Hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving, and with it being the season of thanks I’m thankful for this series. Even though earlier reviews of mine were the complete opposite of thankful. This should have been the penultimate issue of the series, however as we know now that isn’t the case anymore. Tom King has impressed me on his ability to step out of the box and write a gritty sci-fi comic with deeper rooted themes. The center of this story is still Kyle Rayner and his purpose for whatever The Omega Men have in store for him.
Getting the negativity out of the way and this is a real nitpick than true criticism of the issue, and it’s the nature of Kyle Rayner’s spirituality. If you’ve never read Kyle Rayner before, the instances prior and during this issue will just seem as if they were part of his character all along. While I haven’t read all of Kyle Rayner’s journey, being religious wasn’t one of his traits. Given the gravity of his situation, it’s easy to understand why he would go to God, but it just comes out of left field. It all works withing King’s narrative of faith and religious organizations so again just a nitpick.
Early on I was extremely critical of Tom King’s seemingly inability to expand upon The Omega Men themselves, which is still true to a degree. After seeing King’s handling of Princess Kalista, he applies a similar treatment (albeit in shorter length) to each of the captured members of The Omega Men, with the exception being Princess Kalista. In just six panels King and Bagenda give both Primus and Tigorr motivation for their end game and even though it’s a small peak into their past it’s enough for a reader to latch on to and become invested in their plight. These six panels are evident of writer and artist working together to tell a compelling story.
Over six months, Bagenda has slowly become one of my current favorite artists working today. I’m beating a dead horse but his storytelling is simply outstanding. What makes this issue particularly great from an art stand point is his facial expressions during moments of torture and anguish or in the latter half of the issue, jubilation. However this is comics so one should expect fists flying or in this instance, a daring rescue mission fit for Star Wars. Bagneda’s action sequences are dynamic while doing nothing fancy. Bagneda stays within the nine panel grid, then making six individual panels become one panel, creating a larger more impacting effect on the reader. Most comic readers won’t notice subtle shift in number panels and how it affects them, but it just shows the level of detail that goes into this work.
This issue of The Omega Men was the most action centered than previous issues, but because of previous emotional groundwork the battle has actual weight and consequences to it. I’m glad The Omega Men isn’t going anywhere this is a story more sci-fi fans need to be reading this series.
The Omega Men #6 earns a 4/5
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