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Omega One #1 (Big City Comics)


         Jump from the Read Pile. Now here's a surprise. Say you're a small publisher with a cadre of extra humans -- heroes, villains and what have you. In their individual books, they're not exactly burning up the sales charts, and despite having dedicated creators, the characters aren't really "popping." So you get yourself a cute hook -- pressed into "on-call" black ops government service or your loved ones start turning up dead -- and throw them together like Brad Meltzer playing with the JLA. The result? Surprisingly effective -- a character like Ant, who previously seemed like sheer cheesecake, works as the tough center of the group (much like Vasquez from "Aliens"), played against a Tom-Hanks-in-"Saving-Private-Ryan" leader, a flying Latin hothead who could be taking notes from Checkmate's Fire and so on. The surprise appearances -- a popular character makes an unaccredited cameo at the end -- make it all the more intriguing as characterization and nuance carefully work alongside action to keep the plot rolling. Admittedly, it could use a grammar check ("airplane hanger," no, another few errors) and the Nazis reference (albeit quick) was probably a bit of overkill, but still a very pleasant surprise. 

Hannibal Tabu
Staff Writer, CBR
hannibal@comicbookresources.com