A review by jekutree
Omega Men: The End Is Here by Tom King
4.0
This is a book that really blew my mind when I first read it. I was a senior in high school and was reading a ton of superhero comics, I lived and breathed them. Omega Men was (and still is) something different. Traditional base 9 panel grids like Watchmen? A serious story (basically) about American interference in the Middle East and how when one dictator falls another will just take their place? This was my first Tom King book and it was a revelation. Soon after, I read Vision and Mister Miracle started to come out, I was hooked. All of his maxi-series titles are extremely formative for me.
Rereading this, I wasn’t worried it wouldn’t hold up, for the most part it did. However, I think King has actually leveled up a significant amount since then and has really come into his own. Some of the dialogue in this book fell flat and I think the characters here are all pretty underdeveloped. The characters would definitely be the biggest flaw for me. A character like Primus is really interesting, but King does little to develop him. The plot though I think is solid. You get a pretty clear metaphor for the war in the Middle East and it’s done effectively. I think the moral grayness of it all really came out on this reread, The Omega Men do a lot of questionable shit throughout. I’ve always considered King and whoever he collaborates with though a formalist, and King’s mastery over scripting 9 panel grids is here. You get some pretty awesome page compositions throughout that made me smile.
The art team here also kicks ASS. Barnaby Bagenda on pencils and Romulo Fajardo Jr on colors body the visuals. Id like to commend Fajardo especially, the colors on this book are incredible. Bagenda actually doesn’t have his pencils inked, they go right to the coloring stage where Fajardo does a great job adding depth, lighting and shadows to both the pencils and the color palettes. In issue 10 when a guest colorist comes in it is immediately obvious something is off. The colors really bring this book together beautifully.
Overall, this is a book I hold dear to me. It’s not perfect like I once thought it was, but it’s still an admirable piece of assembly line monthly comics. One of the best out of marvel/dc in the 2010’s.
Strong 8 out of 10
Rereading this, I wasn’t worried it wouldn’t hold up, for the most part it did. However, I think King has actually leveled up a significant amount since then and has really come into his own. Some of the dialogue in this book fell flat and I think the characters here are all pretty underdeveloped. The characters would definitely be the biggest flaw for me. A character like Primus is really interesting, but King does little to develop him. The plot though I think is solid. You get a pretty clear metaphor for the war in the Middle East and it’s done effectively. I think the moral grayness of it all really came out on this reread, The Omega Men do a lot of questionable shit throughout. I’ve always considered King and whoever he collaborates with though a formalist, and King’s mastery over scripting 9 panel grids is here. You get some pretty awesome page compositions throughout that made me smile.
The art team here also kicks ASS. Barnaby Bagenda on pencils and Romulo Fajardo Jr on colors body the visuals. Id like to commend Fajardo especially, the colors on this book are incredible. Bagenda actually doesn’t have his pencils inked, they go right to the coloring stage where Fajardo does a great job adding depth, lighting and shadows to both the pencils and the color palettes. In issue 10 when a guest colorist comes in it is immediately obvious something is off. The colors really bring this book together beautifully.
Overall, this is a book I hold dear to me. It’s not perfect like I once thought it was, but it’s still an admirable piece of assembly line monthly comics. One of the best out of marvel/dc in the 2010’s.
Strong 8 out of 10