The year was 1975, John Ehrlichman went to jail as part of the Watergate cover-up, disco was in full swing, Jaws arrived in theater kicking off the Summer Blockbuster, yours truly was celebrating birthday number 5, Born to Run was released, Jimmy Hoffa goes missing, and a little comic called Omega: The Unknown #1 debuted. The comic only lasted 10 issues, but now over 30 years later, Marvel is bringing the character back and retelling the story of a strange man from another planet.
Take the jump for the sneak peek that arrives October 3.
OMEGA: THE UNKNOWN #1 (of 10)
Written by JONATHAN LETHEM with KARL RUSNAK
Art by FAREL DALRYMPLE & PAUL HORNSCHEMEIER
Rated T+
When the series debuted, Omega The Unknown told the tale of a lone survivor from an alien world. Pursued by the robots who destroyed his world, Omega comes to Earth seeking refuge and a new beginning. Accompanied by a young orphan named James Michael Starling, our hero traveled to New York City and together, the reluctant hero and the boy adjusted to their new lives. However, questions begin to plague the pair because of James-Michael’s mysterious resemblance to Omega. Then abruptly, the series ended with Omega’s shocking death!
Few would have guessed that years later, one of Omega’s biggest fans would turn out to be an award-winning novelist! Now Lethem, along with Karl Rusnak, and the very talented Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemeier, will re-imagine Omega for the 21st century.
Omega: The Unknown will sell for $2.99.
7 Comments
So, did they reconcile with Steve Gerber regarding Omega? This was announced several years ago, but I don’t belive that Gerber is getting anything for it.
Unless they patched things up Gerber, there is no way I will touch this series.
http://www.OmegaTheUnknown.com
The original Omega series was a beautiful thing that ended in a horrible (but totally in keeping with the tone of the series) way.
Given that Foolkiller, Howard The Duck, and Omega the Unknown have been on Marvel’s slate for a couple of years now, and that they all suddenly appeared in the same solicitation month makes me think that SOMETHING happened with Steve, as he originated all three characters…
I’m not familiar with Omega much at all, but I have been looking forward to this b/c of Lethem. I believe this was the first thing he wrote after he got one of those MacArthur “Genuis” awards. I know it’s in right now for novelist to pen comics but I’d have to say that Lethem is a step above Brad Meltzer. “Fortress of Solitude” (especially the first half) is a great book. It will be interesting to see if he can pull off a good run in comics.
They should add some Omega symbols to his costume, I don’t think he has enough.
“I live ze unknown. I breathe ze unknown. I AM ze unknown.”
“Uh-huh. So where are you living now?”
“Zat is unknown.”
I am SO looking forward to this. The original was so pointless I always felt cheated. I only bought it because I loved all of Gerber’s other stuff and if some writer wants to take the basic concept and make it into something that makes sense and is a good story, I’m there. Of course, if it does make sense and is a good story it runs completely counter to the mess the original series was and I could understand Gerber being upset by it.
I am SO looking forward to this. The original was so pointless I always felt cheated. I only bought it because I loved all of Gerber’s other stuff and if some writer wants to take the basic concept and make it into something that makes sense and is a good story, I’m there. Of course, if it does make sense and is a good story it runs completely counter to the mess the original series was and I could understand Gerber being upset by it.
It should be noted that Gerber DID make a settlement (the details of which are unknown) with Marvel regarding Howard, that may or may not have affected the status of his other works (including Omega and Foolkiller.) Either way, I’m kind of looking forward to this one…