Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • JLA: Justice For All is a Beautiful Ode to DC

      Jason Sacks
      April 20, 2016
      The Long-Form
    Recent
    • Revisiting the Witchblade/Fathom/Tomb Raider Crossover

      Daniel Gehen
      February 8, 2021
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Collecting Profile: Swamp Thing

      Jason Sacks
      May 25, 2019
      Collectibles, DC Comics, Miscellaneous Comic Book Content
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: 6 Most Expensive Comic Books April 2021 Update

      nguyen ly
      April 17, 2021
    • 3.0

      Review: X-MEN LEGENDS #1 Delivers A Dose of Nostalgia

      Daniel Gehen
      February 22, 2021
    • 4.5

      DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      January 22, 2021
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • Interview: Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly Take an Optimistic 'Joyride' into Space

      Jason Sacks
      September 2, 2016
      Boom! Studios, Indie, Interviews
    Recent
    • 4.0

      Review: Beast Wars #2 another chance to change the past

      Stephen Cook
      March 3, 2021
    • 4.5

      Review: THE LAST RONIN #2 Hurts So Good

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • TIME BEFORE TIME—A HIGH STAKES TIME TRAVEL SCIENCE FICTION SERIES SET TO LAUNCH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 140 Character Reviews 3/25/15

      Jason Sacks
      March 26, 2015
      140 Character Reviews, Reviews
    Recent
    • Singles Going Steady – Vowels, Who Needs Them?

      Daniel Gehen
      March 8, 2021
    • 3.0

      Review: X-MEN LEGENDS #1 Delivers A Dose of Nostalgia

      Daniel Gehen
      February 22, 2021
    • 4.5

      Review: THE LAST RONIN #2 Hurts So Good

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Interview: Neal Adams Part 3: “Hey, a Jim Steranko Effect”

      Jason Sacks
      November 7, 2014
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Sam Glanzman and Joe Lansdale's 'Red Range' is Violent, Weird and Great

      Jason Sacks
      May 17, 2017
      Books, Classic Comics, Classic Comics Cavalcade, IDW, Indie
    Recent
    • VISITOR is the Quintessential “SPIRIT” Story

      Daniel Gehen
      March 26, 2021
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Comics Bulletin Exclusive Preview – Rot & Ruin #5 from IDW

      Jason Sacks
      January 22, 2015
      News, Previews
    Recent
    • TIME BEFORE TIME—A HIGH STAKES TIME TRAVEL SCIENCE FICTION SERIES SET TO LAUNCH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Image Comics and TMP Announces SPAWN’S UNIVERSE

      Daniel Gehen
      February 18, 2021
    • SAVAGE DRAGON IS A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 17, 2021
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      Jason Sacks
      November 22, 2019
      Books, Collectibles, Miscellaneous Comic Book Content
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: 6 Most Expensive Comic Books April 2021 Update
  • Collecting Profile: Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Collecting Profile: 1990 Marvel Universe Trading Cards
  • Collecting Profile: Red Sonja
  • Collecting Profile: Dr. Doom
  • VISITOR is the Quintessential “SPIRIT” Story
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Columns

Lies and Secrets: Martin Eden’s The O Men

Jason Sacks
July 27, 2005
Columns, Comics Bulletin Soapbox

I started reading The O Men without any expectation for what I’d be reading. This series has existed under my radar, so I had no pre-judgments about its quality. I had a vague thought that the book might be in some way a take-off on the X-Men, or that it have some sort of supernatural elements. Instead, I found that this is a very unique, thoughtful and intelligent take on super-heroes. It has nothing in common with the X-Men but a few small thematic elements, and has little or nothing to do with supernatural demons. The only hells in the comic are personal hells. Artist/writer Martin Eden has created a very different comic book, one that would sit very comfortably next to those slick four-color books that Marvel and DC put out.

The O Men is a black-and-white mini-comic, self-published by Eden. He occasionally releases an issue with a color cover, but the whole operation is strictly a DIY operation, completely driven by Eden’s ambitions and creative vision. He has complete creative freedom to explore the universe that he’s created. This means that The O Men is, by definition, different from any other comic book on the market because it’s completely driven by his vision and his ability to execute on the vision. Some creators, given that sort of freedom, can deliver comics that are self-indulgent and dull. The O Men is anything but dull.

The O Men is a very intense ride through Eden’s universe of super-heroes and super-villains. Violence in this world has intense physical and emotional consequences, and characters, heroes and villains both, die in particularly violent ways. Powerful men and women control the people who work for them, and alliances shift and change in the blink of an eye. Few people can be trusted, which is especially important in a world where trust can be a matter of live or death. Even Adam O, who organizes the heroes of the title, can legitimately be seen as evil; there’s a scene with him and the seemingly-evil Anathema that hints at a greater level of malice than is apparent at first blush.

The only real hint of the comic’s small press roots, aside from the smaller pages and black-and-white covers, is Martin Eden’s artwork. Eden is certainly no Jim Lee; his style seems at first blush to be unprofessional and amateurish. Eden uses very simple line work and very little shading in his panels. The art can politely be called minimalist and was somewhat off-putting for me when I started reading the comic. But the more I read of the book, the more the artwork grew on me. Eden’s simple line work helps to intensify the impact of the comic. Just as the story of the O Men reveals itself to be more and more complex the more one reads of it, so too does the impact of the art increase, the more one sees of it. By the end of the series, I found it hard to imagine the art in this comic looking any other way than it does.

The O Men is a hard comic to review. All the shifting alliances and complexity make it hard to describe specific scenes without ruining any of the key scenes. I want to give readers a taste of the flavor of this comic without giving away a whole lot of spoilers. The intense complexity of this series kind of belies a direct look at it.

Maybe I can take one issue out of context to give you a feel for the book. I should warn you that there are spoilers for this particular issue in this section of my review, but I’ll try to avoid spoilers for the larger storyline. The O Men #24 is an issue set slightly outside the setting of the other issues. The main characters of the series live and operate in Eden’s native England, but this issue features a team of American heroes, the USAviors, seen through the eyes of team member Sugar. The USAviors are an Avengers-type group, featuring America’s best and strongest heroes, dedicated to saving the planet. USAvior member Sugar narrates this issue, giving readers her subjective view of what she and her team are encountering.

When we first meet the team on page one, this issue has the feel of a standard superhero story. As Sugar says, “Things are looking bad. Almost all of the USAviors have been incapacitated by an evil universe devourer. New York is about to be demolished. Millions… and then billions will be wiped out. Well… I did say almost all of the USAviors. He kinda forgot Underdog. Hoo boy, did he forget Underdog.” Underdog, a leather-clad man of mystery, then flies to confront the villain in one panel; in the next, readers see the villains’ giant head on the ground while the heroes walk away from it, satisfied.

With this wonderful first page, Eden has set readers up for what’s about to come. For people who have read a lot of super-hero comic books, such a set-up makes us feel comfortable, like we have a good idea of what’s going to happen in the rest of the book. Instead, he slowly subverts the warm and comfortable feel of that page with what happens further on in the issue.

On pages two and three, Sugar sits and relaxes, enjoying a New York sunset. Fellow member Hootfoot stops by and the two chat about how they couldn’t stop the tragedy of 9/11. A nice quiet interlude, further setting up the story. The next pair of pages present another traditional Avengers scene: new members are inducted into the USAviors. Sugar doesn’t know them and hates them on sight, but one of them, Cassandra, has a frightening vision of what might happen if the team goes to England: “don’t go to england. Whatever you do, don’t go to england. You’ll all DIE.” Again, Eden subverts the normal with a touch of spookiness. Still, as anyone who loves super-heroes might think, this is just another prediction that will be overcome by the great, heroic USAviors.

Page six brings another charming interlude, a kind of parody of the JLA/Avengers crossover, with a full-page panel that’s a direct take from that story. Pages 7 and 8 are a kind of take on Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Superman: For All Seasons: Sugar returns to visit her parents on the bucolic farm that she grew up on. The scene concludes with a hug and kiss from her mother. What could be warmer or more comfortable than a kiss from one’s mother? At this point, Eden has drawn his readers deep into their comfort zones. Aside from Cassandra’s frightening vision, the story to this point could have come directly from any issue of any random Marvel or DC super-team. In the second half of the story, however, Eden subverts that feeling.

Sugar’s narration helps lead to the feeling that things aren’t as nice as they seem on the surface: “I thought I’d check in on Cassandra in the Infirmary. I don’t think anyone else in the team has bothered. That’s the way it seems to go here. Every man for himself.” The USAviors aren’t a team of heroes. They’re a group of individuals who just happen to work together. While in the infirmary, Sugar notices another teammate, Girl-7, looking in on yet another member, Kamikaze, who has been placed in a straightjacket and is repeating the same phrase over and over again: “Where is she?” It’s a spooky and unnerving scene; what happened to turn this hero into a raving lunatic?

Sugar winds up on monitor duty with one of the new members, Superbman (cute name, huh?), who bores her by telling her his origin for two hours while also hitting on her. Bored and frustrated, Sugar wanders away and wanders down a hallway. She hears a noise, opens a door, and finds Hotfoot in the middle of having sex with teammate Elite. Quickly closing the door and turning around, Sugar comes face to face with Underdog, who spooks her out: “That’s one guy I never want to get teamed up with. I wonder what he looks like beneath the mask? Maybe I don’t want to know. And the smell. The horrible smell. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is…”

In the space of five pages, Eden has subverted what he presented earlier in the issue. Readers are moved from a feeling of warm comfort to a feeling of extreme discomfort. When Sugar overhears Girl-7 talking with Doctor O and volunteering the help of the USAviors to help battle a threat his team faces in England, we know that things will shortly go downhill. How quickly and badly they go downhill is a shock, as the power and evil of the threat they face in England clearly takes everybody off-guard. The team’s weaknesses become their undoing, and the team meets a horrifying fate.

Hopefully, this sketch of one issue gives you a small feel for what the rest of the series is like. The biggest difference between this issue and the rest of the issues I’ve read is that issue 24 has some light-hearted and fun moments. If there’s one complaint I have about The O Men is that Eden delivers an awfully unrelenting dark vision here. At least in the issues I’ve read, there’s very little humor or lightness in these stories. The series is extraordinarily well-written and thoughtful, but it isn’t extraordinarily fun.

The O Men is a grim rollercoaster of events. It’s a comic full of mysteries and personal horrors, of shifting alliances and terrifying secrets. The O Men is a comic where lies lead to unexpected consequences, and truths can be even more dangerous than lies. It’s not a cheerful world, but it’s an extraordinarily well-created world, and wonderfully reflects the vision of its creator, Martin Eden. The only shame of The O Men being a digest-sized black-and-white self-published comic is that it has a limited circulation.

In this summer of Infinite Crisis and House of M, where death is temporary and evil banal, it’s great to be reminded of the true power of comic book heroes. Martin Eden has created a superb comic book that shows the real power of the super-hero concept.


Read Jason’s comic book blog.

Comics Bulletin SoapboxJason Sacks

Share On:
Tweet
Nightmare on Clowes Street: A Short Story
All The Rage: Apocalypse Now

About The Author

Jason Sacks
Publisher Emeritus

Jason Sacks has been obsessed with pop culture for longer than he'd like to remember. Jason has been writing for Comics Bulletin for nearly a decade, producing over a million words of content about comics, films and other media. He has also been published in a number of publications, including the late, lamented Amazing Heroes, The Flash Companion and The American Comic Book Chronicles: the 1970s and 1980s. Find him on Facebook and Twitter. Jason is the Owner and Publisher of Comics Bulletin.

Related Posts

  • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

    Mark Stack
    January 2, 2019
  • Top 10 Thoughts About Jack Kirby

    Jason Sacks
    August 28, 2017

Latest Columns

  • Revisiting the Witchblade/Fathom/Tomb Raider Crossover

    Daniel Gehen
    February 8, 2021
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

    Daniel Gehen
    December 4, 2020
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

    Daniel Gehen
    October 30, 2020
  • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

    Daniel Gehen
    October 27, 2020
  • What Looks Good for the Week of 10/14/2020

    Daniel Gehen
    October 12, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders