OMAC #7 [1975]

by

The One Man Army starts his battle against “The Ocean Stealers” in the 18-page story in this issue.  Sent by the Global Peace Agency to investigate a lake which has suddenly lost its water, we open with some great images of Kirby’s vision of a lake bed full of exposed and crushed plant and animal life.  Finding an odd cube in the middle of the lake, he finds it unnaturally heavy, and gets a power boost from Brother Eye to move it, but even that might not be enough.

Next we meet the evil scientist responsible for all this, Doctor Skuba, a water-obsessed madman who has found a way to compress water into small bars, including one giant one which will absorb the Atlantic Ocean.  When OMAC tracks down his lair Skuba recognizes the atomic manipulation that created OMAC being similar to his own science, and is able to use that similarity to restore OMAC to his Buddy Blank form.

OMAC is a lot of goofy fun with wild ideas thrown out at every turn. This adventure was obviously intended to be longer than the two issues it lasted, and I wonder if the connection between Skuba’s science and the technology used to create OMAC would have been explored.

D. Bruce Berry inks the 18-page story and the Kirby cover, with mixed results.  Several pages look really good, especially the 2-page spread, and any of the renderings of technology, but I don’t think he fully captures the right look on the faces all the time.

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