Weird Ass Kirby: OMAC

This past Monday, August 28th, was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jack Kirby. 

Millions of words have been written extolling the virtues of the man the comic books fans called the King. The dynamism of his layouts. The power of his pencils. His provocative use of form and function.

Hell, even the man's speed was an extraordinary thing. Jack Kirby could produce about 15 pages of week.

And another thing about Jack Kirby: he had some weird ass ideas. 



A tough but quiet man, a product of a Depression era New York childhood, Kirby had some really far out ideas about the world outside our view, about the future.

And one of Jack's most "weird ass" concepts was O.M.A.C. 

For today's post, I'm going to look at some 2 page spreads from King Kirby's short lived DC series.






Oh my God! See what I mean about "weird ass". That fever dream of a 2 page spread can be found in O.M.A.C.#1. This issue introduces us to non-descript Buddy Blank in a not too distant future, "the world that's coming" as Kirby describes it on the cover.  When zapped by an energy ray from an orbiting satellite called Brother Eye, Blank is transformed into O.M.A.C.: One Man Army Corps.  

Check out this wild spree as O.M.A.C. plunges into a an army of goons!

As way out there as they seemed in 1974, O.M.A.C. was a platform to examine concepts of government, capitalism and social relationships taken to bizarre extremes. Yet those extremes seems oddly prescient if you look out your window in 2017. 

OK, you may not exactly see this strange creature if you look out your window in 2017. (Although  the resemblance to Steve Bannon is uncanny.)  By all accounts, Jack Kirby was a kind sweet man but damn! What kind of nightmare fuel was Kirby on to create this thing?

Another two page spread with Kirby unleashed. an overwrought piece of future tech run amuck! And dig that energy rippling around O.M.A.C.. It's an effect called Kirby Krackle! And there is a rock band out there in the world we live in called Kirby Krackle!


Yes, something Jack Kirby created gave name to a rock band!


How awesome was Jack Kirby? 


How totally freakingly wonderfully weird ass was Jack Kirby?