I had this entire paragraph written out how unfortunate it was to hear about the cancellation of The Omega Men. I had a written rant in which I would proclaim that DC was to quick to pull the rug from underneath The Omega Men. However it appears that fans of this book have returned and in larger numbers to proclaim their love for this series. Granted the first couple of issues didn’t set well with me in fleshing out the cast of characters, I can’t deny the craft that goes into one issue of The Omega Men. So thank you Dan Didio and Jim Lee for letting this series see a proper conclusion.
One of the complaints I’ve had about The Omega Men as a series was the lack of any formal introduction to the main cast of characters. Then of course Tom King was able to flesh out Princess Kalista without using the typical tropes of comic book past. King works his magic once again on the character known as Broot. It’s pretty miraculous how King is able to complete make you invest into a character within the span of twenty pages, while simultaneously continuing to world build properly. Even though Broot had possibly the fewest lines of dialog, the sequence of events leading up to his demise explains all you needed to know about him as a character.
For fans of organized religion on the other and this issue will most likely piss you off. It’s clear that King differentiates between the idea of faith and those in power. As demonstrated by Broot faith in something can be an extremely powerful tool as agent to achieve one’s goal, however the line from Dan Brown’s book Angels and Demons “religion is not flawed, man is flawed.” King manages does show a more exaggerated corrupt form of organized religion but the message is well received. It says a lot about the current state of DC comics that Tom King is able to tell a story like this without pulling the punches.
The other half of what makes this issue the best chapter for The Omega Men is Barnaby Bagenda. His presence was missed last month, but he returns in full force. Bagenda’s storytelling is at it’s apex, as in one sequence (along with excellent text placement) with the assistance of the nine panel grid the lead up to Bagenda’s double page splash of enemy ships descending onto the citadel is a perfect example of storytelling and the impact of panel layouts in conjunction with the narrative as a whole. One part of creative team doesn’t make a complete comic book. In terms of pure craft The Omega Men might be the best comic on the stands today.
It appears that I’ve turned around on the series, so thankfully the more passion filled readers made their voices heard so that this series will see a definitive conclusion. Trust me as I type this,I’ll be reviewing The Omega Men until it’s conclusion. After five issues I can recommend this to fans of hard core science fiction and readers who love the craft of comics. Praise be to Omega.
The Omega Men #5 earns a 5/5