THE OMEGA MEN: THE END IS HERE

THE OMEGA MEN:
THE END IS HERE
DC Comics

Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda give this group of DC heroes new life in a 12 issue story that is amazing. In 1981 the original version of The Omega Men was an offshoot of some of the cosmic space tales in The New Teen Titans. It was fun and the stories made the DC universe bigger. But at it’s heart it was another super team.

Enter King and Bagenda. They took this team book and reimagined the whole premise inserting moral issues and politics that are relevant to the last 100 years of mankind. The Omega Men are a group of rebels who want to free a star system (The Vega System) from the rule of the Citadel. The Citadel has been running over anyone in their way in the name of their own version of peace which amounts to beings with money get peace everyone else gets screwed. The Omega Men have captured Kyle Raynor and initially plan to kill him. They actually have a deeper purpose that involves winning Kyle over to their side in the fight to free the Vega system. The story opens with Kyle being killed on TV and progresses as the Omegas take the fight to the Citadel. Along the way we get the story of each team member and why they are there. The pacing and use of flashbacks was done brilliantly and the telling is seamless. By the finale we have empathy for each character and what they have gone through.
And then the turnaround as Kyle finally goes home and relates the tale to authorities and explains what happened after the Omega Men won, I’ll just say it’s not the happy ending you might expect but it is a real world kind of ending.

This is a perfect story and the twelve issues it took to tell it were just enough without stretching things out with no reason. After reading the story continued to replay in my head for days. Tom King has outdone himself here. Barnaby Bagenda’s art was also perfect. I love how the covers for each issue have the vibe of 60s propaganda poster from the USSR. With beautiful coloring each page is worthy of hanging on the wall and the characters each have a new look that while resonating with older fans of the series gives a fresh feel.