Omega Men: The End Is Here tradeI’m glad I didn’t pick up the single issues. It’s a story that works far better in one sitting. Its cinematic vignettes are nice, but I would have breezed through each issue too quickly. Overall, I think I got very good value for my pennies.
The characters are close parallels to the 1980s series. Their backstories have been refined, they have more focused arc as you’d hope for in a limited series, and in more modern character arc driven times. They have been given more license to express themselves. It’s a general shift in what’s acceptable in comics, and works well with the moral quandaries the series poses. The Vegan (as in Alpha Lyrae, not that they all don’t use animal products) setting has also been updated to provide reflections of current world affairs.
The TPB handily allows for a reflection on the character arcs of the main cast. Considering a number of these consist of shifting their ethical stances, it’s a lot easier to do after issue 12, than it would have been while they were on the cusp of such changes earlier on. A final point on a finite story, is that the characters can become more expendable. It provides some strong character moments, from those gone and from those who remain to fight on. That’s tough to do in an ongoing series on a regular basis.
Super Moby Dick Says:-
“Here Be Spoilers Worldtreaders!”The Viceroy’s position provides some room for reader understanding, if not sympathy, from fairly early on. King provides clear depth to the cast and the, as importantly, number of cultures vying for position/ support/ to sustain their own corruption.
He is shown right from the start as having a close connection with Tigorr. This is dealt with more thoroughly in the finale, where further connections are made to the others. The reveals when they come, and importantly, when the Viceroy is shown as being aware of every one of his decisions, provide a payoff to the book.
The Viceroy has had his hand around the neck of the Vegan system. But in the end he is just a pawn himself. I thought that this servitude undermined him a bit. I’d have liked to have seen him as a bit
more ruthless, rather than a facilitator.
But perhaps then, he would not have been able to make those decisions, those connections, to the others in the first place. The difference between his actions and character came through darkly at the faked shock the wider worlds had at his planetary genocide. You can almost see the smug smiles of their plausible deniability of their pocket dictator’s actions.
In the end, this seemingly power obsessed killer, is the one whose scope is broader than just the Omegan system. He has created his own fall and demise through the Omega Men. Kalista doesn’t have that depth of view, and that additional relentless focus she has is what makes the Viceroy weak. It could also make her more of a despot in the end.
The Citadel’s weakness is something that bothered me about the book. The final push of the rebellion seemed to go very easily. The populations rose up against the faceless hordes of the Citadel. Over a long number of days they pushed on and succeeded. The Viceroy ends up in an Inertron cube for self-protection. But is it that focused hatred from the Omega Men & the populations that’s the deciding factor? Or is it the Viceroy’s knowledge that the rebellion is inevitable and that part of him wants it to happen?
Perhaps it’s simply because that’s the way the book had to go to, in order make it’s point in the pages it had. So no divisive factions were portrayed, no counter attacks and no external brokering and peace making were imposed beyond a failed and violet summit.
As they whisk Rayner away from the deaths of 4000, they use the excuse that had they intervened thousands more would have been killed elsewhere. But it’s a threat that the Citadel don’t use when the uprising actually begins.
In the end, it’s a strong book that can show the villain as every bit the Omega Man as the rebels who sought to take his place.
While he’s committed genocide at the behest of his superiors, they have already shown a number of similar attitudes to the populations they have liberated. The book actually goes further, tying in Tigorr, Doc and Kalista into the very acts of genocide that end up sparking the rebellion.
That raises the question of keeping reader empathy, which has been a LW topic of late. Like the Viceroy, and the planetary rulers, King shows plenty of difference between the outlooks of the Omega Men.
The clear difference between Tigorr and Primus is a strong example that’s presented early on. Primus’ voice of non-violence, Doc taking instructions and Broot’s brooding priestly from provide a contrast to Tigorr’s instinctive aggressiveness and Scrapps’ Harley Quinn-like psychoses.
The reader knows that there’s more than one motivating factor at play, and this along with the good ear for dialogue allows the group, and empathy, to work.
The spotlight issue with Kalista was a strong one. I did feel that the actions in it, the kidnapping by the rebellion, was undermined in that the secret of her affiliation doesn’t last very long.
I also felt a bit disappointed that she had to sleep with Kyle in order to make him emotionally connected to their cause. She was already doing a great job of converting him. I got the feeling that it was more of a handy shortcut to tie Rayner to the group, than it was an effective way of showing his shifting morality as the series progressed.
To be fair to King, points such as this are usually referred to as the story progressed, so it’s not as though they are throw away subplots.
Kalista is another example of clearly created character arcs. Her consistency is a strength that underpins the whole series. When circumstances change, there’s a clear link to the subsequent actions based on her established traits. Looking back from the last page, there’s not a moment where the steps haven’t led to that point.
Kyle Rayner, however, never clicked for me as a character here. He’s an everyman with/without a power ring tool of the Omega Men for the most part, shuffled around to give perspective on the others.
It’s not that he’s not given motivations. We’re shown how previous losses have shaped his worldview, and why he feels he can make a difference to the system. He, like a number of others, has his faith challenged. We see the Omega Men try and shape him, and his strength of will to resist and find another path, have that betrayed and then make his decision.
It’s not even as though I have any vested interest in any of the multitudes of Lanterns out there that makes me think less of him. But the summary above is more enjoyable sounding that the actual reading of it for me.
It’s written well enough, so I am struggling to think of what it is. There’s the contrivance that the Vegans don’t allow in Lanterns. Just like Earth doesn’t allow them in on Mondays in the future.  There’s a peacekeeping analogy, and Rayner as an ambassador is a way of getting around that.
There’s his shifting skills. He gets kidnapped by the Omegans, but is later shown beating them all up and holding a gun to their leader’s head. He is considered to be the most powerful Lantern. But even a standard Lantern has been shown to put force fields around half a planet and could shovel hordes back across battlefields. Instead, we see Rayner making little blasters and swords to fight as the others do, when he could be securing entire conflict zones in moments.
Perhaps its little plot contrivances. I’m still not sure how the team escaped their prison ship so easily after it crashes. Rayner and Kalista are forced into hiding, but join up with the others again without an explanation. It’s all planned, hints Kalista. Perhaps her previous confession that Broot’s death and their capture wasn’t planned, was a ruse. But it would have to be one involving the Viceroy or someone very close to him.
Kyle is allowed to punch someone out with a gun to his head from beneath a duvet cover. While his lover kills someone with a sword from the same bed. Rayner gets similar outs in the battle. We see him fire blasters and hold pointy ring constricts, but there’s nothing definitive about whether he’s killed. The armies of the citadel are conveniently either faceless or robotic. All the better to be murdered without the same level of morality.
Perhaps that’s what bothers me. Rayner gets an out that Primus doesn’t. In fact, Rayner is a stand in for the story of Primus. Primus seems to have been the last to join before Rayner. He started from a similar non-violent, apolitical stance and has been forced to change that throughout the series. Kalista seems to have manipulated Primus in exactly the same way. It would seem as though Rayer and his power ring have replaced Primus and perhaps something connected to X’Hal for the bomb/ring (Auron perhaps).
While providing emotional touch points in the series, there’s no reason why something else couldn’t have freed a device from a rock, saving Broot from dying. We see Doc drill down to a core later on using just such useful equipment.
Doc is sacrificed performing that function, but not due to the drilling. The Omega me move fairly freely for a lot of the book and have access to lots of weapons. But no remote detonators it would seem. Poor Doc.
In summary, it’s a worthy reboot of the original run, but has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s a definite step up from books that maintain the status quo and it could easily have a sequel. Perhaps there, we will see Kyle use what he’s learned this time out.
The book gets its points across well without being preachy. All sides of any war are a mass of conflicting/ competing factions with varying agendas who will use similar techniques to the point that they are essentially indistinguishable in the long run. Rinse and repeat civilisation at work.
It's a well structured book for the most part, with a number of set ups and pay offs, of varying levels, along the way. The cast are tied into the story itself. one are simply just freedom fighters/ terrorists. King gives each a distinctive voice and an arc to go through. It's to his credit that some arcs produce more profound changes than others, and they are not tick box exercises in storytelling.
I found the art a little scratchy looking to begin with, but it was only a little bump before I was into it. Showing Rayner's history was also a weak point, suggesting that spandex isn't a strong point (not a bad thing).
I searched for "OMEGA MEN" before I started a new thread...not sure how I missed this.)
