Ah, man! Remember the 1980’s? When comic books could be about…well, anything – and were? You remember: the ones that were really, really fun and good?
Maybe it’s just because I was (much) younger in those days, but the comics I was reading on the front step of my porch in the spring, trading with my friends through the summer, and then excitedly talking about with my grade school classmates in the fall were some of the best comics I ever read.
Remember Dreadstar? Jon Sable: Freelance? The New Mutants?
Remember The Omega Men?
Follow me after the jump, ‘cos those last guys should be the first thing you pick up from the comic book today!
The Omega Men #1
Written by: Tom King
Illustrated by: Barnaby Bagenda and Jose Marzan Jr.
Published by: DC Comics
DC Comics has just finished their whole Convergence initiative (A sort of spring crossover blockbuster series that would lay the foundation for future storytelling) and by all accounts the company that was once so, so tight on universal continuity has now opened the floodgates to multiple earths, multiple characters, multiple stories.
And they’re also mining some of their more obscure characters.
This is a good thing, I think, as the editorial reigns on their creative staff had become shackles. There was too much interference and the comic books that DC Comic published the last few years suffered for it. We’ll see whether that will be corrected going forward, but an important first step is the release of a bunch of new titles, beginning with The Omega Men #1.
Originally published in 1983, (after making a first appearance in the pages of Green Lantern a few years earlier), The Omega Men was one of the first comic books I ever read. I remember sitting on the front steps of my porch, leafing though pages of various issues (for whatever reason, I never had sequential issues – they were always intermittent) and loving the science fiction action of a rag-tag bunch of outlaw heroes.
You see, The Omega Men then, have just as much in common with The Omega Men now, which, despite the outer space setting, has so much in common with the world that we live. Here’s the log line for the series, an intro that sums up the foundation of the story:
For 200 years the Citadel has controlled the worlds of the Vega star system. Millions have resisted. Millions have dies. Billions have surrendered. Six fight on.
It’s such a throw back to the comics (and b-list sci-fi films) of the early 1980’s isn’t it? It’s mouth-watering in its reminiscence! The Omega Men is a sci-fi comic book that exists within a galaxy of religious zealotry – an idea not far from home. Still, that begs the question: are The Omega Men the good guys or the bad guys?
Writer Tom King (Grayson) has been given twelve issues to tell his space-faring magnum opus so you know that he’ll pull out all the stops. If the series is a success, perhaps DC editorial will give him a little more room to tell even more stories.
Make the run to you local comic book shop today and revel in the updates science fiction remembrance you might have and pick up The Omega Men #1.
Of course, if you’re unfamiliar with the group, you cold always sit on your porch step and create new memories!
For a sneak peak of the first issue of The Omega Men, click here.
Filed under: 2015, comics, dc, DC Comics, JP, JP Fallavollita, JP/Japer, sci-fi, science fiction, the Wednesday run Tagged: Barnaby Bagenda, comic book, comics, convergence, DC Comics, Green Lantern, Jose Marzan Jr., JP, jp fallavollita, sci-fi, science fiction, The Omega Men, the wednesday run, Tom King
