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.
I enjoyed the late, great Herb Trimpe’s war comics, ( “War is Hell”, “The Phantom Eagle”, etc. ) but I always felt he was out of his depth with straight superhero comics, like ‘The Defenders’, here. The superhero genre is what we categorize as “high-concept entertainment”, and ol’ Herb’s style was very, very “down-to-Earth”- his work on “The Incredible Hulk” was good, because the Hulk always kept one green foot in the ‘horror’ genre, which was much more suited for Herb’s style. ( however, I was quite elated when “Our Pal” Sal Buscema succeeded him on “The Incredible Hulk”, because Sal is what we call “A Superhero Artist for All Seasons”- the only sub-genre of the field which was not suitable for Sal’s style was horror, but that was okay, because back during Marvel’s ‘horror’ years, ( basically the 1970’s ) Marvel had Mike Ploog and Frank Bruner, and the Immortal “Gentleman” Gene Colan, to handle that relatively small handful of titles ) But, back to “The Defenders”, issues # 76 and 77- I personally disagree with the above assertion that killing off Gerber’s weak, vapid, and litigiously derivative “Omega the Unknown” was a mistake- I saw it as more of the rectification OF a mistake- if there is ONE type of character that comic-books doesn’t need any MORE of, it’s any more “Strange visitors from another planet/s.” Period. Reading Marvel and DC Comics, one gets the impression that the Human Race of Planet Earth is the ONLY people in the entire Universe WITHOUT any super-abilities!!! It’s discouraging! I’d like to see the banal “Martian Manhunter” either die a glorious, heroic death, or at least go the hell back to New Mars, and STAY THERE- this time, PERMANENTLY- on the basis of the same logic!!! I do NOT believe in the old adage “There is no such thing as bad characters-only bad writers.” WRONG! Weak, uninspired, and super-derivative characters like the ‘Martian Manhunter’, and ‘Omega the Unknown’, never make it to the top of the superhero mountain for GOOD REASONS- and, once having PROVEN their commercial inviability, should be retired from action, one way or the other! And don’t give us any MORE blasted “Strange visitors from another planet/s”! It’s been beaten into the ever-lovin’ GROUND!!!! The Silver Surfer is the SOLE exception to this edict, simply because, from 1968 to 1970, Stan Lee and John Buscema took this tired ( exhausted, actually ) trope, and elevated it to a level of excellence which came to define the art-form! Something that certainly was NOT happening at DC, at the time, with their OWN “Strange Visitors from Other Planets”!! Finally, I cannot ‘beam out of here’ without offering a comment on the above shot of the assembled super-ladies walking the streets of New York- even though Moondragon’s green bikini is easily the most daring ensemble up here, I would have to give the trophy here to the Hellcat, on grounds of her form-flattering leotard, and minimalist design- Listen up, King Kirby- LESS is MORE!!!!! ‘Nuff Said!!!