Steve Gerber left Marvel in a huff and a hurry over the publisher’s treatment of him and royalties for Howard the Duck. In his haste, he did not finish one of his greatest stories, the tale of Omega the Unknown. Steven Grant tries his best to give it a respectful ending.
Steve Gerber was the guy who made The Defenders great. In fact, he was much of what made Marvel so different and revolutionary in the 1970s, before it became completely corporate-bound. Gerber also created Foolkiller, who appeared in The Defenders arc immediately before this one. So Grant is doing his best to pay homage to Gerber while wrapping stories for the readers.
Moondragon returns to Earth, prompting Hellcat’s reaction: “Jumpin’ Jeepers!”
The Defenders learn about a kid with powers…
…And he’s Omega. Which makes this the Omega of the Omega stories.
Aliens arrive, who appear to be attempting to kidnap Omega, but the reality is that the aliens know the Omega powers will consume and kill their human host, so they are trying to save Omega. The Defenders don’t realize that, and in the end, the kid dies.
So as a result of the Defenders’ actions, Omega is killed. It is also as a result of their typical “fight first talk later” policy. Very interesting commentary by author Steven Grant. And Moondragon yells at them for it.
I feel like Moondragon’s speech could easily apply to Marvel. Gerber was gradually being forced out of Marvel–they screwed him out of the rights to Howard the Duck, which is why he took Howard the Duck with him (as Destroyer Duck) when he went indie. Had Marvel not interfered by pushing Gerber off of The Defenders and Omega, he might have went on to be one of their most interesting characters.
Instead…They killed him. And this character stayed dead. I guess Marvel didn’t want to deal with getting sued by Gerber again over creator’s rights. Read Steve Gerber’s thoughts on the matter here.
Wasp guest stars.
Nice to see women featured so prominently. Together, they fight the Ruby Thursday–another classic Gerber creation–who is also trying to kidnap Omega.
Kickin’ ass and takin’ names.
Mark Gruenwald gets coplotting credit for #77.