Blogathon 29: Dreaming Us Part One

[Beginning my discussion of Omega the Unknown.]

I never hear anyone talk about this comic. It was all the rage when it came out back in late 2007/2008 and, now, no one talks about it. You ever wonder about things like that? The movies that get tons of praise but no one watched after they came out, the books with rave reviews that you find in remaindered piles two years later, the comics that make best of the year lists and never get read again. I hadn't read this comic since it came out. In individual issues at that. No big reread upon the final issue shipping. Just stuck the issues in a box and forgot about it. When I was looking for this series to reread for the Blogathon, I even forgot where the comic box it was in was. Shit, it's only been three years...

Rereading this, I was struck by just how damn enjoyable it is. There are some weird parts, but, mostly, it's a straight ahead superhero story. Alien robots are here to assimilate humanity, but there are Omega protectors that can fight them off. Alex is the next human to fit the bill and has been raised by robot parents (different robots) to do the job. Except they die and, now, he's stuck in New York living with a nurse from the hospital he was taken to and struggling to understand anything he didn't learn in a book. Slowly, the truth becomes apparent, so, he and his friends get it together and kick some robot ass with salt until the unknown mute Omega blows up the robots and saves the day, but leaves himself somewhat insane and broken.

Within that pretty basic framework are some incredibly funny moments, some touching ones, some strange ones, and some pages by Gary Panter that just sort of make you go "Really? He drew part of a Marvel comic?" Hell, that's the entire book: this was published by Marvel and, technically, takes place in the Marvel universe. Weird. How did people forget about this?

In 30 minutes, maybe I'll actually say something of value about the comic...

And we're up to $245!

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Hero Initiative! (Details in this post.) After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]