OMAC #1

History

OMAC grew out of a concept Kirby had originally sketched as a future-set reinvention of Captain America while still at Marvel — just as he had conceived the New Gods as a reimagining of Thor — but carried both ideas with him when he moved to DC in 1970. By 1974, the cancellation of The Demon had opened a slot in his schedule and, per comics historian Mark Evanier, Kirby dusted off that old Captain America idea, gave the character a Mohawk silhouette evoking ancient Greek helmets, and renamed him OMAC. Wikipedia's sourced account adds that OMAC was reportedly developed in part to fulfill Kirby's contractual obligation of fifteen pages of work per week toward the end of his DC contract, lending the title a dual identity as both a passion project and a practical editorial solution. The entire eight-issue run was written and penciled by Kirby, with Mike Royer inking the cover and the lead story of issue #1, and the series ran bi-monthly from October 1974 through December 1975 before being canceled mid-storyline.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance and origin of OMAC (Buddy Blank) and Brother Eye, published with a cover date of October 1974 by DC Comics (National Periodical Publications).
• Story titled 'Brother Eye and Buddy Blank'; written, penciled, and co-plotted entirely by Jack Kirby, with inks on the 20-page lead story by Mike Royer and cover art by Kirby and Royer.
• Introduces the Global Peace Agency (GPA), the faceless peacekeeping organization that recruits Buddy Blank; also the first appearance of Pseudo-People, Inc. and scientist Dr. Myron Forest.
• The concept originated as a 'Captain America in the future' idea Kirby had developed while still at Marvel Comics, later transplanted wholesale to DC after he joined the company in 1970.
• The series ran only eight issues (Oct. 1974–Dec. 1975) and was canceled before its final storyline could be completed; later canon in Kamandi #50 (1977) retroactively established Buddy Blank as Kamandi's grandfather, tying OMAC's 'World That's Coming' to Kirby's post-apocalyptic Kamandi universe.
• The opening story of OMAC #1 was reprinted in Countdown Special: OMAC #1 (April 2008), a DC one-shot timed to the Countdown to Final Crisis event.
• The complete eight-issue Kirby run has been collected multiple times: a 2008 hardcover (Jack Kirby's O.M.A.C.: One Man Army Corps), a 2013 paperback edition, an entry in the DC Universe: The Bronze Age Omnibus by Jack Kirby (2019), and a standalone 2021 trade paperback.
• Brother Eye and the OMAC concept were extensively revived and reinterpreted in DC's 2005 The OMAC Project miniseries (by Greg Rucka, leading into Infinite Crisis), in DC's New 52 (with Kevin Kho as the new OMAC), and the O.M.A.C. concept made its DC Extended Universe debut in the 2023 Blue Beetle film.

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