Starting out life as a Captain America title set in the future, OMAC is certainly one of Jack Kirby’s strangest ideas. Since 1970, Kirby had left Marvel and come to DC, introducing a wide array of new characters with his distinctive style of art. Kirby had set up a whole new universe for DC, calling it the Fourth World, where titles such as the New Gods, Mister Miracle and the Forever People presented godly and unique characters, most of whom are still present in the DC Universe in rather crucial ways. Moving on from the Fourth World titles, Kirby created other characters such as Etrigan the Demon, Kamandi and a new Sandman. Of course, the topic of today is OMAC, a short-lived title that presents to us the character of Buddy Blank, a regular joe who is teased and bullied by those around him. However, with the power of Brother Eye, a satellite being above the planet, the two merge together to create OMAC, a.k.a One Man Army Corps. Taking place in the far future, Kirby obviously adds his usual charms to this bleak world, which may one day be our own. However, the with OMAC, Brother Eye and the Global Peace Agency to bring about peace on Earth, are there any dangers left?
In this review of Jack Kirby’s short-lived OMAC (vol 1) title, I will be reviewing:
Brother Eye and Buddy Blank/Blood-Brother Eye --- OMAC (vol 1) 1-2
A Hundred-Thousand Foes/The Busting of a Conqueror --- OMAC (vol 1) 3-4
New Bodies for Old/The Body Bank --- OMAC (vol 1) 5-6
The Ocean Stealers/Human Genius vs. Thinking Machine --- OMAC (vol 1) 7-8
OMAC (vol 1) 1-8 was published bi-monthly from September 1974 to December 1975. It was written by Jack Kirby, who also pencilled the series while Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry inked it. The series was meant to continue, but OMAC (vol 1) 9 was cancelled when Jack Kirby left DC and went to Marvel. Lastly, I have read these stories
in the Jack Kirby’s OMAC: One Man Army Corps hardcover. Also, I will be reviewing Kirby’s art after all the stories…
Brother Eye and Buddy Blank/Blood-Brother Eye --- Written and pencilled by Jack Kirby with inks by Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry
THE STORY
In Electric City, two Global Peace Agents meet with Professor Myron Forest, telling him that they have found the perfect candidate for the OMAC project, named Buddy Blank. After the agents leave, Professor Forest activates Brother Eye, a satellite floating in orbit above Earth. While Forest tells Brother Eye to search for the OMAC candidate, Buddy Blank works at Pseudo-People Inc, where he is bullied by the other workers and punched. After his shift ends, Buddy heads into the Destruct Room, which is full of people beating up pseudo-people in rage, as they are just dummies. Leaving the room, Buddy meets with Lila, a friend who helps him through his life. However, once Buddy leaves, Lila is taken away into a secret area known as Section D, where she is disassembled. Later, Buddy heads into Section D, but he is captured by guards. However, when Buddy asks for Lila, the guards laugh, showing him a video of a female “Build-A-Friend” model being assembled, before blowing up and killing a man. Shocked, Buddy discovers that Lila is one of those androids and just as the guards prepare to attack Buddy, he begins to transform and grow angry. Then, his transformation is complete and he becomes OMAC, fighting through the guards and defeating them. OMAC then discovers Lila’s disassembled body and pledges to her that they will pay for what has happened. OMAC then destroys Section D and after speaking with Brother Eye, who links himself to OMAC by transmitting powerful beams onto him, giving him power, OMAC heads into Electric City in search of Section D’s mastermind, Mister Big…
At the entrance of Electric City, OMAC is told that the whole city has been rented out for the night by a private citizen. However, OMAC fights his way through the guards and is offered a ride by two of Mister Big’s party guests. While driving, OMAC learns that Mister Big paid a large amount of money to have the city for himself for a night, at the cost of its citizen’s not paying their taxes for a year. After OMAC hops out of the car, the two underlings of Mister Big follow him. Then, OMAC meets with Professor Forest, who tells him that he was guided there by Brother Eye. Professor Forest explains that OMAC was needed to contain worldwide conflicts before they grow larger. However, as OMAC begins to learn about Mister Big, his two minions from earlier enter and shoot Professor Forest. However, they both escape from OMAC, who then attends to Professor Forest, who Brother Eye tried to save, but failed, and he died. Feeling down, OMAC leaves and Brother Eye deletes Professor Forest and his room from existence to hide evidence of OMAC. Meanwhile in a TV studio, Mister Big worries about OMAC and speaks with his two minions, who tell him that despite taking out Professor Forest, OMAC still lives, causing Mister Big to threaten them if they don’t kill OMAC. Later, OMAC is attacked again by two other minions, but he manages to beat them. However, he is then attacked by the same old goons from before, rendering him unconscious. Later inside, Mister Big is told that OMAC is dead and finished. Suddenly, the Mayor arrives with the Global Peace Agency, who defeat Mister Big’s minions and arrest him. Then, OMAC's wound heals itself due to Brother Eye’s powers and he is thanked by the faceless peace agents.
MY THOUGHTS
Like all good first stories, this one here introduces us to the very basics of this strange future and the even stranger OMAC and Brother Eye. In just the first issue, Kirby manages to construct this futuristic and seemingly impossible world, where androids can be built as apparent friends and where people can unleash their emotions and feelings in different rooms. However, it does make you think that one day, our world could be like that. Anyway, I digress. The first part of the story excellently introduces us to the two main characters of the run, those being Buddy Blank, a weak and depressed wimp, and Brother Eye, the all-powerful satellite with the purpose of supplying power to OMAC. What Kirby does excellently in this first story (and its something he does in other stories) is that it starts off right near the end of the story, full of action. The story then goes into the past and creates the events that build onto the dramatic conclusion. This storytelling technique works perfectly with Kriby’s impressive art, but more on that later. The whole concept of OMAC and Brother Eye works very well in this futuristic world that Kirby has constructed, as there are clearly new dangers to fight against and OMAC is essentially an army built into one man (hence his name). Other concepts in the first part such as the “Build-A-Friend” robots are also very interesting, and it adds something much darker to this futuristic world. In terms of just the first issue, I think its pretty flawless and there is nothing really wrong with it. It has the right amount of action, drama and intrigue that any good tale should have and as usual, the pace is excellent and really quick. The second part of the story featuring Mister Big is where OMAC’s strength and powers are really first shown, since he seemingly dies near the end of the story but comes back due to Brother Eye’s powers. In fact, Brother Eye is most probably the best character of the whole run, if you can call him a character that is. Not only is he the structure that holds OMAC together, but there is something mysterious and even sinister about him. We’ll learn more about that later in this run and of course Infinite Crisis (2005-06). With the exception of Mister Big, all the other villains in the story are pretty laughable, mainly because they dress up in really silly Halloween costumes. However, they do pose a threat since they murder Professor Forest, the brain behind OMAC. Once again, the story is full of action and drama, making it follow up to the previously story very nicely. The only real criticism I have of the second part is that it often repeats itself, with OMAC being hunted down by Mister Big’s minions quite a few times, which eventually becomes quite stale. Also, as a villain, Mister Big is fairly standard and he isn’t really in the story enough to make him come across as a real threat. However, as an introductory story, this is excellent as it not only sets the tone for this futuristic world, but it also introduces us to the varied characters that it contains.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 8/10
A Hundred-Thousand Foes/The Busting of a Conqueror --- Written and pencilled by Jack Kirby with inks by D. Bruce Berry
THE STORY
After OMAC experiences a strange virtual reality movie, he is met with three Global Peace agents, who give him the power to stop flare-ups which endanger the world, meaning his orders will be obeyed across the world. Afterwards, OMAC is met with Mr and Mrs Barker, who are given to him as test-parents. Confused at first, OMAC accepts his test-parents and shows them to their room. Later, a Global Peace agent meets speaks with OMAC concerning Marshal Kafka, a bandit who has an army of mercenaries with plans to attack neighbouring countries. Agreeing to capture him, the Global Peace Agency send OMAC in a rocket to Central Europe, where he is quickly attacked by guided rockets, but luckily, OMAC manages to escape. Then, he is attacked by Kafka’s army of tanks and soldiers, but he evades them also, angering Kafka, who orders air units to attack OMAC, who is escaping on his hovering chair. Using its technology, OMAC manages to defeat the air forces as well, before being bombarded by spikes, which destroy his chair. Yet, OMAC still continues, defeating all the soldiers sent out by Kafka to fight. Then, Kafka himself appears in his tank, firing at OMAC before he picks the tank up, telling Kafka that he is taking him in…
As Brother Eye gives OMAC more strength by transmitting a beam onto him, OMAC throws Kafka’s tank down a cliffside, injuring both OMAC and Kafka. However, OMAC manages to recover and he arrests Kafka. Later, Kafka tells the Global Peace agents that if he isn’t released, they will all die. Kafka is then confronted with the multiple
crimes he has committed but continues to warm OMAC and the Global Peace agents that his avenger is coming. Then, after OMAC learns that Kafka’s threat may be very real and biological instead of a machine, alarms go off all across the Global Peace Agency headquarters as something big and destructive has been noticed. Against the warnings of Global Peace agents, OMAC heads out to fight Kafka’s avenger, known as the Multi-Killer, which quickly destroys OMAC’s plane, meaning that he must fight the creature on foot. However, thanks to a power beam given to him by Brother Eye, OMAC manages to fight the creature, before realising that Kafka activated a device inside of it which will cause it to explode. OMAC jumps to the surface and is saved by air jets, before the Multi-Killer explodes. The Global Peace Agency then thanks OMAC for defeating the creature.
MY THOUGHTS
More so than the last one, this story is essentially a huge war between OMAC/The Global Peace Agency and Kafka, an evil dictator who is a menace to the world. This story makes the Global Peace Agency into major characters in Kirby’s OMAC series, since they usually give OMAC missions to go on and act pretty much like the police. Overall, they work well and there is something very mysterious about them, since they almost always cover their face with an orange spray. Plus, we don’t really learn too much about them, making us believe that Kirby could have been building on ideas for them in issue 9, which obviously never happened. Anyway, the first part of the story is your pretty standard war full of action and explosions. Of course, in most other cases, I would just dismiss those long scenes as filler, but with Kirby, his art makes them serve a purpose in terms of the story, since there is something about them which makes you think of the horrors of war (something I will examine more in the next post). Also, the storytelling works so well that the gigantic battles feel justified and work well. The second part continues down this path, with OMAC no longer fighting the captured Kafka, but his avenger, the Multi-Killer. This menace is pretty destructive, and it has the impactful design that most freaky looking Kirby creations have. However, as opposed to the previous part, there doesn’t appear to be any fatalities or injuries, with the obvious exception of the Multi-Killer. Kafka himself is your usual Jack Kirby villain. Like Verman Vundabar (The Fourth World), Kafka is portrayed as an evil dictator and is very Nazi-like in his appearance. One of the Global Peace agents mention that he is very similar to Adolf Hitler. Because of this, he is no different to other Kirby characters and because of this, he is very limited. However, Kirby does introduce the Multi-Killer as a villain for the second part, which also works and very both issues feel quite different, yet similar.
The main problem I have with the fight scene in the second part is that it lacks any consequences. In the first part, the fight between Kafka and OMAC is massive, with multiple casualties which create both a sense of drama and action. However, with the Multi-Killer, despite his great design and weaponry, the fight feels nowhere-near as impactful and it falls rather short. Sure, the art works very well in the second part, but I think it lacks the impact with the story that the first part had. Plus, there are the strange test-parents which meet OMAC at the start of the story, but that doesn’t really progressive anywhere either.
Story: 8.5/10
Art: 8/10
New Bodies for Old/The Body Bank --- Written and pencilled by Jack Kirby with inks by D. Bruce Berry
THE STORY
OMAC is shown stolen footage from the mob of the Terminal, a place where older people pay to have their brains inserted into the bodies of younger people. OMAC then learns that the person behind the Terminal is known as Fancy Freddy Sparga and his Crime Cabal. Later, Fancy Freddy and his men fire a missile at the Global Peace Agency and nearly kill the agent who presented the stolen footage to OMAC.
Afterwards, OMAC meets with Buck Blue and accuses him of being a body-snatcher. OMAC is then attacked by Buck Blue’s friends, but they are easily defeated. Afterwards, OMAC tells Buck Blue to accompany and help him in tracking down the Terminal. While the Global Peace Agency track OMAC in order to ensure he has back-up, OMAC and Buck Blue visit the mansion belonging to the Godmother, who is involved with Fancy Freddy’s Terminal. Inside, OMAC finds Fancy Freddy and takes him out, telling him that he is under arrest. Fancy Freddy then tries to murder Buck Blue as he knows the location of the Terminal, but OMAC stops him. As the Global Peace Agency arrive and arrest Fancy Freddy and the Godmother, OMAC and Buck Blue leave to find the Terminal…
In the underground subway, OMAC and Buck Blue are attacked by a swarm of monsters, but they are easily defeated. After Buck explains that the monsters were once normal before they took radiation and hormone treatments, Brother Eye recharges OMAC. Then, OMAC and Buck discover a girl being captured by two muggers. However, OMAC defeats them and rescues the girl, who is then taken away by Global Peace agents. Suddenly, the Gang Train arrives, frightening Buck. However, OMAC forces him to come along and they both enter the train. However, poisonous gas begins to fill the carriage, but OMAC manages to prevent their deaths by breaking a hole in the wall. Then, the train explodes and criminals from the Terminal appear, firing at what’s left of the train. Suddenly, a giant rock is thrown at them, which is revealed to be a molecular cocoon as OMAC and Buck leap out of it and begin fighting the guards. Then, OMAC and Buck break into the Terminal and defeat the Crime Cabal. OMAC also finds the Cabal’s leader, Tough Tully Morgan under a coma, ready to enter another person’s body. However, the Global Peace agents arrive, and they are all arrested, leaving OMAC and Buck to rescue the Terminal’s captives.
MY THOUGHTS
There are numerous aspects of this story which I think work very well and are excellent ideas. I think the idea of the Terminal and its links to the Crime Cabal work in this dark futuristic world it reminds me of the other similar ideas Kirby has used in the series. In fact, I think the second part of the story is quite good as there is a lot going for it. The radiation-poisoned monsters in the sewer and OMAC’s rescuing of the prisoners of the Terminal make for a very fast-paced story full of action and drama. However, the main problem I have with this story is undoubtedly the first part…
Really, I think the second part is paced out too fast and some of it should have been in the first part, because nothing really happens at the start. With the exception of OMAC finding some links to the Terminal, nothing else really happens. There is some random murder attempt on a Global Peace agent from Fancy Freddy (a pretty useless villain) and OMAC takes him out and the Godmother, one of the freakiest Kirby characters you will ever see, next to Moon Boy of course. Its difficult to explain, but just reading it was somewhat dull and boring as all of what I would classify as good in this story occurs in the second half. Also, OMAC takes Buck Blue with him for most of the story and all he seems to do is try to betray OMAC every so often. Like I said, I think the idea of the Terminal is very good because its clever, but I really feel like Kirby should have presented more of that to us, since it makes for much more interesting reading that the Godmother acting like an ar*ehole. It’s a shame that the story focuses on what I think are the less interesting aspects of the story, because the parts I do think have lots of potential are barely covered or just quickly forgotten about and never returned to.
Story: 6/10
Art: 8/10
The Ocean Stealers/Human Genius vs. Thinking Machine --- Written and pencilled by Jack Kirby with inks by D. Bruce Berry and Mike Royer
THE STORY
At the bottom of an empty lake, OMAC wanders around in horror noticing all the dead fish. He then finds a strange object and tries to pick it up, but it is too heavy. After Brother Eye recharges OMAC, he picks up the object, but he begins to sink into the sand, before leaping out of it and dropping the heavy object, which then shatters part of the lake wall and crushes him. Meanwhile at another lake, the same object is dropped into a water-filled lake and it absorbs all the water, killing all the life in the lake. The object is then picked up by a strange flying craft which is controlled by Doctor Skuba, and his two greedy children. Skuba then picks up the water-filled object with neutro-gloves and believes the world will pay to retrieve all the water he has stolen. Later, OMAC wakes up in the Global Peace Agency, who recovered OMAC from the bottom of the lake. An agent explains that Doctor Skuba has been draining rivers and lakes, causing OMAC to head out in his plane to find Doctor Skuba. When he finds Skuba’s base on a volcanic rock, OMAC’s plane erodes into nothingness and OMAC manages to escape. Skuba watches this and believes that he can manage to take control of OMAC. Suddenly, Brother Eye’s beam hits OMAC, but he begins to transform back into Buddy Blank. As Brother Eye’s presence leaves his mind, Buddy Blank is left confused in the middle of the ocean…
While Brother Eye sends a beam down towards Buddy Blank to turn him back into OMAC, Buddy somehow falls through the volcanic rock, leaving Brother Eye useless. Inside, a confused Buddy becomes Doctor Skuba’s guest, annoying his son Apollo. They then give Buddy a tour around Skuba’s base where he learns that Skuba thinned out the atoms at the top of the volcanic rock, explaining how Buddy got inside the base. Meanwhile, Skuba confronts Brother Eye, knowing that the satellite is monitoring. Brother Eye then tells Skuba that he is a traitor to science and that he should surrender to the Global Peace Agency. Continuing his tour of the base, Buddy witnesses some of the horrible and monstrous creations by Skuba, who then appears with a gun pointed at him. Skuba tells Buddy that he fears what he can become and that OMAC is a threat to his plans. However, Skuba’s gun somehow shatters, causing Buddy to escape. Then, Brother Eye speaks with Skuba again, telling him to surrender. However, Skuba does not, causing Brother Eye to fire his powerful beam towards Skuba’s base. Brother Eye then manages to attract nearby asteroids to him, forming
them into one giant rock, before throwing it towards Doctor Skuba’s base, causing it to explode…
MY THOUGHTS
This story is a real return to form for the OMAC title and it’s a great shame, since its not only the last story, but it also ends on a superb cliff-hanger which, to my knowledge, has never really been resolved. But, before I get to that, I must say that the plot of this story is very similar to something you would read with Aquaman. In fact, just thinking about a villain draining all the water and killing all the fish reminds me of something that Steve Skeates would write in a dated and cheesy way, while Jim Aparo’s art would actually make me want to read the story. I digress once again. The first part of this story builds up a great sense of mystery and terror. Then, we actually get the first villain of the story who I would say is more complex than previous villains. Doctor Skuba may have a silly name and appearance, but he is actually a much darker villain, since he is content with killing sea life and creating strange experiments. He also plans on selling the water to the governments, making him rich as they would obviously want their oceans back. He does have these two annoying children with him, and they are probably the only part of the story that I would consider trash. But, the great shock of this story is the end of part one, where OMAC transforms back into Buddy Blank, a strange moment as not only have we not seen Buddy Blank since issue 1, but he doesn’t remember anything about OMAC or Brother Eye. This was the first issue of the series to have an excellent ending to an issue, but it quickly toppled by the ending of issue 8, the last issue. I mentioned before that Brother Eye is a very mysterious and even sinister character. Here is the evidence I have for that. In many ways, OMAC is Brother Eye, but with limits. He doesn’t unleash his full power and he abides by a set of morals which conform with law and order. However, without OMAC as that barrier to prevent from going too far, Brother Eye unleashes his full power against Doctor Skuba and destroys his base, with Skuba, his children and Buddy Blank on board. That is where it ends. Does Buddy Blank survive (he does, but its never really explained how I don’t think) or do any of the others? Effectively, Brother Eye kills Skuba and if Kirby were to continue the story, he would have had a battle between OMAC and Brother Eye, that’s what I think anyway. I just think as an ending without a conclusion, it just works so well and makes me really wish that the title could have continued, but it didn’t because Kirby left DC for Marvel. I mean, this story is up there with the first one and its sad because Kirby never got to finish it. I guess we’ll never know what Kirby’s real plans were for OMAC and Brother Eye…
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 8/10
THE ART BY JACK KIRBY, MIKE ROYER AND D. BRUCE BERRY
Without question, Jack Kirby’s storytelling is masterful and full of pure drama. His crazy and unique plotting works with his impactful and impressive art-style, especially when Kirby begins an issue in the middle of a story, since it throws us right into the action. Compared to some of the other talent at the time at DC, Kirby stands (continued)
high up there above them all with Steve Ditko and Neal Adams, at least in terms of his storytelling. However, the finishes are often just plain ugly. During the 1960s and 70s, Kirby’s art style had changed rapidly, which was down both to him and the inkers he worked with. Faces became much more exaggerated and muscles became incredibly circular, like all the characters had footballs inside of their costumes. Like I said before, this often comes down to the inkers. While at Marvel he had inkers such as Joe Sinnott who would smooth Kirby’s pencils out, at DC there was Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry, both of whom followed Kirby’s pencils very faithfully. Because of this, the actual finishes can look very distorted in terms of muscular structure and some of the inks make some characters, particularly OMAC in his bright costume, look very plastic. However, despite this and the non-existent muscles that Kirby can often place on his characters, the art is just so impressive in its storytelling and action that it doesn’t bother me too much. It bothers me much more in the 1980s with his art on Super Powers (vol 2), but it just isn’t as distracting here, and the art just works so well, particularly with the bat-sh*t insane stories.
VERDICT
Overall, Jack Kirby’s OMAC may have been short-lived, but it is a classic saga full of great characters and plots which are full of what Kirby does best, drama and action. None of the stories are terrible and they are all very readable and enjoyable. It’s a great shame that Kirby’s original plan for OMAC was never finished and it would have been interesting to say the least. However, like all the other DC titles that Kirby was writing, pencilling and editing, there are too many ideas here and because of that, they are rarely developed enough. At Marvel in the 1960s, Stan Lee often reined in Kirby to ensure that too many ideas weren’t just thrown about and never developed. Kirby really needed that here and in his other DC titles. That being said, I still really like OMAC and the art is classic DC Kirby and despite the rather too faithful inks by Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry, I still think it works incredibly well with these stories and adds so much to them…
Stories: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Next Week: The Losers By Jack Kirby (Our Fighting Forces 151-162). Written and pencilled by Jack Kirby with inks by D. Bruce Berry and Mike Royer. Expected to be published by 14/06/2020.
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