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The OMAC Project #6

The OMAC Project #6

Scheduled to arrive in stores: September 28, 2005

Cover date: November 2005

Writer: Greg Rucka
Penciller: Jesus Saiz and Cliff Richards
Inker: Jesus Saiz and Bob Wiacek

"Loss of Signal"

Reviewed by: Nick Newman

Click to enlarge


Orbiting around the Earth, the Brother Eye satellite activates every OMAC across the planet, sending them on search and destroy missions.

In the cave, Batman talks with Sasha, now an OMAC/human hybrid. She says that they need to find a way to disable the nanobots without hurting the OMAC hosts. Batman tells her to focus on that while he coordinates defense with the League. Across the planet, OMACs begin the assault, taking down metahumans like the former Supermen of America.

Activating a channel to all Checkmate agents, Sasha announces to all of them that the King, Max Lord, is dead. She apologizes for the corruption of the King, but now they all need to come back to her. She needs any information anyone has about dismantling the OMACs. The monitors go silent for a moment, before dozens of calls begins to come in from returning agents. On one monitor, the director of the DEO offers to buy whoever killed Max a drink, before saying that he has an idea how to deal with the OMACs.

In the cave, Batman receives a call from Checkmate. They have two ways to disable the OMACs. First, Sasha is working on developing a virus that would disrupt Brother's communication with the OMACs. Second, an electromagnetic pulse should disable the units and free the hosts. Batman says he'll handle it.

In Ted Kord's warehouse, Batman meets with the Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart. He shows them a device invented by the late Kord, an EMP generator. That was the reason Beetle's warehouse was robbed months ago. Batman tells the Lanterns to gather every hero they can over the Sahara to bait the OMACs. Batman will take care of the rest.

In Fire's hospital room, Guy Gardner receives a communication on his ring. Turning back to Booster and Fire, Guy tells them that he needs to leave. Booster offers to come, but his gear is ruined already. As Guy leaves, Booster turns to Fire and says goodbye. Taking off his visor, he tells her that he's going home.

In the desert the assembled heroes prepare for the oncoming assault as the approaching OMACs begin to block out the sun. Dozens of heroes move forward to combat the thousands of OMACs attacking them.

On the other side of the planet, another group of OMACs swoop down towards Alcatraz prison, where the Titans prepare for battle.

Sasha jacks herself into the computers and connects herself to Brother Eye. In the Sahara, Batman flies overhead in his jet, triggering the EMP generator right as Sasha sends the 'Shut Down' command. Across the planet, OMACs fall from the sky, cut off from Brother Eye. Catching them, the heroes pry open the OMAC armor, revealing the confused hosts inside.

Across the planet, the virus is a huge success. However, the satellite was able to disconnect before all of its units were destroyed. Brother has dropped out of site, with a force of OMACs still numbering around two hundred thousand.

Batman meets with Sasha in Checkmate's headquarters. She cries that the virus won't work on her, she isn't a hybrid, she's a machine. Batman pulls her close and kisses her, telling her that she's not a machine, Brother Eye is.

Across the planet, Brother Eye takes control of every television monitor and broadcasts images of Wonder Woman killing Max Lord. The people of the world are shocked as they watch the murder.

5Story - 5: I'll admit, on my first read-through this issue didn't quite work for me, but on my second read it worked a lot better for me. I love the huge force of OMACs, pointed out to me as being once OMAC for every metahuman on Earth. Greg managed to tie up the series very well (much better than Day of Vengeance did) while still leaving the plot open for Infinite Crisis next month.

I absolutely loved seeing the OMACs beat down on the Supermen of American from a number of years ago. Finally the Crisis killings accomplish something worthwhile.

I do have to question Batman's willingness to go to the League for help. Why in the world would he go to Hal for help, when Hal was one of the guys involved in his mind wipe? Perhaps you could argue that he realized he needed help, but it still seems out of character for the man who currently trusts no one.

It was nice to tie the robbery back in Countdown back to this (although the lack of any reference by Batman that the missing Kryptonite has been recovered was a little strange). It's good to see a storyline that ties off its own plotlines.

The Blue Beetle League continues to splinter as Fire is down, and Guy has left. Booster's comment that he's going home means a lot more when you consider when Booster's home is. They've said that Booster ties into Crisis, and I've definitely got theories about how Booster's return to the 25th century (or maybe even changing it so he never traveled back in the first place) could affect the DCU.

It was a little strange to see Brother Eye send hundreds of thousands of OMACs after a gathering of only a few dozen heroes. It's been pretty well established that these robots can solo almost any metahuman, so to gather them all in one place is just careless. I can forgive that when considering just how cool that scene was (more on that in my discussion of the art).

Overall, this entire series has been very strong, definitely the strongest of the four Crisis lead-ins. We went from battling Max Lord, to a crazy satellite with 200,000 soldiers ready to attack the world. Between this and the absolutely fantastic JLA this week, I cannot wait for Infinite Crisis in two weeks. Well done Mr. Rucka.

4Art - 4: This is the same high quality art we've enjoyed for the past five months, so there's not much more I can really say about it. I'm still not thrilled about splitting the book up between two pencillers, but like last month it was subtle enough that it didn't interrupt the story. I do need to mention the beautiful double splash of the OMAC battle. I really liked how the preceding page only shows Hal, John, and Diana, making you wonder if that's all that the Lanterns were able to gather. Then the next page just hits you with a few dozen heroes, all fighting off the OMAC onslaught. This page made up for that, at least in my opinion, disappointing page last issue when the size of the OMAC threat was revealed.

I hope we continue to see more of Saiz's work in the future.

4Cover Art - 4: Still my least favorite part of the issue, but I did actually like this one. I like the imagery of Batman's futile attempt to battle the huge OMAC threat as they ascend into the sky. The muted colors still seem to work against the cover (the interior art suffers from the same problem) but I still like it, and I do really love the concept.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2005

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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