Omega the Unknown

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Omega the Unknown
Image:Omega01.jpg
Cover art to Omega the Unknown #1, the first appearance of Omega.
Art by Jim Mooney.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Omega the Unknown #1 1976
Created by Steve Gerber
Mary Skrenes
Jim Mooney
In story information
Alter ego unknown (Model X3Z according to Steven Grant ending)
Team affiliations James-Michael Starling
Notable aliases "Sam"
Abilities Superhuman strength
Flight
Energy Burst Projection

Omega the Unknown was both an American comic book published by Marvel Comics from 1976-1977 and the eponymous character of that comic book. The series, written by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes and illustrated by Jim Mooney, ran for 10 issues before cancellation for low sales. Despite its short run, it has remained as a cult classic due to its intriguing characters and unusual storytelling.[1]

A new 10-issue series revamping the character began in October 2007, written by novelist Jonathan Lethem and illustrated by Farel Dalrymple.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

Unlike many other superhero titles, the main focus of Omega the Unknown is not on the super-powered person in an iconic costume and cape. Instead the story largely deals with an unusually mature 12 year old boy named James-Michael Starling. Through the 10 issue run of this comic book it is made clear that there is a connection between the laconic Omega and the strangely analytical James-Michael, with most issues adding to the mysterious nature of their relationship.

In the premiere issue, the character of Omega is shown as the last surviving member of an unnamed alien race. He escapes the mechanical beings who have devastated his planet in a ship headed to Earth. The story then cuts to James-Michael waking up in bed having dreamed the events that just occurred with Omega.

In his waking world, James-Michael and his parents are moving to New York City from the mountains so he can improve his socialization skills after years of home-schooling. En route to New York the Starlings' car is driven off the road and both of James-Michael's parents are killed, but not before the boy discovers that both of them were robots. James-Michael collapses into a coma and awakens a month later in a private hospital exhibiting an eerie lack of emotional response to his parents' deaths. The hospital is later attacked by one of the mechanical beings that destroyed Omega's home world, and Omega himself appears to defend James-Michael. The superhero and the android fight but the conflict ends when James-Michael himself destroys the alien mechanism with energy bursts from his hands (an effect used by Omega in James-Michael's dreams).

After this beginning, the story follows James-Michael's life as he is fostered to two young women in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. The series explores the problems he encounters in a strange new place, and his trials and friendships in a New York City public school. Issues of racism and bullying are addressed, although the stories' focus is on how the reserved and detached James-Michael relates to the world around him.[2]

Meanwhile Omega the Unknown becomes a superhero figure in New York City, attempting to fight only second-string super-villains with a variety of outcomes. Otherwise, Omega tends to appear when James-Michael is in danger and then takes a more proactive role. As the series progresses Omega and James-Michael eventually meet and interact, although the nature of their relationship remains unclear.

Omega himself is killed in the 10th (and final) issue, leaving the mysteries of the story unresolved. In late 1979, writer Steven Grant brought the characters to a conclusion in two issues of The Defenders, at the end of which most of the original series' characters were killed. While Gerber seemed unhappy with Grant's conclusion,[3] it nevertheless successfully tied up the loose ends of the comic series, and is considered "canon" by Marvel.

[edit] Fictional character biography

Omega the Unknown is a humanoid being of superhuman power bio-engineered by an extraterrestrial mechanoid race named the Protar, from the planet Protaris in the Regreb System in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Protar, foreseeing its own extinction, decided to create an ideal race of true humanoids as their legacy to the cosmos. Their penultimate model, later called Omega, was placed on the planet Skrenesk to learn. He commandeered a Protar starship and fled to Earth after inadvertently destroying the world on which he was placed. The Earth was the home of the final "model" in his series, the artificially created boy James-Michael Starling, whom Omega sought to protect from the Protar.[4]

While on Earth, Omega was employed for odd jobs by a New York City pawn-broker, and had a number of battles with local beings. He battled the Hulk,[5] Electro,[6]Blockbuster,[7], and Nitro.[8] While later embroiled in a rematch with Blockbuster, the second Foolkiller saved Omega's life by murdering Blockbuster.[9]

Omega was finally shot dead in Las Vegas by the Las Vegas Police while battling Ruby Thursday; the police thought Omega was assaulting Ruby.[10] James-Michael Starling, who had inherited Omega's power, learned the true origin of himself and Omega but refused to accept the truth. He threatened to use the power of Earth's biosphere against the Defenders However, seeing the error of his decision, he committed suicide when he turned the power inward and self-destructed.[11]

[edit] Powers and abilities

Omega was created through Protariana technology, and has superhuman strength. He has limited psychokinetic abilities, and has a psionic rapport with other Protar organic creations.

Omega was educated as a warrior on the planet Srenesk, trained in the fighting skills of a Srenesk warrior. The extraterrestrial Sreneskian endowed him with the ability to draw upon the psionic energy of the biosphere to project energy bolts from his hands. Using biospheric energy beyond a certain level could result in global destruction, however.

Cover of the first issue of the revamped Omega the Unknown, illustrated by Farel Dalrymple.
Cover of the first issue of the revamped Omega the Unknown, illustrated by Farel Dalrymple.

[edit] 2007 series

In 2005, novelist Jonathan Lethem announced that he was planning to revive the character of Omega the Unknown, in collaboration with artist Farel Dalrymple, in a ten-issue series to be published in 2006.[12] Lethem was a childhood fan of the first Omega series, and referenced the character in his 2003 novel The Fortress of Solitude.[13] When asked about Omega's appeal, Lethem stated,

“ When Marvel invited me into their vault of iconography, I simply leapt at the icon that resonated most deeply with me. It didn't hurt that Omega had been laying in neglect for so long, I might have had trouble trying to utilize a character who'd been put through so many paces as Spider-Man or the Hulk, say. Omega seemed a resource of thwarted possibility, open to speculation, not plumbed-out.[13] ”

Lethem's announcement "received a great deal of media coverage" and resulted in the reprinting of the 1970s series as a trade paperback, published as Omega The Unknown Classic.[14] After hearing of Lethem's plans to revive Omega, the character's co-creator Steve Gerber expressed personal outrage over the use of the character without his participation, though he and Mary Skrenes later discussed the project with Lethem and admitted that he had "misjudged" him.[15] In May 2006, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada explained that the series had been delayed to 2007, saying that "winning the Macarthur Grant put additional and unexpected demands on [Lethem's] time."[16]

The first issue of the revamped Omega the Unknown was published in October 2007, and Marvel published another issue each month until the tenth was published in July 2008. All ten issues will be collected and reprinted in a single volume, to be published on October 8, 2008.[17]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Latta, D.K. (2005-07-11). Omega the Unknown Classic. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  2. ^ Hatcher, Greg (2006-08-05). Trapped In A Friday He Never Made!. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  3. ^ Gerber, Steve (2005-06-14). The Omega Flap. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  4. ^ Omega the Unknown #1
  5. ^ Omega the Unknown #2
  6. ^ Omega the Unknown #3
  7. ^ Omega the Unknown #7
  8. ^ Omega the Unknown #8
  9. ^ Omega the Unknown #9
  10. ^ Omega the Unknown #10
  11. ^ Defenders #77
  12. ^ Winters, Rebecca. "Meta-Hero Worship", Time, 2005-05-01. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  13. ^ a b Renaud, Jeffrey. "Jonathan Lethem Enters the Unknown with 'Omega'", Comic Book Resources, 2007-09-28. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
  14. ^ Smith, Zack. "Jonathan Lethem on Omega the Unknown", Newsarama.com, 2007-07-20. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
  15. ^ Johnson, Rich. "Into the Unknown", Comic Book Resources, 2005-06-14. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
  16. ^ Quesada, Joe. Joe Fridays: Week 51, Newsarama.com, 2006-05-19. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
  17. ^ Amazon.com listing. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Steve Gerber
Marvel Comics
DC Comics
Other
Television work
Adaptations