OMAC | |
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Cover to OMAC #6 (July–August 1975) with the original OMAC. Art by Jack Kirby and D. Bruce Berry.
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
Created by | Jack Kirby (writer–artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Buddy Blank |
Team affiliations | Global Peace Agency |
Notable aliases | One-Man Army Corps |
Abilities | Superhuman strength, speed, durability and explosive energy generation provided by Brother Eye |
OMAC (Buddy Blank) is a superhero comic book character created in 1974 by Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics. The character was created towards the end of Kirby's contract with the publisher, following the cancellation of his New Gods series and was reportedly developed strictly due to Kirby needing to fill his contractual quota of 15 pages a week. As envisioned by Kirby, OMAC is essentially Captain America set in the future, an idea Kirby had toyed with some years earlier while at Marvel Comics but had never realized.
Set in the near future ("The World That's Coming"), OMAC is a corporate nobody named Buddy Blank who is changed via a "computer-hormonal operation done by remote control" by an A.I. satellite called "Brother Eye" into the super-powered One-Man Army Corps (OMAC).
OMAC works for the Global Peace Agency (GPA), a group of faceless people who police the entire world using pacifistic weapons. The world balance is too dangerous for large armies, so OMAC is used as the main field enforcement agent for the Global Peace Agency. The character initially uses his abilities to save a female coworker at the Pseudo-People factory (manufacturers of androids initially intended as companions, but later developed as assassins). The coworker is revealed to be in actuality a bomb, and Blank is left in the employ of the GPA, sacrificing his identity in their relentless war, with faux parents his only consolation and companions.
The original OMAC series ended with its eighth issue (November–December 1975), canceled before the last storyline could be completed, and Kirby wrote an abrupt ending to the series. In Kamandi #50, by other creators, OMAC is tied into the back-story and shown to be Kamandi's grandfather. An OMAC back-up feature by Jim Starlin began in issue #59 (Sept.–Oct. 1978), but Kamandi was cancelled after its first appearance. The story was later printed in The Warlord, and led to a new OMAC back-up series in that title (#37–39, 42–47). OMAC appeared with Superman in DC Comics Presents #61.