Advance Review: Omega: the Unknown # 1

Reviews

Advance Review by Edwin Schacherer

Omega: The Unknown # 1

Writer: Jonathan Lethem and Karl Rusnak

Pencils: Farel Dalrymple

Omega: The unknown, is a fairly standard first issue which doesn’t really present anything.

It begins with Omega (presumably) crash landing near a boy’s home in the woods. This boy, who the story immediately takes off with, is a genius level child who has virtually no interaction with humanity, living far from city life and being home schooled. When an accident occurs, the boy is left without parents and alone. The story seems to be about what will become of him, suddenly thrust into a situation of uncertainty.

In terms of writing quality, there are few strengths. The premise is unclear and too many lingering questions remain to really ground my interest. To make up a strong initial issue, first an interesting premise should be clearly laid out, followed by a hook (either dramatic or shocking) to ensure readership return ad loyalty. This issue accomplishes neither, instead handing the reader a considerable amount of questions.

What is going on here? How is the boy connected with Omega? Is that guy that I think is Omega, Omega? Who is Omega? What’s the boy’s deal? What’s gonna happen? Do I care?

This comic is the equivalent of asking someone if they want Quillerbasch for dinner tomorrow night, but refusing to answer any of their questions as to what it’s made of, where it comes from, what it tastes like, etc. The one partaking of the Quillerbasch will know it is indeed food and that’s about it.

The same can be said for this. It’s certainly a comic book and the authors seem to have a vision, but they do not showcase it with anything other than a plain superhero package providing no explanations as to where these concepts are going or even what story it intends to tell. Also, it seems whenever the writer gets to an important part of the plot, he just has robots be around instead of explaining why the part is important—a writing technique I question the validity of.

Art is decent insofar as it portrays exactly what it should be portraying with little to no confusion on the reader’s part. Aesthetically, it’s considerably less polished than other books and puts a large emphasis on cartoony, ‘web-comic’ art which may be great for where the book is going, if I were able to tell you where that was with any certainty.

Overall, I emphatically say pass. It’s nothing special in either art or writing and your money would instead be better spent on books that actually provide things like hooks and story telling.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.