of robots. And there's the Mink, a would-be superhero with his own TV show who's playing his own game. There's nanotech. And high school bullies. And more than one giant hand. And did I mention robots? I'm pretty sure I mentioned robots. The whole thing is fantastically illustrated by Farrel Dalrymple. There's even a section drawn by Gary Panter. Yeah. In a Marvel book, no less. I could scarcely believe it myself. A Marvel book with indie cred. You don't see those very often.
This is a lovingly crafted homage to one of the more offbeat characters to ever burst from the House of Ideas. Highly recommended!
So Johnathan Lethem is a fan of Steve Gerber's old Marvel series from the 70's, Omega the Unknown. He states as much in his afterword. Omega was an odd series, even by 70's Marvel standards, but Lethem has revamped it and put his own unique spin on it. I don't think I've read a superhero book this unabashedly, delightfully weird since Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol. So there's this boy, Titus Alexander Island. He's been home schooled his whole life and is something of a genius but socially backward. He and his parents are forced to flee their home one day. In the process, he realizes that his parents are not who he thought they were. And there's this guy in a blue suit who's constantly getting attacked by a group of robots. And there's the Mink, a would-be superhero with his own TV show who's playing his own game. There's nanotech. And high school bullies. And more than one giant hand. And did I mention robots? I'm pretty sure I mentioned robots. The whole thing is fantastically illustrated by Farrel Dalrymple. There's even a section drawn by Gary Panter. Yeah. In a Marvel book, no less. I could scarcely believe it myself. A Marvel book with indie cred. You don't see those very often.
This is a lovingly crafted homage to one of the more offbeat characters to ever burst from the House of Ideas. Highly recommended!
April 21, 2016
Didn't particularly hate it, didn't love it. Dalrymple's art is, as always, amazing. And I liked Lethem's story. But it lacked any motivation on the part of the characters. Almost as if they were caricatures of something else, but I'm not quite sure what. Part of the distance I felt was due to the formalized prose throughout. Very few people spoke like actual people - some of this was intentional, to show that a person was a robot or alien in disguise, I get that. But there was little to differentiate the dialogue, as a result - no "voices". Still, it wasn't horrible, and Dalrymple's art does much to redeem the book.
And thank goodness for libraries!
And thank goodness for libraries!
July 26, 2009
Omega: The Unknown isn't badly done, but it suffers from "Squid in the Mouth" Syndrome. If you don't know what that means, look here (http://www.sfwa.org/writing/turkeycit...), under Part Two: Paragraphs and Prose Structure.
This graphic novel gets three stars because there's lots of stuff to like. I enjoyed The Mink, and the way the robots spread their robotness to human beings. The main character was basically raised by a pair of vacuum cleaners, and is utterly monotone and boring. That's ok, because the rest of the graphic novel makes up for it, in spades.
Finally: Omega killing and eating the bald eagle and the little guy with the mayo jar were a bit too much for me. I noticed that the granite head (I can't remember his name) kept changing size, also.
I liked this enough so that if they ever made a sequel (extremely unlikely) I would read it.
This graphic novel gets three stars because there's lots of stuff to like. I enjoyed The Mink, and the way the robots spread their robotness to human beings. The main character was basically raised by a pair of vacuum cleaners, and is utterly monotone and boring. That's ok, because the rest of the graphic novel makes up for it, in spades.
Finally: Omega killing and eating the bald eagle and the little guy with the mayo jar were a bit too much for me. I noticed that the granite head (I can't remember his name) kept changing size, also.
I liked this enough so that if they ever made a sequel (extremely unlikely) I would read it.
February 9, 2020
Great fun, essential for Lethem fans, especially those (like me) who got hooked early on books like Amnesia Moon and The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye. A bit reminiscent of the terrific anime series FLCL. Highly recommended.
June 6, 2017
Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtJdm...
Its head occasionally wanders a little bit too close to its bottom, but Omega's still an amazing reflection on the superhero genre, and on the dynamics of power and oppression in today's society. With robots! Pew pew!
Its head occasionally wanders a little bit too close to its bottom, but Omega's still an amazing reflection on the superhero genre, and on the dynamics of power and oppression in today's society. With robots! Pew pew!
September 28, 2016
Jonathan Lethem has made a career of giving “low brow” material literary attention and, conversely, of bringing seemingly disposable pop cultural references into work that’s as excellent as any literature anyone’s writing. He’s like the kid who wears a tuxedo t-shit to the prom (and pulls it off), and he’s also the guy who, wearing a real tuxedo at a literary soiree, accessorizes with tennis shoes. (That’s a metaphor, by the way – he has done neither to my knowledge.) In other words, the line between silly and profound is surprisingly thin for him. It’s hard to know where his ambitious literary output ends and his see-how-this-shit flies experiments begin.
At some level, he may be saying the line doesn’t matter. If a thing is good, let it be good. He speaks glowingly about how the original Omega the Unknown comic book prepared him for life as a committed reader in an interview appended to this comic book. Phillip K. Dick matters as much as F. Scott Fitzgerald in his world (I don’t immediately remember him mentioning Fitzgerald in this context, but he’s representative), and he doesn’t apologize for that. Anything that makes the mundane into art, whether a superhero, a literary theory, or a rollicking good tale, pushes toward the same end: it helps us see the contours of some of the stories that describe, without containing, our otherwise seemingly small lives.
If that makes any sense at all, let it stand as the frame for my reaction to this comic book. And comic book it is, not graphic novel. A sheltered, nerdy high school kid loses his parents in an auto accident (and they turn out to have been robots all along) and then he manifests a connection to a mute superhero from outer space. There’s something about a cabal of robots trying to take over the world. Something about a pretentious well-marketed crime fighter named the Mink. And something about the Mink’s hand being taken over by nanobots, amputated, and growing into an independent menace or crime fighter of its own.
Parts of this are very funny and, if you squint, postmodern in the sense that they acknowledge the narrative structures of which they’re a part. We get reminded, always cleverly, that this is a comic book, that we’ve seen characters like these before and that our authors intend to use our familiarity with the genre as part of their work with the story before us.
Things get incoherent at times, but that’s part of the genre. I think my own confusion came half from not being sufficiently fan-boy, and half from the story’s deliberate playing with narrative. If it weren’t confusing, it seems to say, it would be too accessible, not enough of a vehicle for an adolescent (or an adult clinging to the residue of adolescence) to take for his – it’s almost always his, isn’t it? – own.
So, I admit I’m split on how to feel about that element of the narrative. I love it when we see the renegade hand following its own agenda – that could be worth the price of admission alone. And I love it when we get the backstory of an earlier Omega champion who, overwhelmed by the expectations that he’ll save the earth from interplanetary robots, dies a disappointing quasi-suicidal death. And I certainly like the core story of Alex as he tries to fit into an inner-city high school that regards nerds the way English hunters regard foxes. I just don’t always like the way those stories come, or don’t quite come, together.
My biggest complaint about the story, however, is with the artwork. Dalrymple’s drawings grew on me a bit as I read, but they seemed the wrong style for this work. I understand that others enjoy it, but it feels generally passive to me. The lines are thin and sometimes shaky, and it undermined the boldness of the concept. Given that, and given that Lethem, conscious of the comic form and conscious of the power of silence in a story about a mute superhero, the artwork is crucial. (The final chapter is actually wordless – a beautiful concept that I’d like more if I enjoyed looking at Dalrymple’s work more.) Pictures carry more emotion here than usual, yet it’s often tough to find that emotion. I’m struck that Omega himself is scrawny, but his scale seems off. He’s carrying the weight of several worlds, and he’s doing so without the capacity to speak. I don’t see that struggle on his face. I see only a persistent confusion, a persistent smallness that never quite reveals the grand showdown the larger story implies.
Still, this one is worth a look, enough so that I may be re-reading it in a year or two. Lethem is as significant an artist as we have right now. He may be in tuxedo t-shirt mode here, but any time he shows up to a party, you’re going to want to sidle over to him and hear what he has to say.
At some level, he may be saying the line doesn’t matter. If a thing is good, let it be good. He speaks glowingly about how the original Omega the Unknown comic book prepared him for life as a committed reader in an interview appended to this comic book. Phillip K. Dick matters as much as F. Scott Fitzgerald in his world (I don’t immediately remember him mentioning Fitzgerald in this context, but he’s representative), and he doesn’t apologize for that. Anything that makes the mundane into art, whether a superhero, a literary theory, or a rollicking good tale, pushes toward the same end: it helps us see the contours of some of the stories that describe, without containing, our otherwise seemingly small lives.
If that makes any sense at all, let it stand as the frame for my reaction to this comic book. And comic book it is, not graphic novel. A sheltered, nerdy high school kid loses his parents in an auto accident (and they turn out to have been robots all along) and then he manifests a connection to a mute superhero from outer space. There’s something about a cabal of robots trying to take over the world. Something about a pretentious well-marketed crime fighter named the Mink. And something about the Mink’s hand being taken over by nanobots, amputated, and growing into an independent menace or crime fighter of its own.
Parts of this are very funny and, if you squint, postmodern in the sense that they acknowledge the narrative structures of which they’re a part. We get reminded, always cleverly, that this is a comic book, that we’ve seen characters like these before and that our authors intend to use our familiarity with the genre as part of their work with the story before us.
Things get incoherent at times, but that’s part of the genre. I think my own confusion came half from not being sufficiently fan-boy, and half from the story’s deliberate playing with narrative. If it weren’t confusing, it seems to say, it would be too accessible, not enough of a vehicle for an adolescent (or an adult clinging to the residue of adolescence) to take for his – it’s almost always his, isn’t it? – own.
So, I admit I’m split on how to feel about that element of the narrative. I love it when we see the renegade hand following its own agenda – that could be worth the price of admission alone. And I love it when we get the backstory of an earlier Omega champion who, overwhelmed by the expectations that he’ll save the earth from interplanetary robots, dies a disappointing quasi-suicidal death. And I certainly like the core story of Alex as he tries to fit into an inner-city high school that regards nerds the way English hunters regard foxes. I just don’t always like the way those stories come, or don’t quite come, together.
My biggest complaint about the story, however, is with the artwork. Dalrymple’s drawings grew on me a bit as I read, but they seemed the wrong style for this work. I understand that others enjoy it, but it feels generally passive to me. The lines are thin and sometimes shaky, and it undermined the boldness of the concept. Given that, and given that Lethem, conscious of the comic form and conscious of the power of silence in a story about a mute superhero, the artwork is crucial. (The final chapter is actually wordless – a beautiful concept that I’d like more if I enjoyed looking at Dalrymple’s work more.) Pictures carry more emotion here than usual, yet it’s often tough to find that emotion. I’m struck that Omega himself is scrawny, but his scale seems off. He’s carrying the weight of several worlds, and he’s doing so without the capacity to speak. I don’t see that struggle on his face. I see only a persistent confusion, a persistent smallness that never quite reveals the grand showdown the larger story implies.
Still, this one is worth a look, enough so that I may be re-reading it in a year or two. Lethem is as significant an artist as we have right now. He may be in tuxedo t-shirt mode here, but any time he shows up to a party, you’re going to want to sidle over to him and hear what he has to say.
March 5, 2011
Creo que la intención era buena y la idea también, pero el resultado... aburrido como él solo. Toman un personaje que pasó con más pena que gloria por la Marvel de los 70s y lo ponen en un entorno actual, cambiando algunos detalles para que sean más políticamente correctos, pero generando el efecto inverso a la vez (por ej., la amiguita del protagonista pasa de ser una chica pelirroja a ser afroamericana, como para mostrar más diversidad étnica; pero a la vez, los patoteros que eran todos blanquitos ahora son "latinous malvadous", así que la corrección se va a la mierda), pero la capacidad de sumergir esas premisas en un entorno actual es bastante limitada. Algunos capítulos plantean cosas interesantes pero rara vez se mantiene legible durante todas sus páginas. El mejor creo que fue el final, un episodio 95% mudo que resulta más llevadero que los otros 9. Eso sí, por lo que dicen en la intro y en el epílogo, la serie original parece bastante interesante y "revolucionaria" para la época, después veré si le doy una chance. Yendo al dibujo, que a simple vista me pareció muy interesante, tengo una palabra para describirlo: decepcionante. Estética original, linda paleta de colores, armados de página interesantes, etc. Pero a la hora de representar emociones, le pifia feo. Además, odio cuano los personajes adolescentes tiene cara de treintañeros inexpresivos, deberían tomar lecciones con algún mangaka o algún otro dibujante que sepa plasmar gente creíble con edades creíbles.
Seguramente este trabajo sea mejor que la mayoría de comics a los que califico con dos estrellitas, pero si le pusiera tres estaría mintiendo y a su vez denigrando a los otros trabajos de tres estrellitas que sí me entretuvieron. Quizás algún día lo relea y me pregunte cómo se me pudo pasar por alto semejante calidazzz, pero no creo que eso pase en el mediano ni corto plazo.
Seguramente este trabajo sea mejor que la mayoría de comics a los que califico con dos estrellitas, pero si le pusiera tres estaría mintiendo y a su vez denigrando a los otros trabajos de tres estrellitas que sí me entretuvieron. Quizás algún día lo relea y me pregunte cómo se me pudo pasar por alto semejante calidazzz, pero no creo que eso pase en el mediano ni corto plazo.
August 24, 2013
3.5 stars...though perhaps this would increase with additional readings.
My understanding is that the MacArthur Fellows Grant ("genius" award) gave Lethem a bit of creative time and space to choose his next project and the inclusion of comics in Fortress of Solitude provided an opening to work with Marvel Comics. (I don't have any real details, so will not add any other presumptions.)
Here is what I know. Several years ago I was standing in a bookstore in New York City several years ago with the hardcover collection in my hand. The book was shrink-wrapped, so I could not flip through to determine if I should purchase. When it comes to books, I'm a completist and Jonathan Lethem's work has always been on my radar. In the end, I walked out without the book.
Finally reading this book (with a giant inter-library loan sticker on the front cover) proves that Lethem is also a completist of sorts. He took his opportunity to resolve and rewrite a story that was significant to him. For Letham, the original Omega the Unknown story was both groundbreaking and prematurely canceled. I appreciate Lethem's drive to tell this story, but since the original Omega was simply unknown to me, I feel like I'm missing many of the touchstones that are significant to Lethem.
My understanding is that the MacArthur Fellows Grant ("genius" award) gave Lethem a bit of creative time and space to choose his next project and the inclusion of comics in Fortress of Solitude provided an opening to work with Marvel Comics. (I don't have any real details, so will not add any other presumptions.)
Here is what I know. Several years ago I was standing in a bookstore in New York City several years ago with the hardcover collection in my hand. The book was shrink-wrapped, so I could not flip through to determine if I should purchase. When it comes to books, I'm a completist and Jonathan Lethem's work has always been on my radar. In the end, I walked out without the book.
Finally reading this book (with a giant inter-library loan sticker on the front cover) proves that Lethem is also a completist of sorts. He took his opportunity to resolve and rewrite a story that was significant to him. For Letham, the original Omega the Unknown story was both groundbreaking and prematurely canceled. I appreciate Lethem's drive to tell this story, but since the original Omega was simply unknown to me, I feel like I'm missing many of the touchstones that are significant to Lethem.
January 20, 2016
I wasn't sure I'd like this: I usually don't like boy-genius stories, or stories of precocious autistic kids (in other words, I usually don't like Wes Anderson). And Jonathan Lethem hasn't really been tested out on me yet, as I've only read his first novel and Amnesia Moon many years ago (who knows how much of this he actually wrote but that's another story).
But I really liked the hipstery art and coloring, and the whole book is a great package of neat design. And the story is a really odd one too, sort of a Philip Dick/Grant Morrison superhero story based on a comic by Steve Gerber (of Howard the Duck fame) I wasn't aware existed.
It has interesting things to say about franchises (of all things) and other topics, although the story sometimes gets lost in its own meta and post-modern cutesiness. And most of the characters are annoying at one point or another unless they're totally bland.
Still, for the most part it's a fairly classic, while still highly original, comic book with good additional art by Gary Panther and others. And while it sort of peters out in the end it still seems like a great "remake/revisioning" of the original story, which apparently petered out in a much more disappointing fuck you sort of way.
But I really liked the hipstery art and coloring, and the whole book is a great package of neat design. And the story is a really odd one too, sort of a Philip Dick/Grant Morrison superhero story based on a comic by Steve Gerber (of Howard the Duck fame) I wasn't aware existed.
It has interesting things to say about franchises (of all things) and other topics, although the story sometimes gets lost in its own meta and post-modern cutesiness. And most of the characters are annoying at one point or another unless they're totally bland.
Still, for the most part it's a fairly classic, while still highly original, comic book with good additional art by Gary Panther and others. And while it sort of peters out in the end it still seems like a great "remake/revisioning" of the original story, which apparently petered out in a much more disappointing fuck you sort of way.
February 21, 2009
I blew through this one--could not put it down. The best superhero comic I've read in years, but then I am not a regular superhero comic fan; more like Alan Moore and Jeffrey Brown's Bighead. This is apparently a fairly faithful take-off from the original series with an updated setting and modified plot.
The storytelling in this book is superb. Lethem manages to avoid a lot of the problems that could befall novelists who venture into comics and takes good advantage of the form. I also really like Dalrymple's illustrations (loved his illustration style in Pop Gun War, though the comic was just okay).
Loved this book so much I raved about it this morning to some totally uninterested 40 and 50 year old colleagues (Librarians). They politely nodded.
The storytelling in this book is superb. Lethem manages to avoid a lot of the problems that could befall novelists who venture into comics and takes good advantage of the form. I also really like Dalrymple's illustrations (loved his illustration style in Pop Gun War, though the comic was just okay).
Loved this book so much I raved about it this morning to some totally uninterested 40 and 50 year old colleagues (Librarians). They politely nodded.
October 21, 2010
This is another one that got off to a slower start, but really grew on me as I read it and become more involved with the plot. While sometimes it can feel a little bit overwritten and over-literary (there are clear links between this and Watchmen), I did find myself wanting to know what would happen to the characters and intellectually engaged. I also really appreciate how lovingly they reworked the original material which was the inspiration for this book, as reflected in the interviews at the end.
May 3, 2009
Jonathan Lethem remembers a trippy and obscure Marvel comic from the seventies and apparently uses it as a take off point for his own trippy and obscure comic. He's successful. Plot lines that seem unconnected twist and merge in this ultimate deconstruction of the superhero genre. Very clever.
March 19, 2019
This graphic novel has a unique place in the history of comics. There was a period when a few artists and writers made a focussed effort to create comics that would offer more than slam-bang entertainment. One of them was Steve Gerber, who deserves a biography. His most famous creation was Howard the Duck, though Man-Thing was often amazing (though competing with Alan Moore's Swamp Thing). Near the end of his career, Gerber completed a short run on Omega the Unknown, an alien. The first issue is a kind of cult classic, but the book was quickly canceled, and Gerber in some way really let loose, though in a frustrated way, and in any case did not have enough issues to finish the tale. Jonathan Lethem, the author of "Fortress of Solitude" and other noted novels, remembered his thrill when he first read the comic, and resurrected the title, taking a break from his regular writing career to do a 10-issue revival of Omega for Marvel comics. He stuck to the original ideas in the story line, but removed the standard popular, Marvel requirements, such as a battle with Electro, a flashy, but second banana super-villain. The results are a very unique graphic novel about which I cannot directly say much without creating spoilers, except to say that if you want a unique super-hero experience, this is for you.
December 20, 2012
Reprints Omega the Unknown (Limited Series) #1-10 (December 2007-September 2008). Titus Alexander Island is raised and schooled by his parents, but suffers dreams of a man called Omega. When Alexander’s parents are killed in an accident, Alexander finds they are robots. Placed in the custody of a hospital worker and now finding himself in New York City, Alexander finds difficulty fitting in. Alexander works to adjust to his new life, and the being called Omega finds himself in the city being hunted by the self-proclaimed superhero known as the Mink and others. What is the connection between Alexander and Omega and what does it mean for the world?
Written by acclaimed author Jonathan Lethem with Karl Rusnak, Omega the Unknown is a limited series modern version of the cult ’70s Marvel comic of the same title. The series received positive reviews and an Eisner nomination for Best Limited Series and Best Lettering and has been collected in a hardcover version.
Omega the Unknown is important to Jonathan Lethem and that helps this title. In his award winning novel, The Fortress of Solitude, the characters often talk about the short lived comic and with such an obscure character, it is obvious that Lethem probably read and liked the comic as a kid. That puts a lot of stock in the series since he is a fan and he’s going to treat the character correctly.
It is interesting to read this series side-by-side with the original series (which has also been collected as Omega the Unknown Classic) in that it does follow certain aspects of the original story. Both series were ten issues and both series had the strange ties between the title character and the younger character (called James-Michael in the original series). Here, Lethem gets the advantage of being able to finish the series when Gerber was forced to bring in other Marvel characters like Hulk and Electro and the questions were never answered (until much later in Defenders)…It is more of a self-contained story in Lethem’s version thought the final wordless Omega the Unknown #10 is a bit hard to follow at points.
The series as a whole is kind of “wacky”. I don’t necessarily love that, and some of the basic storyline is hard to follow. Much like the original series, it is unclear how the reader is supposed to interpret the story. Is it serious? Is it a comedy? I get a bit tired of the Mink part of the story and rather wish that they had stayed more focused on Alexander and Omega.
I also think that Farel Dalrymple’s art is very interesting. The series has some great covers and fun interior art. Dalrymple’s style can’t work with everything, but it works great here with the bizarre story. He obviously has fun with the character and it is reflected in his art for the series.
Omega the Unknown isn’t for everyone. Fans of the character must pick it up, but if you are just an X-Men, Spider-Man, Superman, or Batman type reader, you shouldn’t expect a real super-hero comic. It feels like a very independent title and if it weren’t for the preexisting Marvel Comic, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t an independent experimental series…Omega the Unknown was an oddity in the ’70s and remains an oddity today.
Written by acclaimed author Jonathan Lethem with Karl Rusnak, Omega the Unknown is a limited series modern version of the cult ’70s Marvel comic of the same title. The series received positive reviews and an Eisner nomination for Best Limited Series and Best Lettering and has been collected in a hardcover version.
Omega the Unknown is important to Jonathan Lethem and that helps this title. In his award winning novel, The Fortress of Solitude, the characters often talk about the short lived comic and with such an obscure character, it is obvious that Lethem probably read and liked the comic as a kid. That puts a lot of stock in the series since he is a fan and he’s going to treat the character correctly.
It is interesting to read this series side-by-side with the original series (which has also been collected as Omega the Unknown Classic) in that it does follow certain aspects of the original story. Both series were ten issues and both series had the strange ties between the title character and the younger character (called James-Michael in the original series). Here, Lethem gets the advantage of being able to finish the series when Gerber was forced to bring in other Marvel characters like Hulk and Electro and the questions were never answered (until much later in Defenders)…It is more of a self-contained story in Lethem’s version thought the final wordless Omega the Unknown #10 is a bit hard to follow at points.
The series as a whole is kind of “wacky”. I don’t necessarily love that, and some of the basic storyline is hard to follow. Much like the original series, it is unclear how the reader is supposed to interpret the story. Is it serious? Is it a comedy? I get a bit tired of the Mink part of the story and rather wish that they had stayed more focused on Alexander and Omega.
I also think that Farel Dalrymple’s art is very interesting. The series has some great covers and fun interior art. Dalrymple’s style can’t work with everything, but it works great here with the bizarre story. He obviously has fun with the character and it is reflected in his art for the series.
Omega the Unknown isn’t for everyone. Fans of the character must pick it up, but if you are just an X-Men, Spider-Man, Superman, or Batman type reader, you shouldn’t expect a real super-hero comic. It feels like a very independent title and if it weren’t for the preexisting Marvel Comic, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t an independent experimental series…Omega the Unknown was an oddity in the ’70s and remains an oddity today.
March 17, 2017
Pretty intense graphic novel of a totally different style than most. Lethem is one of the best, and I felt a little of the Fortress of Solitude in this book, and Motherless Brooklyn, and he totally nailed it. The art was great, the story original, and it makes me want more of these types of stories. I wonder what this would be like if it was a novel, and not a graphic novel... My only criticism (and it's more about my reading than the story itself) is I was a little confused on the ending with Alex... but I think I get it.
October 9, 2011
I know what you're asking: how can I review a book that isn't coming out until October? Well, I have already read 9/10ths of it in its "original form" (the tenth issue has yet to appear, as of this writing), and I can say with some confidence that this is the best comic I've read in quite some time. It's also easily the best fusion of the "traditional superhero" and the "alternative" I've ever seen. Oh, and it's hilarious to boot.
I don't know how the book will handle the small sad fact that two of the three creators of the original Omega for Marvel--Steve Gerber and Jim Mooney--died while this new version was coming out; they were given nice one-page tributes (wordless) in the comic, but I hope that will be expanded somewhat for this hardcover collection.
I wrote this review because my pal Greg, who invited me here in the first place, engaged me in a conversation about recent comics over in the comments to my review of Ed Brubaker's Captain America omnibus.
UPDATE:
I forgot that I wrote this before the book had even come out! That was silly.
It's been a while now, and I've actually bought this book more than once. I bought it from Amazon--I pre-ordered it, actually--but then, when Jonathan Lethem came to Boston to promote Chronic City (which I also loved, incidentally), I bought another copy from Brookline Booksmith in order to support the store for bringing Lethem in in the first place. And then I found a really cheap copy that I picked up just in case I wanted to give one away later to someone deserving.
It's a ridiculously well-designed book. That's mostly due, I think, to Paul Hornschemeier (I recall asking Mr. Lethem about that very thing, and I'm pretty sure that's what he told me). There's also a wonderful little section in the back devoted to a wonderful "making of," with several pages of Steve Gerber & Jim Mooney's originals reprinted for the sake of comparison.
And: the final issue of the series was done without captions or dialogue. It was a wonderful, wonderful ending. So: definitely get this if you're even remotely interested in good books.
I don't know how the book will handle the small sad fact that two of the three creators of the original Omega for Marvel--Steve Gerber and Jim Mooney--died while this new version was coming out; they were given nice one-page tributes (wordless) in the comic, but I hope that will be expanded somewhat for this hardcover collection.
I wrote this review because my pal Greg, who invited me here in the first place, engaged me in a conversation about recent comics over in the comments to my review of Ed Brubaker's Captain America omnibus.
UPDATE:
I forgot that I wrote this before the book had even come out! That was silly.
It's been a while now, and I've actually bought this book more than once. I bought it from Amazon--I pre-ordered it, actually--but then, when Jonathan Lethem came to Boston to promote Chronic City (which I also loved, incidentally), I bought another copy from Brookline Booksmith in order to support the store for bringing Lethem in in the first place. And then I found a really cheap copy that I picked up just in case I wanted to give one away later to someone deserving.
It's a ridiculously well-designed book. That's mostly due, I think, to Paul Hornschemeier (I recall asking Mr. Lethem about that very thing, and I'm pretty sure that's what he told me). There's also a wonderful little section in the back devoted to a wonderful "making of," with several pages of Steve Gerber & Jim Mooney's originals reprinted for the sake of comparison.
And: the final issue of the series was done without captions or dialogue. It was a wonderful, wonderful ending. So: definitely get this if you're even remotely interested in good books.
September 12, 2011
A book completely out of left field from Marvel, a publisher not really known for edgy indie-styled books (unlike DC's Vertigo line) remixing a long forgotten 1970s series by the legendary Steve Gerber. The plot is pretty dense, an odd boy, Alex, is taken to his first day of school but is attacked by robots. His parents get killed, and are revealed to also be robots; meanwhile, a mysterious superhero lurks in the background, springing into action to help smash more robots. There is a few main ideas in play here, the first one is franchises, the main villains use fast food to start a world invasion scheme while aliens also create a franchise of superheroes to combat said robots/fast food vendors. There is also a ton about robots, and super heroics targeted for media attention.
Lethem has some fun plot ideas going down, but his dialogue is pretty clunky...ok, extremely clunky in many spots which hurts this rating. I also felt like Lethem was trying a bit hard in a few of the plot twists which did not really add to the plot or characters (i.e. the whole arc with Fonzie which was so friggin' random). Farel Dalrymple's art is really great, which is in that more indie mode, but manages to satisfy a lot of the super heroic stuff too. Also interesting is a cameo appearance by Gary Panter doing some of the art in issue 7 which is really intense. The back matter in the hardcover is nice too, with Lethem and Dalrymple talking about the original iteration of Omega and why it made such an impact (which I'll also pick up). Really nice change of pace for a Marvel title, it is not perfect, but I am really glad that this was made!
Lethem has some fun plot ideas going down, but his dialogue is pretty clunky...ok, extremely clunky in many spots which hurts this rating. I also felt like Lethem was trying a bit hard in a few of the plot twists which did not really add to the plot or characters (i.e. the whole arc with Fonzie which was so friggin' random). Farel Dalrymple's art is really great, which is in that more indie mode, but manages to satisfy a lot of the super heroic stuff too. Also interesting is a cameo appearance by Gary Panter doing some of the art in issue 7 which is really intense. The back matter in the hardcover is nice too, with Lethem and Dalrymple talking about the original iteration of Omega and why it made such an impact (which I'll also pick up). Really nice change of pace for a Marvel title, it is not perfect, but I am really glad that this was made!
December 11, 2008
Add this to the list of comics from over the last year that seemingly came out of nowhere and began as impulse buys only to quickly rise in my estimation above pretty much everything. Sure Jonathan Lethem is my literary homey with the OG Carroll Gardens/Boerum Hill comic-loving chops, but he only co-wrote this and the whole thing is a nostalgic re-imaging of a beloved 70s series I never read, so I was very unsure this was something I'd get into. Boy was I wrong! The fact that Marvel published this makes me give a lot of credit to their editors and overall willingness to put out books that don't necessarily "fit" with the rest of their line. As one might guess from having read Lethem previously, though there's swaths of surrealism and humor throughout this story, there's an overall through-line of deep melancholy and unknowable motivations. Some have speculated that the whole thing might be an exploration of autism-spectrum disorders and I can't wholly disagree with this, but we cannot ignore the fairly savage satire of standard superhero conventions that we're treated to through the Spiderman analogue of the Mink and the delightfully creeped-out plotline of alien nanites infecting humanity through fast-food trucks. Plus, Farel Dalrymple's art has an awesome graffiti-and hip-hop=inflected style that you'd more expect to see in a fine art monograph or sketchbook than a lowly old awkward teens and robots comic book.
August 24, 2014
Creado en 1975 por Steve Gerber y Mary Skrenes, Omega El Desconocido se convirtió en un personaje de culto de aquella década aunque sin el apoyo masivo para sostener la colección en el tiempo. Uno de sus lectores fue un joven llamado Jonathan Lethem, quien crecería para convertirse en uno de los escritores más prestigiosos de la moderna novela americana. Ahora, Lethem tiene la oportunidad de contar la historia de este misterioso héroe llegado desde otro planeta. Una novela gráfica en diez capítulos que aborda el género superheroico desde un original punto de vista. Producto extraño en el fondo editorial Marvel, Omega, el desconocido se acerca más al comic Indie de autor e incluso a la sátira politica que al comic mainstream característico de esta empresa.
En un escenario de modernidad, de esos que se llevan por delante al sujeto, aparece un niño que transita desapasionadamente su adolescencia, sin encontrar una pasión que lo anime y sin entender su propio potencial ni la relevancia de su rol en la sociedad que habita; como contrafigura aparece también un héroe que funciona como anticuerpo a la zombieficación que produce el mercado. Ambos personajes llamarán la atención del los poderes establecidos, en especial el de Mink, un "superheroe" mediático que mediante un culto "religioso" de seguidores intenta controlar el mercado y el imaginario del pueblo e influenciar en la política local.
En un escenario de modernidad, de esos que se llevan por delante al sujeto, aparece un niño que transita desapasionadamente su adolescencia, sin encontrar una pasión que lo anime y sin entender su propio potencial ni la relevancia de su rol en la sociedad que habita; como contrafigura aparece también un héroe que funciona como anticuerpo a la zombieficación que produce el mercado. Ambos personajes llamarán la atención del los poderes establecidos, en especial el de Mink, un "superheroe" mediático que mediante un culto "religioso" de seguidores intenta controlar el mercado y el imaginario del pueblo e influenciar en la política local.
August 26, 2010
This is an amazing little comic that skews the superhero genre just enough to make it seem new and fresh again, and flirts with true greatness. It's hard to get into details since, as you might expect from a story who's title contains the word "unknown," half the fun is figuring out what it going on for yourself. But, Lethem and Rusnak weave a story the mixes super-heroics, teen-mystery, alien conspiracy, strange science and plethora of narrative devices in a way that does seem truly unique. Dalrymble, for his part, adds his unique art which give it an individual tone and ably follows the narratives visually dense lead.
If I had one complaint about the series though, it is that Dalrymble's art -which seemed so lush and subtle in his pleasantly incoherent, black and white Pop Gun War- seems a little flat with color. Still, as I mentioned there still a ton of pages that impress. Including a silent issue that was so smoothly delivered that it took me half the issue to even realize that it even was a silent issue.
All in all, a great comic that I'd recommend to anyone who likes off-beat superhero stories.
If I had one complaint about the series though, it is that Dalrymble's art -which seemed so lush and subtle in his pleasantly incoherent, black and white Pop Gun War- seems a little flat with color. Still, as I mentioned there still a ton of pages that impress. Including a silent issue that was so smoothly delivered that it took me half the issue to even realize that it even was a silent issue.
All in all, a great comic that I'd recommend to anyone who likes off-beat superhero stories.
March 8, 2017
One of the best graphic novels I've read in a long time. Solid plot twists, interesting characters, and a great ending. Also, for a super hero book, the concept seemed fresh and original.
May 14, 2009
I read this in the actual issues, but more or less all at once after the run had ended, so it was sort of like reading this trade... Anyway, this is some good stuff. Farel Dalrymple as an artist is almost as good as it gets (and it's a bonus to see his stuff in rare full color), and his kind of herky-jerky drawing really compliments the storytelling, which alternates between strangely-paced/somewhat stoic) and completely bizarre, with a weird deadpan sense of humor throughout.
I didn't really know what to expect here, since I wasn't familiar with the character (which doesn't seem to matter at all, since this looks like it's some kind of retelling or reinventing or reintroduction or re-something or other), but this was well worth the time. I don't really know what to make of it as a whole - it wasn't really all that coherent, and the end really goes off the rails a bit, but it's entertaining the whole way through, which is more than enough for me.
Plus there's some really cool robots, and a giant hand that runs around.
I didn't really know what to expect here, since I wasn't familiar with the character (which doesn't seem to matter at all, since this looks like it's some kind of retelling or reinventing or reintroduction or re-something or other), but this was well worth the time. I don't really know what to make of it as a whole - it wasn't really all that coherent, and the end really goes off the rails a bit, but it's entertaining the whole way through, which is more than enough for me.
Plus there's some really cool robots, and a giant hand that runs around.
Read
July 28, 2011This book was a hot mess that I struggled through, until eventually giving up half way through. And I never give up on books, particularly graphic novels. The combo of existentialism, mute superheros, and wtf robots just did not work for me. Somewhere out there is the right reader for this book. But that person is NOT me.
March 31, 2013
Darymple can draw like a bat out of hell, and is in top form here. But Lethem's story just didn't get my motor running, and convincing me of the worth of a forgotten freak-o superhero shouldn't be that difficult.
June 10, 2010
An intriguing and clever read, but it wouldn't have been half as good without Dalrymple's fantastic artwork. Marvel did a fine job of packaging and selling this book.
August 11, 2015
Let me preface my review with two comments, one positive, and the other negative, the latter will set the stage and colour for this review and will serve as a segue into my analysis. First, the art is well done. It's warm, inviting, and in someways, kinda hearkens back to the inky style of the Golden Age of Comics; a simpler time, which as I later found out was which the original "Omega the Unknown" attempted to do - what would seem to be a tribute by Lethem - instead comes across as an inconsiderate and mindless insult. Instead of adding another layer of meaning and homage- it instead becomes akin to a thin layer of spice masking a moldy and no doubt degenerate piece of food, far decomposed from which would be edible. Sadly, this excellent artistic talent, cannot mask even the most inane, stupid, plot-hole ridden and inconsistent story I've read in recent memory. Unfortunately, these excellent illustrations are probably the only redeeming quality of this piece of inane fecal matter, of the sequential art variety. If not for Dalrymnple and Hornschemeier's excellent art work- I would have put down this garbage much, much earlier- and mixed an even stronger drink to help me forget this crap I'd just wasted too much time reading.
The second comment, you've no doubt been waiting for is this: simply, this goddamn story makes no sense at all. The story is completely absurd, and is explained piecemeal throughout until the last third when finally all the dots are connected and everything else that wouldn't never make any sense otherwise, is bizzarley strewn together and shoved in our face by the goddamn author. No mystery- no excitement- makes me feel like a little kid that gets smacked in the face for asking too many legitimate questions in response to an already crappy answer he received concerning the very mysteries of this very absurd and very odd existence we all share.
Shamefully- this author on reader violence, metaphorically of course- only seems to pick up speed as this horrible story continues and with it a compounding of plotholes, inconsistances, and just plain stupid discrepancies leading to a highly unsatisfying read that makes me want to regurgitate my lunch and never touch graphic novels ever again. BLECH!
The only way to describe the plot- and I use this term as loosely as possible because its an insult to the normal conflicts that drive normal narratives that is just so unnervingly and very oddly malformed in this book- is as follows: evidently, some autistic kid who is too smart for his good is raised in a sheltered and homeschooled household. After his parents- for no reason- decide to shoehorn him into a highschool- are killed in a most random and most terrible driving accident killing them but, in their deaths are revealed to be no more than ROBOTS! Their child survives is taken to a hospitial and shoes no emotion or care for his caregivers whatsoever. This lack of emotion and dispassionate approach to life is robotic, although evidently he himself is not one, and characterizes his boring approach to every gosh-durned conflict in this story.
He goes through highschool, discovers he has access to some latent yet, highly situational powers than manifest when he's in moderate danger. Although this is a clear reference to the X-men mythos, and the inner conflicts of those characters- his stoic and all too brainy response make me not care one ounce for this stupid-ass character or his-stupid ass problems.
Later we find out he's part of some cult of extraterrestrial beings meant to fight against other extraterrestrial beings who invade other planets just 'CAUSE (There is a cursory reference to them being fungi- still a crappy impetus for a conflict) . Like Neo in the atrocious Matrix sequels - or hell, even the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas of the Mahayana traditions, of which all this is based- he's nothing special or unique- and just another fighter in this eternal tradition- constantly fighting a war that is obstensibly never won and just goes in like a hamster in a cosmic wheel of some sort.
The story is cruddy and the characters that populate it are even cruddier. Characters lack any real development and change- that they do in real works of art; and real life for that matter- not that the retarded author would know I guess. Instead of characters being a means to and end of the narrative's conflict- they are instead merely exist as nothing more than automotons- plastic, construed plot devices that exist as nothing more than plot devices in their most plain-vanilla- theoretical framework- that move the plot along. It's almost like the plot moves the characters along- instead of the characters moving the plot- like most works of narrative.
The solution(s) to the problem(s) arise as the author deems fit- instead of the characters figuring these things out on their own. The writer sprinkles them in whenever he had no other way of moving this putrid fasimile of a plot. Bascially he pulled a deus ex machina out of his hairy ass every thirty or so pages. From a blueprint of the Mink's labyrinth, that Amandla jacked from her Uncle (Hell, how did they know about this labyritnh of the first place?!) - that evidently worked for the Mink- even those this is never fucking explained- to the discovery of the mysterious organic-self-replicating SALT that is the panecea to the villaious nano-bots that have ben subversively turning all those ifnected into zombies- nothing in this graphic novel makes any sense, has an grounding in reality or human feeeling- and most importantly makes me not care a lick for any of this characters.
Upon finishing this piece of literary garbage has left meen with an indelible sore upon my soul that will require some real works of talent and REAL artistic mert. I think I'm going to go back and reread the Watchmen and the entire Transmetropolitan series to wipe this blight off my soul- God help me- if I even go through all the plot insostiances and discrepencies that litter this work because the author was on a nasty pot-binge or because the editior was brain dead and didn't notice them- I think I'd go bonkers and have to inter myself in an insane asylum.
2 THUMBS DOWN!
The second comment, you've no doubt been waiting for is this: simply, this goddamn story makes no sense at all. The story is completely absurd, and is explained piecemeal throughout until the last third when finally all the dots are connected and everything else that wouldn't never make any sense otherwise, is bizzarley strewn together and shoved in our face by the goddamn author. No mystery- no excitement- makes me feel like a little kid that gets smacked in the face for asking too many legitimate questions in response to an already crappy answer he received concerning the very mysteries of this very absurd and very odd existence we all share.
Shamefully- this author on reader violence, metaphorically of course- only seems to pick up speed as this horrible story continues and with it a compounding of plotholes, inconsistances, and just plain stupid discrepancies leading to a highly unsatisfying read that makes me want to regurgitate my lunch and never touch graphic novels ever again. BLECH!
The only way to describe the plot- and I use this term as loosely as possible because its an insult to the normal conflicts that drive normal narratives that is just so unnervingly and very oddly malformed in this book- is as follows: evidently, some autistic kid who is too smart for his good is raised in a sheltered and homeschooled household. After his parents- for no reason- decide to shoehorn him into a highschool- are killed in a most random and most terrible driving accident killing them but, in their deaths are revealed to be no more than ROBOTS! Their child survives is taken to a hospitial and shoes no emotion or care for his caregivers whatsoever. This lack of emotion and dispassionate approach to life is robotic, although evidently he himself is not one, and characterizes his boring approach to every gosh-durned conflict in this story.
He goes through highschool, discovers he has access to some latent yet, highly situational powers than manifest when he's in moderate danger. Although this is a clear reference to the X-men mythos, and the inner conflicts of those characters- his stoic and all too brainy response make me not care one ounce for this stupid-ass character or his-stupid ass problems.
Later we find out he's part of some cult of extraterrestrial beings meant to fight against other extraterrestrial beings who invade other planets just 'CAUSE (There is a cursory reference to them being fungi- still a crappy impetus for a conflict) . Like Neo in the atrocious Matrix sequels - or hell, even the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas of the Mahayana traditions, of which all this is based- he's nothing special or unique- and just another fighter in this eternal tradition- constantly fighting a war that is obstensibly never won and just goes in like a hamster in a cosmic wheel of some sort.
The story is cruddy and the characters that populate it are even cruddier. Characters lack any real development and change- that they do in real works of art; and real life for that matter- not that the retarded author would know I guess. Instead of characters being a means to and end of the narrative's conflict- they are instead merely exist as nothing more than automotons- plastic, construed plot devices that exist as nothing more than plot devices in their most plain-vanilla- theoretical framework- that move the plot along. It's almost like the plot moves the characters along- instead of the characters moving the plot- like most works of narrative.
The solution(s) to the problem(s) arise as the author deems fit- instead of the characters figuring these things out on their own. The writer sprinkles them in whenever he had no other way of moving this putrid fasimile of a plot. Bascially he pulled a deus ex machina out of his hairy ass every thirty or so pages. From a blueprint of the Mink's labyrinth, that Amandla jacked from her Uncle (Hell, how did they know about this labyritnh of the first place?!) - that evidently worked for the Mink- even those this is never fucking explained- to the discovery of the mysterious organic-self-replicating SALT that is the panecea to the villaious nano-bots that have ben subversively turning all those ifnected into zombies- nothing in this graphic novel makes any sense, has an grounding in reality or human feeeling- and most importantly makes me not care a lick for any of this characters.
Upon finishing this piece of literary garbage has left meen with an indelible sore upon my soul that will require some real works of talent and REAL artistic mert. I think I'm going to go back and reread the Watchmen and the entire Transmetropolitan series to wipe this blight off my soul- God help me- if I even go through all the plot insostiances and discrepencies that litter this work because the author was on a nasty pot-binge or because the editior was brain dead and didn't notice them- I think I'd go bonkers and have to inter myself in an insane asylum.
2 THUMBS DOWN!
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