When I was a comic reader, there were a number of comics that fandom were very excited by but which had trouble getting a following. Don McGregor on Killraven, and Panther's Rage for example. I read and enjoyed those comics even if I, as a twelve-thirteen year old felt them a bit baffling, but I couldn't find another that was getting lots of positive vibes - Omega the Unknown by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, so never read any at the time.

I've just read all ten issues on Marvel Unlimited and I've got to say I was distinctly unimpressed, and am now a little baffled about why it was so well regarded.

The basic premise is intriguing - what IS the connection between this alien and this 12 year old prodigy? Why were his parents robots? But the execution...oy.

It just seems so ... random. Electro appears out of nowhere ("I was just skulking here in this alley, in my costume, when this alien and a robot turn up out of the blue - I zap the alien and kidnap the robot, then come back for the alien to help me revive the robot so I can ... rob a game show??") Each encounter with villains and even Green Skinned monsters seems contrived, pointless, aimless. And no resolution, or even a hint of a resolution. When we find out that Omega is able to speak after all, it emerges that he had only seemed mute because he didn't have anything to say. Wha...?

The Jim Mooney artwork doesn't help with this sense of listlessness - it is uninspired and weak, the fight scenes seeming to have been choreographed with a particular attempt to avoid any sense of dynamism or drama.

So what gives? What am I missing? Plenty of people like this series, and one issue was even written by our own Roger Stern, so there is clearly something in it that I am deaf to. Any ideas?

The series was made for readers in their teens during the seventies, so maybe experiencing it for the first time in your fifties during the teens just doesn't work?

I suspect that may be the case.

I read it for the first time when I was about 23, and I'm a big Steve Gerber fan and wanted to like it...but it's my least favourite example of Gerber's writing. I'm not sure if it's because it was a collaboration with another writer or what, but I also found myself trying to find some kind of thread in the narrative to follow that just didn't seem to be there. The stuff with him at school and living in the tough neighbourhood is very Gerber-like but it falls flat in some way. He covered some of those themes more succinctly and more intelligently (and more compassionately) in Howard the Duck, I think.

Maybe it's because Gerber's stuff works best when he's satirising something. That's just my opinion, but he's better at satire, or social commentary, than he is with actual plots or even action sequences. I agree that the art was lacklustre, even though there's nothing technically 'bad' about it. It seems uninspired, or maybe the artist wasn't even sure what sort of tone they were going for?

It's a weird one, for sure. I think Linda's suggestion, that it was written for teenagers in what's now a bygone era, is probably closest to the truth. It wasn't really a massive success when it came out, either, so maybe they misjudged their audience, or maybe it's just not a great concept.

I think the authors were trying to contrast everyday life with the fantasy concept of a superhero, but they did so in a clumsy or ill-considered way. Maybe Gerber and Skrenes were ahead of the curve, and had sort of hit on an early, embryonic version of 'grim & gritty' a decade too soon and the audience wasn't ready for it? Maybe it just wasn't very good. Maybe both.

I never really got Omega, as well. Mooney worked well with Gerber on Man-Thing, so Gerber was paired with him for this one. Omega was a bit autobiographical and Gerber had a reputation for out of the box, iconoclastic comics. Plus, in the 70s, Marvel was a mess and to make money they just would throw any series against the wall to see if it would work.

Yep, and I think Omega was an example of exactly that kind of thinking. Gerber had written superhero stuff before, but maybe the success he'd had with Man-Thing and Howard the Duck made someone think he should be given a chance to come up with a new concept rather than writing established Marvel characters? I'm not sure what his relationship with Marvel was at that stage, but he was fired before the story finished so maybe they just wanted to give him something to do until they were ready to fire him?

ouch. But maybe... At least you didn't manage to say seventies about me... yet.

I was buying it because, yeah, I was twelve, finally had some spending money, and this was a new comic that I could get
in on the ground floor with an issue #1. I don't think my reading requirements were very high at the time. And Gil Kane
drew some of the covers, and he could make me buy anything in those days, even repeats.

What did you make of it, Beachy? Could you follow it?

Well… I'll give it this: I followed the storyline to the Defenders comic, which I wasn't buying at the time
because I wanted to see the conclusion of the Omega story. But today, almost none of it is in my memory,
so I can't imagine that it was all that good overall.

I likely identified at the time with the boy who was about my age.

I wondered briefly about the Omega revival book, but I never bought it.

Gerber had this to say about it:

“I wanted to do a series about a real kid who was nobody’s sidekick,” added Gerber, “facing real problems in what today would be called a ‘grim ‘n gritty’ setting.” As Gerber pointed out, “Omega predated both the Teen Titans and X-Men explosion and the ‘grim ‘n gritty’ movement by a few years. If it had come later, it probably would have been deemed a little quirky but mainstream.”

More here, including much more interesting stuff. I've got to say, the background and aftermath is more interesting than the stories themselves!:

https://www.cbr.com/246174-2/

More interesting Gerber material

That's great - I've never seen or heard of that before.

I don't think it is very heralded, but represents a willingness to experiment in the Marvel Bronze Age. Gerber seemed to always be more fascinated with creating a cast of characters dealing with something weird, rather than a compelling central character.

I bought the TPB for $5 and couldn't make it through the first issue.

I think that's true of a good many comics!

Now Captain Britain -- that's a great comic. Herb Trimpe's finest hour.

Are you being facetious? Because I honestly liked it, especially with Fred Kida inking. And Claremont'scripts weren't bad. It was when Gary Friedrich took over that both art and scripts suffered, iirc. But the first few were pretty good! And John Buscema and Tom Palmer did some fantastic work on it later on.

No, I really like Captain Britain, especially the Trimpe issues and the red costume. Check out my avatar.

Put these oversized hardcovers in your pipe and smoke ‘em. Plus I have the Omnibus around here somewhere.

Looks 'Shopped.

Nice to see what he looks and sounds like. I guess.

Nerd alert.