Comic Info
Comic Name: O.M.A.C. (Volume 3)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Dan Didio/Keith Giffen/Jeff Lemire
Artist: Keith Giffen
# of Issues: 8
Release Date: 2012
O.M.A.C. (3) #5
Reprints O.M.A.C. (3) #1-8 (November 2011-June 2012). Kevin Kho works for Cadmus and has a girlfriend named Jody Robbins. When he is suddenly transformed into a humanoid called One-Machine Attack Construct (aka O.M.A.C.), Kevin finds his life thrown into turmoil. Now a pawn of Brother Eye, Kevin finds himself in a battle of wits with Maxwell Lord of Checkmate and the secrets of Cadmus.
Written by Dan Didio and Keith Giffen (with Jeff Lemire on O.M.A.C. (3) #5), O.M.A.C. 1: Omactivate! was part of relaunch of the DC Universe after Flashpoint. O.M.A.C. was an all-new title for the New 52, but this collection represents the entire series.
O.M.A.C. has been around for a number of years, but I was rather surprised that he was going to be part of the New 52. O.M.A.C. was first created by Jack Kirby in O.M.A.C. (1) #1 (September 1974) and originally called One-Man Army Corps. The series was set in the future and ended with the massive culling of DC titles in the mid ’70s. The character returned in 1991 with a four issue limited series, and in the Countdown to Infinite Crisis, O.M.A.C.s were agents of Brother Eye. With a long history, it was nice to see O.M.A.C. take center stage again.
O.M.A.C. had a poor start. The first issue of this collection isn’t very good, but I did get into the series a few issues in. I am not a big fan of Dan Didio’s writing and Giffen is hit or miss for me. The series feels a lot like the Kirby series of which it was based, and it actually has that throwback fun. The issue plots are sometimes nonsense and more about big brawls…but it is unapologetic. There is also a visit from Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. in O.M.A.C. (3) #5 (March 2012).
O.M.A.C. (3) #8
Giffen’s art works fantastic for this series and part of the reason why I actually do like it. Giffen styled the characters and art off of Kirby’s designs. The flattened characters have a look of Kirby’s design and HI-FI’s coloring actually does make a big difference with the throwback style.
O.M.A.C. unfortunately didn’t get a chance to develop. The O.M.A.C. (3) #8 (June 2012) wrap-up of the series a lot to be desired, and the last few issues has a lot of jumping around which felt to me like the writers were just trying to hit on subjects they wanted to try to get to before the cancellation of the series. With O.M.A.C. (3) #8, Brother Eye is defeated by Checkmate and Kevin finds himself trapped as O.M.A.C.
O.M.A.C. 1: Omactivate! is a bit of a misnomer since there is no O.M.A.C. 2 with the cancellation of the comic. I didn’t like O.M.A.C. at first but it grew on me a bit. It doesn’t quite work as a series, but it does have some fun aspects to it. Following this series, O.M.A.C. makes the jump to Justice League International…which unfortunately was also cancelled after its second volume.
