6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
After more than 30 years, this is Omega free of corporate influence..., September 26, 2008
This review is from: Omega: The Unknown (Hardcover)
... although, there's symbolism all over the place suggesting Lethem's anger over the corporate meddling of the original Omega series.
In this trippy retelling of the Omega story, Lethem finally tells the abstract tale of the mute superhero and his strange bond with an erudite teenage boy and brings it to a satisfying - if open-ended - conclusion. This is a fate that the original Omega and his fans deserved and unfortunately have not received until now.
There are just enough references to the mainstream of the Marvel Universe to suggest that it takes place in the traditional (616) continuity, and it will be interesting to see if any other writers dare to take a crack at the Omega mythos. Still, as a stand-alone work, Lethem's Omega is a terrific read.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Silent hero, October 23, 2008
This review is from: Omega: The Unknown (Hardcover)
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"I've met his counterpart on many planets. 'Where there's robots, there's blue guys...'"
The blue guy in question is the titular character of "Omega: The Unknown," where author Jonathan Lethem adopts Steve Gerber's quirky, silent hero. It's a suitably bizarre adventure for such a unique hero, and Lethem does a pretty good job with roaming hands, boy geniuses, bogged-down superheroes and the everyday tragedies of human life.
Teenage Alexander Island is en route to his very first day at an outside school, when there's a car crash. His parents are killed -- and even more shockingly, they turn out to be robots.
But while in the hospital, he's attacked by more mysterious robots -- and saved by a silent superhero, who leaves a pair of omegas burned into Alexander's hands. As Alexander struggles to handle his new urban life and a hostile school full of bullies, the mysterious blue guy -- Omega -- is being hunted by the city's resident celebrity superhero, Mink.
Unfortunately Mink has his own problems with the robots -- his hand has been taken over by nanobots, and subsequently escapes from the lab. More and more people are turning into robots across the city, and they fear only one thing: the hands of Omega. Unfortunately, Omega is no more invulnerable than the Mink, and Alexander learns that even a mysterious superhero can lose his way...
Steve Gerber first wrote about Omega in the 1970s, and it's pretty obvious that Jonathan Lethem is a die-hard fan -- the entire story is soaked in a sort of retro quirkiness, from the pajamas-y superheroes to the boy hero. Even Farel Dalrymple's art is a rougher-edged, unembellished, simpler sort of drawings without bright colours, like you'd see in older graphic novels.
Lethem doesn't always hit the mark -- the first half of "Omega: The Unknown" is a rather confusing tangle of subplots, and occasional plot threads lead nowhere (what's up with the robot parents?). The second half is where things tighten up plotwise, even if it leads to some extremely strange, surreal places both for Alexander and Omega. And the final chapter is the most unusual -- utterly without dialogue.
And Lethem goes full out on weird and satirical -- the Mink is a unheroic "hero" who declares war on Omega for threatening his "M" franchise, and the story is often narrated by a statue that only has hands and a head (and occasionally sings). Even weirder, one of the big threats to the city is Mink's robotic severed hand (which grows legs and walks out of the lab -- can it get much weirder than that?). Anti-robot salt, grilled birds and neighborhood bullies all play a part.
Though it's a stereotype that homeschooled kids are disconnected from the "real" world, Alexander makes a good hero for the story -- he's moral, hyperintelligent and becomes more determined and strong as the story goes on. But while Alexander grows more attuned to the world, Omega himself tends to wander through his journey, losing himself in wherever he happens to be.
While Jonathan Lethem occasionally loses his grip on the storyline, "Omega: the Unknown" is a suitably quirky revamp of an even quirkier superhero story, and definitely worth reading.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but ultimately mediocre updating of an interesting but ultimately mediocre 1970's comic book series, March 18, 2009
This review is from: Omega: The Unknown (Hardcover)
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Omega The Unknown was an interesting but ultimately unsuccessful comic series (both creatively and commercially) created by cult fav comic writer Steve Gerber (Howard The Duck, Man-Thing) during the 1970's; it has inexplicably been brought back to life by writer Johnathon Lethem and illustrator Farel Dalrymple to no great effect.
Fans of the original comic book will be hard-pressed to recognize Mr. Gerber's original comic creation and will no doubt come away disappointed. I must wonder... why bring this niche character back in the first place if you intend on doing such a radical overhaul in tone and style? Why not just create a new character altogether? The indie-comic style art is OK, as is the story (yet another quirky, satirical, deconstructive look at the super-hero genre).
All in all, worth a read, if not a buy.
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