DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE OMAC PROJECT #1

The Eye In The Sky

June 2005

Written by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Jesus Saiz

Inks by Jesus Saiz

Cover by Jose Ladronn

Synopsis

[This issue picks up immediately after Countdown to Infinite Crisis]

Max Lord has just killed Ted Kord (aka Blue Beetle).  He orders Sasha Bourdeaux, the Black King’s knight, to clean up the mess.  They incinerate the body and then search for Kord’s ship.  Meanwhile, Lord attempts to determine who erased all of his files.  It is determined someone hacked into the files and erased them, but it can only speculate it was the creator.  Lord asks for surveillance of all known associates of the Blue Beetle.  Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) is in the batcave trying to connect to Brother MK I with no luck.  In the skies of Russia, Dimitri Pushkin (aka Rocket Red) and Arnold Beck (aka Overthrow) are in the midst of a battle.  In Chicago, Michael Carter (aka Booster Gold) just got out of the hospital when Wonder Woman visits, wonder if he has seen Blue Beetle.  Diana knows something is wrong and the two of them decide to search together.  In Paris, Sasha and her team are dropping a false trail of Blue Beetles whereabouts.  Sash drops a package into the mail.  Batman receives the package, addressed from the Bordeaux region in Paris.  It contains Blue Beetle's broken goggles and a note:  “You don’t control it anymore.”  Batman tells Alfred:  “Ted Kord is dead and none of us are safe.  None of us.”

Review

I must confess that I had already reviewed the first three issues of the OMAC Project, but accidentally lost the files and thus the original reviews.  So, I am trying my best to recall what I had originally written and the only thing flitting through my head is “Greg Rucka is a pure genius.”  In addition to this, he is also writing Wonder Woman and Superman and all of these books are just pure gold.  And OMAC is no exception.  This is no a typical super hero go with the fight scenes book.  this is more of a thriller (similar to Queen and Country) and it has me on the edge of my seat.  Not much happens in this issue; this is a set-up, but enough occurs to suggest a multitude of possibilities where this might go and we’ll have to see what Rucka does with it. 

I really, really liked the inclusion of Sasha in the story if only to see how her past history with Batman will be worked into the overall story line.  I should not be surprised Sasha was included; she was created in the first place by Greg Rucka, so he his returning to a character he knows and loves.  And, he was involved with the decision to have her join Checkmate. 

The full page of the satellite cameras realigning themselves to get a better picture of Booster Gold was a great moment to show how invasive the Brother Eye really is, including controlling he camera inside the bus, and that is really scary.  Combined with Sasha’s remarks about always being watched and you really get the sense of 1984.  More importantly, when Sasha takes the goggles and sends the package to Batman, it drives home how precarious her treason is and how important she feels it is to let Batman know what is going on. 

Jesus Saiz is a good artist and I liked his work on Manhunter as well as with this issue.  One problem I had with the art was the similar looks to Jessica and Sasha.  During their brief fight, I really had to try to keep track of who was doing what and the only way I could really do that was by following the dialogue.  The art should be distinctive and for two characters to look so similar is a real drawback.  That is a minor (or not-quite major) complaint; the art looks great.  Several things stood out:  the first was when Sasha took the goggles from Kord’s dead body.  Very subtle, but they can be seen in her hands in the reflection as she walks away.  The second was the glowing eyes from the bystander watching the fight between Rocket Red and Overthrow.-- MRB

Comics Connection

Sasha Bourdeaux first appeared in Detective Comics, issue #751 (December 2000).  Her eventual decision to join Checkmate and her feelings about Bruce Wayne appeared in Detective Comics, issue #775 (December 2002).

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