CREDIT: DC Comics
Rating: 4/5 – Fresh Talent on an Underused DC Team.
by ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
The Omega Men is a brand new series coming from DC Comics. After the Convergence event that allowed DC to move their offices from New York to California, the “New 52” marketing and trade dress is gone and DC has now started a new branding campaign called “DCYou”. There’s a lot of focus around not only new creative teams and talents like Bryan Hitch on Justice League and Bernard Chang on Batman Beyond, but also on new titles and characters we haven’t seen in a while like Prez and the Omega Men. Originally appearing in an issue of Green Lantern in the early 1908s, the Omega Men were a group of rebels that came together to oppose an “Empire” like government called the Citadel. In this first issue, a lot of those same ideas are used by writer Tom King and artist Barnaby Bagenda as they’re reintroduced into the new DC Universe.
Omega Men isn’t the most typical of main-stream first issues. It will make you work a bit. Tom King chooses to throw us right into the frying pan, introducing each member of the team in a showcase of violence and action. That action is also interspersed with scenes that look as though they may not pay off for a bit, which may leave some readers looking for a complete story feeling as though there’s something missing and why we’re seeing the scenes that we do. Also, if you haven’t read the preview of Omega Men in last month’s Convergence books, that may add to the feeling of being a bit lost.
King embraces the fact that the Omega Men are not of this world. Each member of the team feels and speaks differently, and the language used throughout a lot of this first issue is an alien dialect that’s wonderfully lettered by Pat Brosseau. Again, that alien language hides much of the dialogue behind the indecipherable words which may leave you feeling as though you’re missing something, but you can still follow the action thanks to the wonderful art by Bagenda.
I’m not familiar with Bagenda’s work prior to seeing it here on Omega Men, but I’m glad I know of him now. Bagenda uses a lot of seven and nine page panels to show the tremendous amount of action. With that many panels on the page, an artist has to be able to make the sequentials flow and Bagenda does so clearly and effectively. Every so often he’ll mix the high panel count up with a gorgeous splash page, like the one that introduces us to Tigorr, who’s reveal and appearance here will most likely make him the early fan favorite.
The new “DCYou” highlights a lot of new talent, and seeing Bagenda’s work for the first time here was exciting. Having a brand new talent like Bagenda, and an up and coming writer like Tom King who’s work on Grayson has garnered a lot of praise and attention reintroducing an underrated and underused team like the Omega Men has me excited for what’s coming next post New 52. The Omega Men haven’t been seen in a while and given time, I feel as though this creative team will make us realize just what we’ve been missing.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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