OMAC: Un ejército de un solo hombre

OMAC (1974) #1-8

by Jack Kirby

En el mundo que se avecina, necesitaremos a... O.M.A.C. El ejército de un solo hombre.
En los años 70, el legendario creador de cómics Jack Kirby (X-Men, Los 4 Fantásticos, Hulk) causó conmoción en la industria cuando abandonó Marvel Comics para irse a la competencia. Kirby llegó a DC Comics con personajes nuevos y estimulantes, y mundos originales y rompedores. Por primera vez guionizó, ilustró y editó sus nuevas creaciones.
Tras el éxito de la colección El Cuarto Mundo y de Kamandi: El último chico de la Tierra, Kirby presentó a los lectores una innovadora historia de ciencia-ficción: O.M.A.C., el ejército de un solo hombre. Buddy Blank, un oficinista cualquiera, se transforma por medio de una inteligencia artificial llamada “Hermano Ojo” en un agente superpoderoso de la Agencia por la Paz Mundial. Desde entonces se enfrenta a amenazas insólitas en un futuro cercano e inquietante.
Este volumen recoge por primera vez la miniserie completa de ocho números del O.M.A.C. de Jack Kirby. Cuenta con una introducción a cargo de Mark Evanier, guionista y antiguo ayudante de Kirby.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Dc Comics, Fiction, Comic Book, Superheroes

178 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of the medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is "The King."

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Empowered by the Brother Eye satellite, weakling Buddy Blank becomes... OMAC!

OMAC is the latest stop on my tour of Jack Kirby's 1970s DC output. This hardcover contains all eight issues, written and drawn by the King.

Based in part on a "Future Captain America" concept that never saw print, OMAC works for the Global Peace Agency, an organization of faceless men protecting the world in a dystopian future. OMAC goes up against monsters, body thieves, and mad scientists in a world that is quickly going to hell in a handbasket.

Apart from lettering and inking by Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry, OMAC is all Kirby, all the time. While the writing, the dialogue in particular, isn't fantastic, the art and characters crackle with bombastic Kirby energy. OMAC kicks a lot of ass and busts up a lot of criminal schemes. Once the Captain America comparison was made in the foreword, it was hard to ignore.

When the series is cancelled after the eighth issue, a lot of threads are left dangling. The volume ends abruptly with Buddy Blank powerless and Doctor Skuba having him and Brother Eye over a barrel. Not literally, of course. The threads were later resolved by other creative teams but I have to wonder what Kirby had in mind.

While not his best work, Jack Kirby's OMAC crackles with bombastic Kirby energy. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[K.T. Katzmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even geniuses have to eat. Even Kirby's grocery work has a few bits of genius.



OMAC ("One Man Army Corp," as bad guys keep explaining loudly) is the fruit of Kirby's obligation to produce a crazy amount of pages to DC each week. He retasked an old pitch about a future Captain America and got OMAC, possibly the most boring hero of all time.



Buddy Blank is a boring, picked on schmuck who is chosen to become the most powerful man in the world. All the drama and pathos this could be mined for is flushed down the bin as his personal memories are total erased. He fights crime full-time, without a supporting cast to speak of, with Brother Eye, a satellite who beams him exactly the power he needs at any time.

Yes, he has a literal Deus Ex Machina hanging in the sky overhead.

There's some interesting bits here. I love the faceless Global Peace Agency, who are cosmetically altered to appear as no race or ethnicity in the interest of objectivity. Some modern writer could chuck OMAC in the bin and really reinvent them interestingly.

There's future dystopia, monsters, and mad science, with fights in the dynamic Kirby style.

But the parts never come together.



OMAC is as interesting as Captain Planet. The situations may be cool, but it's entirely too easy for him and that statement comes from a Superman fan. Yes, it's a silver age ccomic. I know the good guy's gonna win. I want it to look harder.

The book ends incredibly abruptly, but that's because Kirby's contract ended and no one wanted to pick the book up. Still, I liked some of the little bits.

For one thing, I love the future gangsters who talk like 40's stock Hollywood crooks and commit supertech crime. There's a few little sci-fi threads, like OMAC's parents-on-order, that never get proper attention. OMAC gets some good one liners, too.

All in all, this is an average read, not Kirby's best, with a few nuggets of inspiration in a sea of . . . meh.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great post apocalyptic story by Jack Kirby, a comic artist master. Very recommended

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMAC. Another wonderful bit of creativity from Kirby. These futuristic stories offer up all kinds of dystopias, with criminals buying cities and young bodies and stealing up lakes and other waters. And OMAC is a dynamic and heroic force. (The only thing that really lets down his story are the faceless Peace Agents, who one constantly hopes will turn out to be evil, creating a real moral dilemma.)

One wonders how much this was all influenced by Shazam!, since OMAC is similarly empowered by bolts from the sky and even gets a Sivana family-like villain in the last few few issues.

And, oh!, we get an abrupt ending! [4/5].

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMAC began, apparently, as a concept that was sort of a revamped and updated Captain America years before the OMAC comic finally appeared. The story goes that Jack Kirby, the King of Comics, wanted to give his character Captain America a facelift, a nu-you look if you will. The result was a super-soldier set in the near-future who could take on whole armies by himself. What’s interesting, at least to me, is that the character actually feels more like a revamped and updated Superman than anything else. When Superman first appeared he was not nearly as omnipotent as he is today. And that’s exactly why Superman is now an extremely boring and uninteresting character to me. Sure, the character is “iconic” but that doesn’t mean the character is great. An icon is something or someone that is symbolic and (apparently) worthy of veneration. Yawn. The character is a symbol to be ... worshiped? Boring. What works for Captain America on the other hand, is that the character has doubts, fears of inadequacy, limitations, human faults. This makes him interesting. OMAC is like Superman, not Captain America, in that he doesn’t doubt himself. More than anything, his power, derived from Brother Eye, is seemingly limitless. But that might only be because the series was so short, in fact (spoiler) OMAC doesn’t even appear in the last issue. Gasp! Hold on! What? Buddy Blank, his alter ego appears, but no OMAC. Why? Only Kirby could truly explain this, but I think he was heading toward a triumphant return of OMAC. But actually a changed OMAC, one that would be limited. The first 7-issues laid out the potential of this one-man-army and next, perhaps, Kirby was going to take away that omnipotence. To examine if Buddy Blank were worthy of being a hero, if OMAC could work as a not-quite-Superman with Brother Eye being crippled. Or maybe it really was just a set up for a big slug-fest in the next issue that would simply reset things to their preset status quo. We’ll never know. What we do know, or at least what I know, is that OMAC is two-tons of fun. This is a story set in a utopian world that could oh so easily become dystopian. This comic actually rides that razor thin line between the two. It helps lay out the very concept that one man’s utopia is the next man’s dystopia. And Kirby handles this in his usual kid-friendly storytelling style that can explode young minds. I was 11-12 when I first read these issues, and while I loved it, it also befuddled my mind because there was so much going on that I couldn’t quite wrap my noggin around all of it. But it kept me coming back for more, issue after issue. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call OMAC a masterpiece, as for me it also has a huge level of nostalgia mixed in, but in any case this is a prime example of Kirby’s amazing world building talents and his unfettered imagination left to run amok. Much as it does in Jack Kirby's Kamandi Omnibus. Like I said, OMAC is two-tons of fun. Read it. Brother Eye is watching.

[Ignacio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historieta de aventuras entre el Nick Furia de Steranko y el Capitán América que el propio Kirby hizo en los 70, muy disfrutable. Para haber sido todavía mejor apenas le falta insistir en su componente cf pop. Las mejores páginas vienen casi siempre al inicio de cada número donde Kirby derrocha inventiva y echa el resto en sus tradicionales vieñta a doble página. Ese comienzo tan suyo donde lo da todo con una visión a la tecnología/sociedad futura o al monstruo del mes, para después abandonarse un poco a la fórmula de la pelea, la acción y el desenlace. Lo peor es un color con el brillo al 120%. Ojalá lo pillara José Villarrubia e hiciera su magia en una reedición respetuosa con la original.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we have OMAC, one of Kirby's last efforts for DC. This one is really freaking out there though, even for Kirby. It tells the story of a dystopian future where the technology is so powerful and so great, it's actually become a threat to mankind itself. If two armies were to meet on the battlefield, it would mean the end of the earth! So the Global Peace Agency (GPA) is charged with keeping the peace. However they aren't allowed to use violence of any means, and trying to keep the peace without violence is kind of like trying to shit without an asshole, so they have OMAC (One Man Army Corps) to do their dirty work.
OMAC almost seems like a marvel character, with his origin. He is basically just a nameless nobody who gets powers out of sheer luck, but I'll leave it up to you if it's good or bad luck. That seems very Marvel to me. It makes more sense when you find out that OMAC was originally an idea that Kirby had as a future version of Captain America.
So OMAC, along with Brother Eye, go around and fight the worst criminals in the world. We got an insane army general, a group of mobsters stealing people's bodies to put someone else's brain inside them, and even a guy stealing all the world's water. It's some pretty crazy stuff, but Kirby handles it in a way that...well, only Kirby can.
I rather enjoyed this book. The two big problems are that some of the art towards the end gets a bit sloppy. Some people have said that it's because Kirby was already planning to leave DC and go back to Marvel, but I don't think Kirby would do that. I think it's more likely that Kirby was upset that he had to go back to Marvel after the way he was treated there. His eye was also causing him a lot of trouble by this point to. In case you didn't know it, late in his life Kirby was slowly going blind in one eye. The other big problem is that the book comes to a sudden stop. It was clearly meant to keep going, but the last panel just tries to wrap it all up and fails horribly. Still, it's worth the read, even if you don't learn how it ends.

[Asciigod · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of monsters and baddies that all look hewn from rock. Mohawks, faceless babes, action lines, EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! and ellipsis...

I do not know, or apparently appreciate, comic book history enough to enjoy this collection from Kirby. Surely, there exist scores of examples of how this was visionary or innovative. Problem is, from an enjoyment standpoint, it doesn't hold up. The text is wildly repetitious, repetitious, repetizzz zzz... and I gave up trying to finish this 4/5th of the way.

Could definitely benefited from some sort of annotation, or interspersed analysis. But then, it wouldn't be a comic book as much as literary criticism. I think I'd have preferred to read THAT book.

Book itself is well put together and produced. Not extremely glossy or "deluxe" but more than adequate for a collection.

[Thomas Maluck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a new convert to the wild ideas and constant action of Jack Kirby, and his style is easy to appreciate. The trouble, at least in OMAC, is that the sci-fi future only exists to provide 1- or 2-page scrapes for tough guy OMAC to effortlessly overcome. There is plenty of fertile soil in Kirby's visions, but I hope these 8 issues are not the fruit of his orchard.

[Tone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this more but it became clear about half way though that OMAC was never going to have much of a personality.

"Brother Eye, what's that!?!"
"OMAC, you'd better smash it!"
"Okay!"
repeat

[Giovanni84 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teoricamente, questa serie di Kirby, è puro intrattenimento fantascientifico privo di particolari velleità: ci sono i buoni contro i cattivi, c'è tanta azione, il tipico ritmo sfrenato delle storie kirbyane.

Ed invece, è una serie inquietante, e decisamente strana, e per questo molto affascinante.
Inquietante perché lo sono i cattivi e le loro minacce, tra donne-robot vendute a pezzi da montare, vecchi che rubano i corpi ai giovani, mascalzoni di mezza tacca che svendono la propria compagna, un guerrafondaio che si chiama Kafka, ed una specie di dottor Moreau.
Ma sono inquietanti anche i buoni: è inquietante il modo in cui il protagonista diventa un supereroe, è decisamente inquietante la sua "spalla" (il cui nome e funzione allude a 1984), sono inquietanti gli agenti della pace globale, e sono inquietanti gli, ehm... "genitori" del protagonista.

Tuttavia, non è certo inusuale nella fantascienza, che i "buoni" in realtà abbiano ambiguità, che la società futura abbia dei difetti.
Quello che rende strane queste storie, è che manca completamente, all'interno delle stesse, qualche elemento di "critica" a questa società ed a questi "eroi": non ci sono soggetti terzi che riflettono sulle sue criticità, non ci sono dubbi morali da parte dei protagonisti, non ci sono motivazioni "sociali" da parte dei cattivi (che sono solo dei stronzi violenti e folli, assetati di potere).
Si potrebbe pensare che l'autore apprezzi una società così "fredda" e disumana, seppur teoricamente migliore, se non fosse che l'autore è Jack Kirby, l'ipercreativo Jack Kirby: lo stesso Jack Kirby che proprio in quegli anni, alla DC, scriveva e disegnava la meravigliosa saga del Quarto Mondo, dove omaggiava la controcultura hippy, criticava l'omologazione ed il conformismo, esaltava la fantasia e la vita contro il "fascismo" e la "morte".
Dubito che quel Kirby potesse apprezzare la società creata nel suo Omac, sembra piuttosto il tipo di futuro che non dispiacerebbe ad un Darkseid.

In questo quindi sta la sua stranezza: nel proporre un "buoni contro cattivi", dove la distinzione è netta ed inconfondibile, in una società migliore dell'attuale, ed allo stesso tempo però rendere disturbanti e tutt'altro che piacevoli i buoni e la loro società. Ma senza essere pedante e didascalico, senza sottolineare ambiguità e criticità.
Di sicuro il suo fumetto più cupo, tra quelli che ho letto; fu interrotto all'ottavo numero (con i nostri protagonisti in grossi guai), per le scarse vendite (in generale, a livello di vendite, il suo periodo alla DC fu un insuccesso, nonostante sia in realtà il suo periodo migliore, dal punto di vista artistico).
Non me ne stupisco: per l'epoca (primi anni 70) era decisamente avanti; a dire il vero, lo è anche adesso.

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review originally appeared on my blog: Shared Universe Reviews .

I had to learn how to like Jack Kirby as a creator. In a medium where he’s quite realistically dominated for several decades, its understandable why he’s known as Jack “The King” Kirby in comics circle. The sheer volume of output he’s had since he started making comics in the forties and the impressive versatility of genre he’s worked in. He’s also the co-creator of a significant portion of the Marvel Universe but despite all these accomplishments, Kirby’s had the short end of the stick for most of his career which also corresponds to most of his life. I get rather bitter when I consider the success of people who worked with Kirby throughout the years compare to the wealth and fame he’s accumulated. It all just seems unfair. I think that’s one of the reasons I gave him a second chance and that’s why I continue to explore his work.

This is my second time reading OMAC and although I really liked it during my first reading I absolutely loved it the second time around. The same goes for the introduction by Mark Evanier. In his introduction, Evanier points out how OMAC is almost prophetic in its story about the future. He’s had a chance to read all eight issues every few years since it was first published and he’s personally noted just how closely Kirby got it right on so many different aspects of what our future would be like. I didn’t really see the same thing while reading OMAC for the first time. The world OMAC inhabits is so drastically different from our own. There’s one important thing I’ve learn about Kirby though. His ideas are really big ideas. He doesn’t think in small scale. When he chose the future as the setting of his new comic, he chose the far, far flung future. Not something that was going to happen in twenty or thirty years. But you know what? Mark Evanier was right. The prophetic quality of these OMAC issues is utterly impressive it not always accurate.

Jack Kirby created OMAC to fill his weekly quota of pages for DC Comics. According to Evanier’s introduction (and that’s a pretty good source since Evanier has worked closely with Kirby for many years and has even written a biography of the man) he mentions that Kirby was contracted to put out fifteen pages of comics per week. That’s insane! And you know what? Kirby did so by creating insane comics. OMAC lasted eight issues after which it was cancelled. I’m not so sure why but OMAC’s definitively endured as a comic. John Byrne did a four issue limited series on it. Paul Pope had an OMAC story in his issue of Solo. OMAC was even one of the New 52 titles from DC’s reboot of a little while back (unfortunately only lasting eight issues as well). It’s survive and rightfully so. OMAC is perhaps my second favourite of all of Kirby’s comics that I’ve had a pleasure of reading.

In short, OMAC is the story of a man who undergoes long range molecular surgery to transform his being into a One Man Army Corp unbeknownst to himself. Buddy Blank doesn’t coexist with OMAC; one replaces the other. OMAC was created by the Global Peace Agency (GPA) an international organization that works in complete anonymity (they are nameless and faceless; they can be from any nation and thus represent all nations). Members of the GPA don’t carry weapons and act entirely without harming others. They have created for that purpose. In the future world where large armies are outlawed, OMAC is there to fight on behave of the GPA and serve as some sort of futuristic cop. There is so much that can be written about just the first issue of OMAC but what I’m going to focus on is the portrayal of the future. That’s one of the things I found the most interesting about this short lived series.

In the future that can be found in the pages of OMAC, large armies are outlawed, cities have continued to grow and have become immense. The rich have continued to get richer and some people are now so wealthy they can rent and entire city for 24 hours if they so wish (and they do). Movies have become virtual space video games that people experience instead of viewing in passivity. Computerized dating (did this even exist in the 70s? I have no idea where Kirby got this idea) has evolved into a way for people to construct their entire families. “Packaged Living” as it’s called is responsible for giving OMAC new parents, assigned to him by a computer! There are ecological terrorists; the most villainous of all being Dr. Skuba who uses his mastery of the atom to compress huge quantities of water from lakes into brick sized cubes. He plans to blackmail the world into making him stupidly wealthy. One of the creepiest ideas from OMAC and one of my favourites is that there is a black market for young attractive bodies. These people are kidnapped, induced into a comatose state and sold to rich individuals who would like younger bodies. It’s one of the darker takes on immortality that I’ve encountered. That all sounds crazy right? Well there are more ideas and snippets into our future that what I’ve presented and it all takes place in eight issues. The more impressive feat is that Kirby doesn’t make it seem to unrealistic. Well, I didn’t think so the second time I read it.

OMAC, like many Jack Kirby comics, is filled with high adventure, science fiction gadgets, explosion and incredibly energetic art. I actually feel bad that I’ve neglected to talk about his art on OMAC because it’s very, very good. It blows my mind that Kirby could produce such great art under such tight deadlines. Kirby regularly draws ugly faces and characters that have faces like those of a prehistoric humans but that’s his style and they’re meant to be ugly. OMAC’s got a normal face, so do many of the other characters (well, those who have faces, I’m talking about you GPA). I feel bad but I feel like I need to explore OMAC more in depth some other time. To try and make up for it, I’ve included several pages of art from OMAC that I’ve found online (I’m too lazy to scan some pages). What impressed me the most about this little comic is it’s depiction of the future in a way that was close to reality (or the reality that will someday exist) thing without being preachy. Kirby has managed to excite me and worry me about the days of tomorrow and that’s alright. It’s good to have action comics that provide food for thought and OMAC is a damn nutritious read.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collects the 8 issues from the original early 1970s comic. OMAC is filled with all sorts of Jack Kirby goodness. Powerful kinetic action filling every page, wildly unscientific science, and plenty of colorful villains to get beaten up. This is a product of its time and was written for 13 year old boys, so don't expect too much depth.

OMAC is a fun comic. His origins are similar to Kirby's other creation Captain America. A weak man is transformed by science into the ultimate warrior, fighting for truth and justice. His creator is then killed. The one reason I can see why OMAC failed was that the character was never really in any peril. He is aided by a sentient AI satellite, Brother Eye, who is always has a Deus Ex Machina answer to the solution. But you would want to read this book for some of that great Kirby art. And you get that in abundance.

[Paulo Vinicius Figueiredo dos Santos · Rating 3 out of 5]

OMAC é um daqueles quadrinhos para quem curtem histórias clássicas e vintage da DC ou da Marvel ou até quem é fã do trabalho do Jack Kirby. É uma HQ que tem uma história meio provocativa e muitas bizarrices que só poderiam ter surgido da mente do criador do Quarto Mundo. Só que é uma história que não tem final já que Kirby abandonou a DC após a oitava edição e ninguém assumiu a série depois disso. Então temos um final até meio abrupto e uma história que deixa muitos ganchos que seriam explorados depois por Kirby. É uma HQ que explora aquilo que o autor faz de melhor: criar ficções científicas provocativas que possuem alguns pés na realidade e muitos deles na ficção. OMAC vai te surpreender, divertir e, sem muito compromisso, te deixar embasbacado com a arte de um homem que estava em seu auge aqui e dava as cartas do que tenderia a nona arte.


Buddy Blank trabalha em uma empresa responsável por criar pseudogente, uma espécie de seres humanos artificiais capazes de realizar as mais diversas tarefas. No mundo do futuro, a paz mundial foi alcançada, mas sempre existem aqueles que desejam pôr o mundo e as pessoas em perigo. Os Agentes da Paz não podem portar armas e para isso precisarão criar um exército de um homem só, capaz de enfrentar todo tipo de adversário. É com esse objetivo que os Agentes encontram o professor Myron Forest que, através do Irmão Olho, um enorme satélite que orbita a Terra, irá transformar um ser humano comum em uma arma poderosa. Buddy Blank é escolhido e sua vida será transformada para sempre. Ele enfrentará terroristas, ladrões de oceanos, generais de milhares de homens. E tudo o mais que se colocar no caminho para a obtenção da paz.


É com essa premissa que Kirby nos entrega mais um dos seus projetos diferenciados. Se pararmos para pensar, o roteiro é bem simples e ele optou por situar o seu novo herói distante do mundo habitado por Superman e cia. Esse é o mundo do porvir onde tudo é possível. O roteiro é bem direto e as histórias se passam sempre em duas edições (ou seja, temos quatro histórias ao todo). É uma pena que Kirby não tenha conseguido desenvolver melhor o seu personagem, tendo ficado em edições bem iniciais. A última história nos dá uma pista do que Kirby começava a pensar para o herói. Confesso que OMAC é uma salada mista de clichês e insanidades e afora uma ou outra coisa, não é uma HQ que tenha aumentado a minha visão sobre a genialidade de Kirby. Queria entender exatamente aonde ele queria chegar porque ora parece que estamos em uma distopia, ora parece uma utopia. Ao mesmo tempo, os inimigos enfrentados por OMAC parecem ter boas origens, mas a execução parece estranha demais. Gostei mais do Grão-Mestre e do dr. Skuba. Os outros dois parecem aqueles vilões genéricos de seriados futuristas.



Se o roteiro parece estranho e até meio incoerente, a arte está em um outro nível. Isso é Jack Kirby no auge de suas potencialidades. O homem rasga os quadros com uma habilidade monstruosa. O nível de criatividade e de impacto é impressionante e isso começa na capa com OMAC atirando uma caixa com uma mulher desmontada dentro. Há muitos detalhes espalhados no fundo da página, tudo parece vivo demais. Ele consegue imaginar aparelhos bastante criativos em uma cidade saída dos sonhos mais insanos de um futurólogo. Agora que estou lendo mais histórias do Kirby, a gente consegue pegar algumas coisas que são comuns em sua arte como as poses de combate, as linhas de ação e a própria movimentação tanto do protagonista como de seus adversários. E é algo que é único na arte dele. Os designs de personagens s��o bastante criativos, desde os agentes que usam elementos cosméticos, à estranha criatura alada ou os seres modificados. As ideias não se repetem e conseguem impressionar. Se os quadros comuns já impressionam, as cenas de página inteira e as splash pages são coisa de outro mundo. Tem uma delas, no capítulo 1, em que OMAC está enfrentando umas caveiras gigantes e o quadro parece querer sair do papel e vir em nossa direção. Sem contar nos detalhes, nos ângulos e na precisão de detalhes. Pensar ainda que Kirby foi artista, roteirista e editor desta revista é algo que jamais poderia ser replicado hoje.


O roteiro é bem tranquilo de ler e por mais que seja um Kirby bem doido aqui, os conceitos são rapidamente compreendidos pelo leitor. Vale também elogiar a ótima tradução de Maria do Carmo Zanini que conseguiu manter o espírito da época em que Kirby escreveu, sem tirar nem pôr. Algumas das falas vão parecer ingênuas como o OMAC chamando um dos vilões de bobão, mas isso faz parte da maneira como ele entregava suas histórias na década de 1970. Era um outro período onde o que chocava o leitor estava em outra direção. Gosto de pensar na Agência de Paz como um organismo altamente regulador e que controla as vidas das pessoas nos mínimos detalhes. Vemos tanto os agentes como o Irmão Olho atentos a cada passo de nosso herói. Nesse momento, Kirby dá um verniz de aliados à coisa, mas cada vez que via aquilo, me incomodava de algum jeito. Me parecia que a vida de OMAC não lhe pertencia mais.


Se pensarmos a partir do prisma de Buddy Blank isso fica ainda mais explícito. Pense em um indivíduo que foi transformado, contra a sua vontade, em uma maquina assassina. OMAC não retém suas memórias e nem pode reverter à sua forma original. Será mesmo que não veríamos algum tipo de conflito interior entre herói e alter ego? Kirby usa o velho truque de fazer com que Buddy seja o loser que sofre bullying nas mãos de seus colegas, uma situação a la Clark Kent. Ele se transforma no OMAC quando vai investigar o desaparecimento de uma pseudogente chamada Lila a quem ele tinha um grau de amizade. Sua curiosidade o leva ao olho do furacão de uma conspiração envolvendo o envio de bombas para pessoas importantes. O tema dessa relação entre Buddy e OMAC é introduzida aqui, mas é meio que esquecida nas outras edições e só retomada na oitava edição. Queria ter visto mais dessa tensão até porque o Irmão Olho só vai voltar ao universo DC décadas depois. E certamente não como um aliado como aparece aqui.



Também penso no tema de uma sociedade vigiada a partir dos Agentes de Paz. Eles são representantes do mundo inteiro cuja identidade é apagada por um spray cosmético que fornece a eles um rosto uniforme. O quanto disso pode se assemelhar à situação vivida por Buddy Blank? Embora a atuação deles seja como suporte para OMAC, me pego refletindo sobre esse grupo que protege uma espécie de visão homogênea de mundo. E se este é um mundo que precisa de alguém como o protagonista, significa que existem algumas coisas percorrendo as frestas deixadas pela agência. Como a história terminou cedo, não houve espaço para que Kirby pudesse responder a todas essas questões. Vale destacar que a ideia do OMAC é derivada de uma visão que ele tinha para o Capitão América em um futuro próximo. E Kirby gostava de abraçar essas ideias conspiratórias ou o combate a super organizações criminosas. A fase do Capitão América, clássica dele, pode dar algumas pistas sobre alguns caminhos que ele poderia ter traçado para o personagem. No entanto, fica a dica dessa HQ de um monstro dos quadrinhos que acho que vale a pena ser conferida pelo seu valor histórico.

[Sunil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a hardcover collection of Jack Kirby's OMAC from my pusher, a Kirby superfan (like most hardcore comics nerds), and, honestly, I did not expect to enjoy it nearly as much as I did, which was A LOT. From the ashes of Kirby's conception of a future Captain America and the spark of a contractual obligation to produce 15 pages a week came OMAC, the One Man Army Corps, an archetypal superhero with no discernible personality because he was created from an ordinary man named Buddy Blank via remote-controlled hormone surgery from space performed by an artificially intelligent satellite named Brother Eye. Are you still with me here? This thing is fucking ridiculous in all the best comics ways. Taking place in The World That's Coming, it's an excuse for Kirby to play around with all kinds of sci-fi ideas like virtual reality, body swapping, and a fiendish plan to steal and horde the planet's water supply decades before Immortan Joe. There's a lot in here that's eerily prescient, and I just loved Kirby's whole conception of a world where Peace Agents spray painted their faces orange because they represented all nations and thus should not be judged by their own nationalities. Every issue is action-packed as hell, bursting with creativity, and Kirby's art is incredibly dynamic and easy to follow; even when there are like fifteen bodies flying around, you can look at the panel and understand exactly how and where OMAC punched them. This is just delicious pulp of the sort that would later be satirized pretty heavily, but Kirby pulls it off with utter sincerity here, which is truly impressive. He totally sells the bombastic nature of everything and it doesn't come off as a joke. Sadly, the series was cancelled, so the final issue ends so abruptly (and TERRIBLY) I suddenly want to travel to some alternate universe just so I can read OMAC #9. This comic was fun as hell, and it's totally worth seeking out.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite Kirby comics!
Omac is basically the typical hero origin, normal schmoe is chosen by fate to receive great powers, similar to Captain America's. But then Jack piles on as many crazy futuristic ideas and gadgets as he can cram into the story.

Very little in the way of deep issues or analysing the themes behind the mythology of the role of a hero. Just a guy with a freaking big blue mohawk, and a satalite for a sidekick taking out whole armies, the mob and several mad scientists by himself.

In so much of Kirby's work he was trying to address big issues or push the boundries of what you could do with the comic book format. Then there were a few where you could see he had decided to just have fun.
Omac was one of the fun ones.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMAC's a fun little series. It's short enough that it never starts to feel repetitive, and it's hilarious that with Kirby leaving DC, the final issue's cliffhanger inadvertently suggests that Buddy Blank and Brother Eye both die! Each of the storylines are imaginative, and Kirby's "world that's coming" is chillingly prescient. It doesn't have the mythological underpinnings of the Fourth World, but OMAC's a fun ride. Kirby's art is excellent, as always, though I prefer Mike Royer's inking on issues 1 and 8 to D. Bruce Berry's 2-7. The characters look more powerful, more intense, ready to explode.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMAC: One Man Army Corps
Author: Jack Kirby, Mike Royer, D. Bruce Berry
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2021
Pgs:
Dewey:
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
In one of his last major works for DC, Kirby envisions a 1984-inspired dystopia starring corporate nobody Buddy Blank, who is changed by a satellite called Brother Eye into the super-powered O.M.A.C. (One Man Army Corps). Enlisted by the Global Peace Agency, who police the world using pacifistic means, O.M.A.C. battles the forces of conformity in this short-lived but legendary series!

Witness the early tales of Jack Kirby's legendary creation O.M.A.C. in this new graphic novel collecting stories from O.M.A.C. #1-8 (1974-1975) plus artwork from WHO'S WHO!

_________________________________________
Genre:
DC Comics
Dystopia
Graphic Novels
Superhero
Mecha


Why this book:
Jack Kirby
_________________________________________
Cover and Interior Art:
Love the covers of the OMAC books.

The art throughout grows on you more and more. The covers are great. Same with the splash pages. #6’s cover is greatness.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Telling someone like Buck Blue that your superpowers have to get recharged isn't smart.

Favorite Scene:
The Gang Train image... would've been awesome to have had Kirby illustrate King's Dark Tower.

Favorite Quote:
“It is the era of the Super-Rich! When money, like technology, reaches complex proportions, complex situations arise---and this one could spell death." -More of Kirby's World That is Coming. It's like he had a crystal ball.

“What will movies be like in The World That's Coming? Story plots translated electronically and fed into the human brain, will make the viewer a participant in the movie action...every viewer will be his own movie star...every movie will be a personal experience...technology will breed wonders...but will it also produce earth-shaking perils!!!” -And that's just the bumper for Issue #3 of OMAC.


Favorite Concept:
A sentient satellite performing hormone surgery on a target from space. Comic book, sci Fi nerd goes hell yeah; horror fan goes damn, that's messed up.

Tropes:
Sending the Build-a-Friends to targets and killing them is a big theme in literature and movies. I immediately keyed on that reflecting on the Black Widow movie plot...and an old Wild Wild West episode.

Stopping to lecture low-level hood Buck Blue when he should be busting Fast Freddie and the Godmother is OMAC getting preachy instead of doing his job.

OMAC is a 6-Million Dollar Man. Bloodshot is sort of an OMAC. The tropes abound.

Hmm Moments:
So OMAC loved Lila, but his solution to her being an automaton, moving and doing at someone else's behest with no agency of her own, is to destroy the factory where she and all the other Build-a-Friends were being manufactured illegally. That's a heavy message in comic book form, especially for the 70s, and especially when delivered in as few panels as Kirby managed to communicate this.

Mr Big's bread and circuses party for the masses to keep them distracted reminds me of the billionaire space race.

Brother Eye's structural print factory is well done visually. 3D biological printing, Kirby was right about a lot of his The World That Is Coming. And he was doing OMAC in the middle 70s.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Kirby's finger on the pulse of The World That Is Coming is tempered by classic comic book naivete. OMAC is made a 5-Star General by the Global Peace Agency because that will make the world obey his orders as he moves through the countries and about the globe. ... ... ...[sarcasm] 'kay, sure, why not. [/sarcasm]

Juxtaposition:
The cruelty, the inhumanity of those running the Pseudo-People factory is shocking, just part of the World That's Coming, as Kirby stated it. The shame is that I could see it happening today in the World That Is.

Dr Skuba is a Bond villain-type.

The Unexpected:
The Lila Build-a-Friend is such a messed-up image to start with. Even knowing about the Build-A-Friend doesn’t stand up to reading it and the visuals. The disassembled Stepford Wives vibe icks me out.

Dreamcasting:
Not sure who a modern Peter Cushing would be, but I could totally picture him in the role as Mr. Big. Or a modern Angus Scrimm.

OMAC’s face looked almost Eastwood-like in the sequence with Buck Blue on the hunt for Mr. Big.


Movies and Television:
They sort of did an OMAC with the Bloodshot movie with Vin Diesel.
_________________________________________
Pacing:
Very well paced.

Last Page Sound:
The story of OMAC does go on in various backup issues. He becomes Kamandi's grandfather. And also various other versions of OMAC appear throughout the comics. The World That Is Coming is largely dropped in favor of the World That Is Here when they flip the script and make Brother Eye a Batman tool that is taken over by Maxwell Lord on his heel turn, and Kamandi's post-apocalypse. OMAC is stronger as it’s own thing, with the Kamandi stuff thrown in. Making him and his kind part of the larger DC superhero universe doesn’t track for me.

Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
I can see now that I need to revisit Kirby's work. I never really read OMAC, New Gods, or Kamandi complete. More an issue here or there.

Author Assessment:
Love Kirby.
=======================================

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun Kirby. I feel like it would be up there with Fourth World if Kirby had continued but unfortunately DC pulled the plug. Still, what we got was some solid Kirby action. Wonderful Kirby concepts galore.

[Kenny Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is delightful and all sorts of strange. It really shows off the imagination that Kirby put into every page of every comic he worked on.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure Kirby craziness, shot straight into the vein.

[Millguy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't particularly expect to like OMAC, based on what I know of Kirby's work from reading New Gods, but I gave it a shot.
Some thoughts:

Issue 1: The book starts off pretty strong, promising a very Phillip K Dick sort of tale of robots blurring the lines between what’s human and not human. Unfortunately by the end the robots just turn out to be sex bot assassins along the lines of those comedic fembots in Austin Powers. If you had the infrastructure to build robots like this, wouldn’t you sell them as companion bots instead of stringing bombs to them? Kirby's villainous corporation is kind of like if Apple computers built up their company and infrastructure as part of a long, long criminal scheme to strap bombs to IPADs and assassinate Jimmy Carter. Completely implausible.

OMAC works for the Global Peace Agency. The Global Peace Agency is dedicated to fighting crime. What is crime in this Brave New World? I have no idea. But I’ll tell you what crime isn’t. Crime is not kidnapping a guy, performing surgery on him without his consent, and erasing memories in order to brainwash him into becoming your perfect soldier.

The fascist imagery is strong in OMAC, the Global Peace Agency’s anonymous unaccountable army resembles a terror army along the lines of the KKK, but Kirby seems unaware of the implications of his own material.

Or is he? This article argues Kirby is intentionally subverting his material: http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blog...

I think it's possible at times that he is, but Kirby is just too dedicated to the more childish BANG POW superhero tropes, so the Global Police consist of soldiers who only use non lethal weapons and have a code of non-killing, the bad guys are cackling villains, and the end result is that's it's hard to get anything more than a glimmer of subversion here and there. There's also the fact the protagonist is named Buddy Blank, suggesting somehow, that he's meant to be a brainwashed non person, which arguably legitimizes The Peace Agency's actions.


Issue 2: The city being rented for a day is an interesting hook. But it turns out the story is just about assassins slipping among partyers, so the story could be set at Marti Gras and it would be the same exact thing, points for the hook but negative points for the execution.

Brother Eye is maybe an Orwellian reference to "Big Brother", but his only narrative function tends to be providing powers ups and force fields as needed, kind of like a robot in a Mega Man game that just exists to deliver power pellets.

Issue 3 and 4: Some sort of wannabee Hitler is doing Hitler type things and must be stopped, so OMAC is deployed to smash his army. There’s no sense of scope or politics nor do we see victims, just soldiers on parade who must be stopped. This could be set among deranged Epcot performers reenacting WWII at Disney World for all the events seem to matter- and actually that would be a far more interesting premise.

You could argue there's nothing here that couldn't be done in an issue of Iron-Man.

Issue 5 and 6: Villains are swapping bodies with kidnap victims. Rather than feeling like an extrapolation of technological trends it's treated as just another way for some hoods to make money, you could set this in Metropolis and call your villains "intergang" and call your hero “Superman” and it would be the same story.

At first I figured the body swapping would be done with robot bodies, which would make sense to avoid the “heat” of the police, but nope, actual kidnap victims, looks like a job for Superman, or OMAC or whomever. I think brain swaps are a very golden age of science fiction concept (Wikipedia cites two stories from the 1930s) , probably not cutting edge even when written.

Issue 7: This issue is actually kind of fun, because it's basically a Superman or Captain Marvel story, which plays much more to Kirby's strengths. The villain is basically a stock mad scientist criminal like Lex Luther or Doctor Sivana. (I seem to recall a similar plot about stealing water in an episode or two of Inspector Gadget).

We're told of the villain, Dr. Skuba that "What Hitler couldn't do with great armies... Skuba can do with his devilish bars!" Oh, Jack Kirby characters, you think everybody is Hitler! (The villain steals water so his name is SCUBA, get it?)

Omac gets a Buck Rogers type space ship to hunt for the bad guy, which is cool.

I like how the bad guy has a daughter and son in law. Makes for some fun whimsy like the Dr. Sivana family in the old Captain Marvel comics.

At the end of the issue, there's a plot twist and cliffhanger that actually wouldn't work in a Superman or Iron man comic, as OMAC is turned back into Buddy Blank. It's taken 7 issues, but something actually character based and interesting has happened. Cool!

Issue 8- The Doctor Scuba family seems to be the first set of villains capable of actually challenging our protagonist. And in retrospect, now that we've come to the end, isn't the real protagonist Brother Eye, not OMAC? OMAC is a non-character, a blank slate without traits other than a square jawed willingness to fight villains. Brother Eye barely gets any lines before this issue, but he's highlighted a bit here and is far more interesting.

In the beginning of the issue, Skuba seems more sympathetic than the "hero" he's a family man, and he freed Buddy Blank from his slavery- but unfortunately Kirby gives him cheesy lines like "Arrogant "do-gooder" presumably because Kirby has a very hard time thinking beyond his one dimensional stock characters.

Later in the issue, there's some mad scientist schtick about Scuba making monsters- making him less sympathetic.

Then suddenly, Brother Eye- servant of the peaceful, nonviolent Global Peace Agency, goes postal on Doctor Skuba and starts shooting beams of energy at him to try and kill him.

It appears Kirby is unaware of the implications of the material, or too unskilled a writer to address it, since he continues to pound out shlock dialogue from Skuba's mouth like:

"So That's what you are-- a super satellite--! --

"Well I've got just the fixings to make a "hero sandwich" out of you!"

just like every generic villain who every fought Superman or any other super-dude. It really doesn't fit a story with any moral ambiguity.

And then the book is cancelled, so everyone dies, the end!

In conclusion, In OMAC, I think Kirby is trying to reappropriate science fiction ideas in his superhero book, and throwing in as many as he can think of (non of which are original to him). Unfortunately, Kirby has seemingly no idea how to think of characters who resemble human beings, and has no idea how to go beyond rewriting the same pulp fight scenes and premises the superhero comic reader has seen again and again and again.

So you get a book with occasional glimmers of something interesting, and occasional suggestions that Kirby is transcending his own material, but it's like looking for the divine in a heap of trash. There might be something transcendental there, but mostly it's just garbage.

Looking at reviews online, there's many positive reviews of the book out there, it seems, but I agree with the Goodreads reviewer who wrote "There is no emotional attachment to anyone and OMAC seems so powerful that no one really poses too much of a threat to him."

Incidentally, there's a fan made issue 9 that was completed in 2002: http://professorhswa.../11/omac-9.html

I read it, and they've retconned the material to suggest that Buddy's memory was accidentally wiped, and the Peace Agency is much less sinister and more unambiguously good. After reading it, I went back to the Kirby version, and yep, that's not how the original story went, it's a retcon. Issue 9 is far more like a warm heated "Cap in the future" sort of take. It's actually more thematically consistent than the Kirby issues, where it's really not clear if Kirby has decided who you should be rooting for, and it's not clear if Kirby has much of an idea what he's trying to say.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buddy Blank lives in a future in question. When he is empowered by Professor Myron Forest and his creation Brother Eye, Buddy is transformed into OMAC aka One Man Army Corps. OMAC has the power and strength to defend the world and teamed with the Global Peace Agency, he is the hero that the world needs. OMAC is taking on tyrants and warmongers, and with the help of Brother Eye, the Earth might stand a chance!

Written and illustrated by Jack Kirby, OMAC: One Man Army Corps by Jack Kirby is a DC Comics superhero collection. The series was cancelled before storylines could wrap-up. It has been collected in multiple versions.

OMAC is just odd. The character bopped around DC after this Kirby run, but always was a bit of mystery…what he a robot? Was he a human? Is Buddy Blanks OMAC or is OMAC a separate entity? It feels like reading the origin issues of the character that Kirby had bigger plans for the character and that never really play out.

Kirby envisioned OMAC as a Captain America of the future, but it feels like more intrigue with the character than Captain America. Later versions of OMAC (sometimes referred to as Observational Meta-human Activity Construct or Omni Mind And Community) had a more sinister approach with Brother Eye being a more sinister Big Brother type. Little of this plays out in this collection, but it is perceivable that Kirby had a similar future vision for the character.

Largely, the stories are one or two issue arcs. OMAC is sent to face a baddy by the GPA. He generally has to call on Brother Eye for help in powering himself and then OMAC takes down the villain. The last storyline involves an ocean thief, and Brother Eye potentially facing destruction…but then nothing. The story was later tied into Kamandi by other writers, but even there, OMAC faltered.

What really feels underdeveloped in OMAC is the Global Peace Agency which frankly is both inspired and shady. Like the police in HBO’s Watchmen, the characters are masked to make them both anonymous and the “everyman”, but they also take on a sinister side in that approach. OMAC seems to blindly work for them and doesn’t seem to have as many questions about their role as judge and jury when it comes to his assignments.

OMAC is a comic with potential but unrecognized potential in its initial release. It is also a comic that feels very creator geared so it is hard for people other than Kirby to write it. The series like his other series including DC’s The Forever People and Marvel’s Eternals has that weird, wild, and wacky style that was innate to Kirby. Despite Kirby’s general classic appeal, I do think that he is acquired taste and newer readers might have a hard time getting into the strange worlds he created…especially if they don’t get the ending they need and deserve like OMAC.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

What in the WHUT?! Seriously, that was… something. It was dark and it wasn’t supposed to be. Or was it? Hmm.
The stated premise is the benevolent nationless organization Global Peace Acgency creates the One Man Army Corps to keep humanity safe from evil geniuses and mega corporations that use technology in untoward ways. The GPA are the good guys, and OMAC is their Captain America.
Like Cap, OMAC starts out as a pushed around wimp. Unlike Cap, Buddy Blank is exactly that - a blank, a nothing of a person. But unlike Cap, Buddy had no say in becoming a super soldier. Creepy-ass space bot Brother Eye literally wipes buddy out with hormone laser surgery and turns him into OMAC.
OMAC then goes on to complete his mission - to blow up the factory of Fem-Bot assassins (which has some really disturbing artwork)… and if the dismembered, possibly sentient female androids were not dark enough for you, we get this passage -
“The faint last vestiges of Buddy Blank seem to scream. His memories rise for one tragic moment in OMAC…”
But it’s alll good…. He’s a hero now!
Every issue features a classic dystopian setup, and OMAC beats the villains easily and with TONS of exposition. Seriously. So much clunky dialog. And each issue features something weird, dark, seriously off that is just plopped in and left unexamined.
Like the “test parents”… OMAC is a full grown-ass man but the GPA assigns him a mommy and daddy. The reason given (thanks, exposition) is that in order to save the world, OMAC needs attachments to it. And since the GPA erased Buddy, they just assign randos to be OMAC’s family. And moving right along to the next adventure….
At first these things made me go “what the hell”, but it MUST be purposeful. All of the “good guy” setup is constantly subverted by, well, fucked up shit. Maybe that’s why it only had 8 issues…
This is all well before the angsty age of comics, so everything in these pages looks all “BANG-POW-ZAP”. But there is very deliberate darkness undermining these brightly colored stories. It makes it interesting.

[Olivia Plasencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ordered this Kirby not really certain what to expect, but after finishing Devil Dinosaur and loving it, I wanted to see what this book held to offer. I am glad the intro by his old assistant Mark shared the book does end on a cliffhanger due to Jack leaving DC to return to Marvel. I am shocked many people could not get into OMAC but I certainly did. Kirby had such a rich imagination and much of what he dreamed up is slowly still coming true. It is said that OMAC was an idea for some sort of future Captain America story Jack wished to flush out but couldn't so while at DC he got a chance. Honestly, I do not draw a lot of comparison between the two, many claim they can, but for me this is just a flat out interesting, good book that stands on its own. I really wish Jack could have finished it.

A future Kirby dreamed up an average Joe, named Buddy Blank, who is zapped by the satellite Brother Eye to be surgically changed, and to forget his former life, is to become a one-man army, working for the Peace agents to right many wrongs without the use of bombs or armies. The adventures and stories Jack had this character go on were interesting, and had a bit of moral questions pose in them for readers to ponder. If you are a Kirby fan it is a must read, just know you will be left with a cliffhanger but to me that was a small price to pay for some beautiful panels of Kirby's and a great story.

[Thurston Hunger · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMAC and a lotta cheese. 1974 and the main character has infinite strength and zero personality. The most interesting aspect for me were the predictions for the future, more Faith Popcorn than Criswell. OMAC's partner in crime-fighting is a satellite Thinking Machine called Brother Eye, way more Ray Kurzweil than Bill Joy.

I'm guessing ideas were then ripped from quick scans of Popular Science, but Kirby has fun with them. Kinda like grabbing names for villains, Kafka and Skuba, and of course the Global Peace Agency, one way to have kids worry about their GPA? Like I said, whole lotta cheese.

Anyways, one star for the son who loved it, and one for him planning to give it to his brother for Xmas.

My kids and I have talked for a long time about how a hero with no flaws, no real conflict other than how many bad guys they can slay (or in this case merely incapacitate, as violence here is straight cartoon, no ramifications seen). But I think there's still some comfort for at least my one kid to believe in Truth and Justice, alas tough break for the American Way. He did point out the possible connection with the GPA and their cosmetic generic shield and the police in the HBO's "Watchmen" adaptation. Maybe there will be a story from the viewpoint of a conflicted GPA agent?

[EC Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Some God of War! Better maybe than it even knows. For me, this story is complete, that rarest beast in comics. Even if it's not by design, the poignancy of the ending that does exist is more profound than any ending that would have been actually allowed at the time, and stands as quite a fitting and fully realized statement about Jack Kirby's life and work at that exact moment.
For me, this is also one of THE definitive cyber-punk dystopian futures, a setting I am a quite fond of. The Kirbian weirdness of seeing a woman packaged in a box kicks off the series in iconic form, and even it's familiar ideas (like the assembly line of humans) are all quite radical and striking in their presentation.
Funky, inventive, and wild, this has Kirby's imagination totally uncut for one hot minute (eight issues!) before the powers that be yanked the chain, not knowing or caring that in so doing, they were imitating the art itself.
WHAROOM!

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Jack 'King' Kirby's lesser known works, and it's easy to see why.

OMAC lacks the depth of Kirby's 1960's Marvel classics, or his Fourth World, The Demon and Kamandi efforts at DC in the 1970's. The book is brimming with great ideas, but unfortunately little else. It's basically a 'villain of the week' format with no character development or running sub plots.

It would have been interesting to see just how - or IF - Kirby would have developed things if OMAC had lasted beyond it's eight issue run. Sadly, we'll never know.

Still, it's Jack Kirby and thus well worth seeking out and reading.

[Adriano Barone · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stelle solo perchè le chine di Bruce Berry non rendevano assolutamente giustizia al lavoro del Re. Meno male che il primo e l'ultimo numero vedono la presenza del grande Mike Royer.
Forse una stella in meno del massimo (che è lo standard per Kirby) anche per come la storia si interrompe all'improvviso. Nonostante il progetto (come ogni cosa realizzata da Kirby, intendiamoci) abbia continuato a produrre storie sia attraverso il seguito di John Byrne e l'integrazione degli elementi della miniserie nella continuity DC, la curiosità e il dispiacere restano forti.

[Alvaro Matteucci]

Prepare for the World that's Coming!

OMAC is a crazy concept that only Kirby could create.

We see people so lonely and alienated that they'd pay to build a friend of their own, corrupt billionaires usurping people's lives and stealing youthful bodies, drugs so dangerous that they turn you into hideous creatures, and twisted science used to hold the world hostage.

Humanity's only hope lies in a near fascist organization that keeps a literal eye on them, and their enforcer, a man so poweful he can stand in for an army.

Recommended for pulpy sci-fi and classic comics fans.