Omega: The Unknown
by Jonathan Lethem
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jonathan LethemIllustrator: Farel Dalrymple
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-24
ISBN: 0785130527
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Marvel
Book Reviews of Omega: The Unknown
Book Review: The Changing Face of the Unknown
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Once upon a time there was a comic featuring a mysterious mute superhero with a past he could never leave behind and a future full of uncertainty. It came and went leaving many questions unanswered and a story that was never quite resolved. Despite - or perhaps because of this - it left an impact on Jonathan Lethem who, with Karl Rusnak, has taken the original story and run with it in this reimagining.
If you're looking for a simple linear good versus evil story here, you won't find it. Ambiguity is everywhere; there are connections that only become apparent as the story develops. There is a mute superhero from another world with powers, enemy robots, spaceships - and a teenage boy raised by parents who are not what they seem. There is a quiet but insidious alien invasion taking place, with an underlying rationale that is both satiric and thought provoking. There is a local superhero who is as much about marketing and self-promotion as fighting crime - when he isn't playing fast and loose with the law. There is a wise-cracking alien observer- the Overthinker, an intergalactic voyeur who offers commentary while occasionally moving the story along and filling in some of the backstory. Yet, whatever god-like powers he may have, he deliberately remains on the sidelines. And then there is the mysterious Nowhere Man....
As the story progresses the teenager loses his parents, and begins a voyage of discovery to find out who he really is, what it means to connect with other people, begins to realize what his abilities are, and what kind of choices lie ahead for him as he comes face to face with the Unknown.
It's quite a ride, one that rearranges the usual tropes of superhero stories and the conventions of the genre. The artwork by Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemier does a good job of both matching and amplifying the ambience of the story. The title pages, the games with captioning, the details - all contribute to the sense of foreboding and angst that hovers over the characters. Indeed one part of the story is deliberately told in a very stylized comic book format that's it's own commentary on the whole idea of graphic novels, beyond the contribution it makes to the story. Told without words, it is both compelling and horrifying.
Is this book for everyone? The original source material apparently wasn't - else the series might still be going strong today. That being said, there's plenty of reward to be found for the reader who wants more than straight-ahead mass appeal commercial product. It takes some effort to decipher all of the messages being presented, all of the stories being told, but the impact is cumulative. There are worse ways to spend some time.
Summary of Omega: The Unknown
The story of a mute, reluctant super hero from another planet, and the earthly teenager with whom he shares a strange destiny - and the legion of robots and nanoviruses that have been sent from afar to hunt the two of them down! Created in 1975 by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, the original Omega the Unknown lasted only ten issues, but was a legend to those who recall it - an ahead-of-its-time tale of an anti-hero, inflected with brilliant ambiguity. One of Omega's teenage fans was award-winning novelist Jonathan Lethem, who has used the original as a springboard for a superbly strange, funny, and moving graphic novel in ten chapters. Collects Omega: The Unknown #1-10.Superheroes Books
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