Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
A Look at Jack Kirby's
Omac
By Patrick J. Nestor, Jr.
(PART ONE)
Unca has been waiting so bloody long for the opportunity to finally run this'un, people.
Really and truly. You just have no idea.
Penned by Unca's longtime online buddypal and unindicted co- conspirator, Patrick "The Rocketeer" Nestor: the following article is a piercing and thoughtful examination of one of the all-time quirkiest (and least appreciated) short-run DC Comics series' evereverever; and a prime and sterling example of the sort of thing for which Unca will always set aside the requisite bandwidth, whenever afforded the opportunity to do so.
My Pal Pat can be reached at RocketeerZ@aol.com, should anybody wanna...
... and: Unca's willing to bet you're all gonna wanna,
once you've finished reading. 
"Are You Ready For OMAC?"
That was the question asked on the cover of DC's latest super-hero offering, circa 1974.
Unfortunately, I guess most people weren't ready, because OMAC lived an exceptionally short comics half-life. Created by Jack "King" Kirby back in the fall of '74, OMAC lasted just eight issues; and ended on a very "down" note.
Is OMAC considered a classic part of the Silver Age? I guess it would depend on whom you ask, although just about ANYTHING by Kirby can rightfully be considered a "classic" (especially in these days of unmitigated schlock like SPAWN); but OMAC was a fascinating comic that reached out and took considerable chances in the course of its abbreviated shelf life, much in the way that other short-lived DC titles of the era like SHADE, THE CHANGING MAN and PREZ did. It had both a message and (more importantly) a point.
The question is: just who got it... ?
OMAC, THE ONE MAN ARMY, was a wonderfully done book that gave us a view of "The World That's Coming." Realistic robot "build-a-friends" (that explode on demand); hover cars; body banks; a global peace organization that polices the world through non-violence; a huge (I'm talkin' BIG, here) computer floating in space; and an endless barrage of futuristic policies (don't you wish that you could burn a car to relieve stress at work?) provided us a portal to the world of Omac; and what a screwed up place this undeniably was.
The fact that OMAC brought us to a science fiction world where technology has well and truly run amok is evident from the splash page of the very first issue; where an exceptionally realistic looking (and feeling) robot remarks: "Hello... Put me together and I will be your friend..." This robot is named Lila, and she has befriended the milksop-ish Buddy Blank.
Buddy is (for lack of any happier term) a complete and total geek. He is routinely pushed around; misunderstood, and is (obviously) a disaffected loner. In the length and breadth of his desperately unhappy life, his only joy seems to be talking to Lila; who is (unbeknownst to a trusting Buddy) being tested, in his company building.
Lila, you see, is actually far more than "just" a robot: she's a weapon. After being uncrated and assembled, Lila (as well as her many and identical "sisters") will locate her assigned target; cozy up to them; and then explode, making her "the perfect assassin." (Talk about getting more bang for your buck -- !)
After a particularly grey and awful day, Buddy goes looking for Lila in the "lower" part of the building, and discovers what truly Lila is. He's caught, and is about to be liquidated, when he undergoes a sudden (and unexpected) transformation.
It seems that (again, unbeknownst to Buddy; no one ever tells the poor sap anything) Buddy has been chosen for A Very Important Mission. That mission is to become "a One Man Army Corp." (Get it...? OMAC? One Man Army Corps...? Hey: it took me a year to "get" that; but I was, like, eight at the time. What's YOUR excuse?)
Needless to say, Buddy's day was, like, totally ruined.
After undergoing some extremely painful laser surgery (there's just NO way to adequately describe this last "bit"; needless to say, it's more than a little bit gruesome), Buddy suddenly is transformed into... OMAC!
He now (somehow) knows who he is...and what he must do.
... and then: Buddy Blank is --
... well... he's gone. Complements of Brother Eye: the giant, self-aware super computer orbiting the Earth of the far distant future.
What? Confusing? Too fantastic? Way too off-kilter...?
Hey: that only the first few PAGES!
OMAC was definitely anything but a comic for the casual reader. Kirby was looking to make the reader think; and routinely fastballed countless dozens of images and situations towards the readers, capable of creating intellectual whirlpools within their stunned and reeling brains.
Just this first issue of OMAC, in and of itself, packs one hell of a conceptual "punch"; and an eerie and chilling one, at that. The premise of reconstructing a human being, via sedative-less laser beam, into a powerful solider; so he can fight an organized crime family that creates "build-a-friends" to first delight, then destroy their owners, is one that rivals ideas and concepts first conjured up by George Orwell and Robert Heinlein.
This is no pleasant, Legion of Super-Heroes style future. It's one where humanity need a savior, to save us from ourselves...
... but: we first need to pluck him from his own life, to do so.
Omac's first big, important mission is to locate (and neutralize) Mr. Big: the sleazy, grasping head of the leading crime cartel of the future. This proves to be no easy task, as there are hordes upon hordes of ruthless bodyguards and criminals safeguarding both Mr. Big and his nefarious schemes.
It's a task so vast and overwhelming in scope, in fact, that Omac literally has to die in order to complete it.
Not that anything as plebeian or ordinary as biological death might conceivably spell the end of our new hero, of course. Brother Eye is there to make sure Omac survives his "death"; and the Peace Agents utilize Omac as a sort of beacon to Mr. Big's secret lair; thus enabling them (at long last) to arrest him.
The utilization of these "Peace Agents" is an interesting twist in Omac's extrapolated future, in and of itself. An organization that is basically our main protection from the evils that slither through the night... yet holds itself back from any act of violence whatsoever. They rely on a "harmless, tasteless gas" to render their opponents senseless; and conceal their true identities with a special spray-on mask that hides their features and skin color, since they "represent all people... all nations." They leave the dirty work (read: violence) to Omac, you see.
It is the Peace Agents, along with Brother Eye and Dr. Forrest (Brother Eye's creator) who are responsible for Omac. Another interesting "twist" is the Peace Agents' failure to realize that -- by unleashing Omac on the world's evils -- they are,in fact,, using a "weapon": Omac himself. By pointing him in any given direction, they might as well be pointing a loaded gun.
Omac successfully completes his first mission, and prepares himself for his new "life" as an anti-corporate tool; with little thought, apparently, of the prior one he left behind. In capturing Mr. Big (and destroying his soulless "goods"), Omac doesn't seem conscious or aware that he's simultaneously turning his back on his own humanity.
As he prepares to destroy Lila and the rest of the "Build-A-Friends," Omac asks a wistful and interesting question: "Where does humanity stop... and technology begin?"
The ironic thing is: the transformed Buddy Blank doesn't realize the question pertains to himself,as well.
"MORE COMIC BOOKS," YOU SAY...?
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