Jack Kirby's OMAC

Jack Kirby's OMAC: One Man Army Corps by Jack Kirby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Empowered by the Brother Eye satellite, weakling Buddy Blank becomes... OMAC!

OMAC is the latest stop on my tour of Jack Kirby's 1970s DC output. This hardcover contains all eight issues, written and drawn by the King.

Based in part on a "Future Captain America" concept that never saw print, OMAC works for the Global Peace Agency, an organization of faceless men protecting the world in a dystopian future. OMAC goes up against monsters, body thieves, and mad scientists in a world that is quickly going to hell in a handbasket.

Apart from lettering and inking by Mike Royer and D. Bruce Berry, OMAC is all Kirby, all the time. While the writing, the dialogue in particular, isn't fantastic, the art and characters crackle with bombastic Kirby energy. OMAC kicks a lot of ass and busts up a lot of criminal schemes. Once the Captain America comparison was made in the foreword, it was hard to ignore.

When the series is cancelled after the eighth issue, a lot of threads are left dangling. The volume ends abruptly with Buddy Blank powerless and Doctor Skuba having him and Brother Eye over a barrel. Not literally, of course. The threads were later resolved by other creative teams but I have to wonder what Kirby had in mind.

While not his best work, Jack Kirby's OMAC crackles with bombastic Kirby energy. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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