Sunday, November 09, 2025

Sunday Splash Page #400

"Optimistically Marketed, Abruptly Canceled," in O.M.A.C. #3, by Dan Didio and Keith Giffen (storytellers), Scott Koblish (inkers), Hi-Fi (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

One of the New 52's original 52 titles (which isn't all that impressive when I put it like that), O.M.A.C. was Keith Giffen doing his best Jack Kirby cosplay, and Dan Didio, well, I'm sure Didio was responsible for something.

Rather than taking place in some far flung future, the book took place in the same time and Earth as all the other DC books. So O.M.A.C. - Kevin Kho, forcibly converted into 'the perfect blend of biology and technology' by the Brother Eye satellite - can run afoul of other DC characters. If, you know, that's a prospect you were excited about. O.M.A.C. having an inconclusive fight with Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., or Superman being sent after him by Checkmate. Sarge Steel also works for Checkmate but he's just some generic super-soldier, though he loses a hand in his last fight with O.M.A.C.

In this continuity Checkmate oversees Cadmus, and they're responsible for creating Brother Eye, leading to conversations between Brother Eye and Max Lord, where they exchange threats and vague proclamations. Max is wearing a hazmat suit the whole time, which is disconcerting. Also, I kind of picture Max as smarmy, the sleazy, glad-handing, overconfident used car salesman, and that is not something that fits with Giffen doing his Kirby impression. He's got an imperious air, standing on raised platforms with his arms folded behind his back. Stuff better suited for Darkseid.

Kevin spends most of his time staggering around confused in the aftermath of whatever Brother Eye's put him through, so he doesn't get a lot of development beyond having some OCD which seemed to suit him well in his job, which involved filing reports on microbial cultures for the public facing half of Cadmus. It seems like Brother Eye chose him due to something related to Kevin's father, but that's not revealed. There's a girlfriend, but with Kevin spending so much time as O.M.A.C., there's no time for anything there but her wondering why he's never around. At least he comes clean about what's happening - to the extent he understands it - by the end.

The book was one of the first wave of cancelations, ending at 8 issues with Brother Eye defeated by a Checkmate weapon that magnetized Eye's outer covering so it essentially became an asteroid. As a last ditch "gift," Eye grants Kevin full control of O.M.A.C.'s power, but left him stuck in that form. What was Eye after, hooking into Cadmus' files, Checkmate's files, trying to swipe the files of a Dr. Simyan (creating animal men with names like "Command D")? No idea. At least I picked the tpb up for $5 a few years ago.

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