The O-Men, The Complete Story, Book One
Publisher: Titan Books
Writer: Martin Eden
Artist: Martin Eden
I first got introduced to the O-Men through the other Martin Eden series, Spandex. So when I heard that the whole O-Men series was going to be collected, I was happy to give it a look. There’s something about stories involving old teams having to get back together that always intrigues me. How’s this reunion work out? Let’s find out.
The O-Men use to be a super-team of young people working for Doctor O, a former hero who decided to train the next generation. Things went bad, and now, years later, the survivors of the team are called in for another mission, and things get more complicated from there.
Not spoiling anything, but the story snowballs as new factors come into play, and by the end of this volume I was ready for more. The characters are most intriguing and the powers are secondary to what I was reading. The powers are pretty much there to get the story going, but the focus is all these very flawed people trying to live their lives and survive.
The art is in stark black and white, which makes it harder to differentiate characters, but that might just be me since that tends to be the case when things aren’t in color. When the characters are supposed to look creepy or threatening is when the art shines. Eden’s style lends well to horror. Of the characters, Pathe may be my favorite since the faithful butler is a favorite staple of mine. The fact that he can teleport makes him the perfect gentleman’s gentleman.
The change from the reunion mission to stopping emotional vampires was a bit of a start, but it worked out and I ended up enjoying the vampire story most of all. I do look forward to the next volume, and I’m betting it’s not going to go well for most of these characters. Can’t wait.
Dr. Alexander Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
