The OMAC Project (Countdown to Infinite Crisis)

published	2005 by DC Comics
binding	Paperback
isbn	1401208371 (isbn13: 9781401208370)
pages	256
description	With a nod to Jack Kirby's One Man Army Corps, The OMAC Project continues DC's inexorable path to Infinite Crisis. In addition to the OMAC Project...more [close] With a nod to Jack Kirby's One Man Army Corps, The OMAC Project continues DC's inexorable path to Infinite Crisis. In addition to the OMAC Project miniseries, the trade paperback begins with the 80-page issue Countdown to Infinite Crisis, in which Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, investigates some financial troubles but discovers a huge plot to eliminate all "meta-humans" (that's superheroes to most of us). Attempts to involve the Justice League are unsuccessful, and with buddy Booster Gold unable to help, Kord sets out on his own. The OMAC Project might be the most engrossing of the four stages of the Prelude to Infinite Crisis. Like the rest, it can be confusing without encyclopedic knowledge of the DC Universe (and two of the interacting characters are almost indistinguishable from each other), but a background page on the key characters helps significantly. Written by (among others) Greg Rucka, with art by Jesus Saiz, Rags Morales, Cliff Richards, and others. Not included is the 2006 one-shot follow-up. --David Horiuchi
date added	03-15-07 edit book

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Trebro rated it:

11/22/07

bookshelves: tradepaperbacks

Read in August, 2006

As part of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis, DC had Batman go even more ape-shit paranoid than usual. That's where the Blue Beetle and the OMAC Project come in, a 6-part mini with the Countdown to Infinite Crisis (and a key issue of Superman) thrown in as part of the deal in this trade.

<lj-cut text="Big Batman is Watching You...">
First off, I'm not a big fan of the Bats against the World idea. Not even Frank Miller did that in Dark Knight, where Ollie is brought in to help B...more As part of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis, DC had Batman go even more ape-shit paranoid than usual. That's where the Blue Beetle and the OMAC Project come in, a 6-part mini with the Countdown to Infinite Crisis (and a key issue of Superman) thrown in as part of the deal in this trade.

<lj-cut text="Big Batman is Watching You...">
First off, I'm not a big fan of the Bats against the World idea. Not even Frank Miller did that in Dark Knight, where Ollie is brought in to help Bruce ride off into the sunset. That being said, if the goal is to show Bats that Max Lord is the boss of him, and has been since the Bwa-ha-ha days, then this is about as well as it could be done.

The basic idea is that after the shoehorned-into-continuity Identity Crisis, where we didn't kill anyone big, Bats goes nuts and puts together a Satellite that--and this is my biggest problem--Superman can't see, Green Lantern rings can't sense, magic-users can't ferret out, and oh yeah, a Luther-led government never notices. Then the Satellite gets taken over by Max Lord, former funder of the Justice League and now head of Checkmate, an organization with a mad-on for Bats. In the end, the people who die to the Omac Project are---no one big.

Don't get me wrong. I love Ted Kord, I love him to death. But for such a big project, we need a bigger name to fall. John Stewart. Kyle Raynar. Cyborg. Someone just big enough for this to matter in more than the, "Oh shit, we let Ted down" sort of way. It's like the only thing DC killed was any sense of fun left in the their comics.

The OMACs created by Max start activating and taking on DC heroes everywhere while Wonder Woman tries to keep a Max-controlled Superman (Umm, huh? Why didn't he do it before? Why now?) at bay and Bats gets shown he can't run with the big dogs when it comes to a fight. The OMACs can only be stopped by someone with the power granted by their creator, but can that person stop the OMACs in time...or will they be taken over, too?

Overall, the book is clearly designed to drive Crisis, though we never see exactly what--if any--connection Superboy Prime and Alexander Luther had to Max, which is a shame. I'd love Max to have been a good guy corrupted, not just an evil mastermind wanna-be. We also set up Sasha, one of my least-favorite Bat-cast in the last 10 years, to be a new player in the DC Universe.

Ted Kord dies so Sasha can live. This is why I'm pulling less comics every month.
</lj-cut>
Trebby's Take: It's good for what it is, a way for DC to set up Crisis. For those of us who have been in comics for a long time, and have collections going back even further, it's a little hard to swallow. Read it before Infinite Crisis, though, if you still haven't gotten to IC yet....less

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2 comments

Eli rated it:

06/30/07

bookshelves: finished-reading

Dude, people die. I'm just sayin'.

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The OMAC Project (Countdown to Infinite Crisis)

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