Comics Features Reviews

The O Men Vol.3 Ends the Comic’s First Story-arc on a High

The first volume of The O Men’s adventures brought a super powered world full of troubled and imperfect characters together in a fight with a great evil and their own inner demons. And Vol.2 helped to build a strong backstory, a large roster of heroes, and a bold statement upon the fate of the team. Well, its high expectations certainly felt met in the fast paced and action packed Vol.3 and its “The Vicious Circle” story finale. We witness long-term secrets coming out, a constant cycle of backstabbing betrayals, and a final confrontation that most blockbusters would wish to achieve on such a scale. Martin Eden once again showing an intricate world of super-humans and the true people behind their alter ego names, we witness the fate of some of our most loved (and hated) characters as they attempt to stop Anathema and her team of dangerous and more powerful villains with the world and all its inhabitants at stake.

Well, what can I say about the narrative here? There is a lot of underlying themes and sub plots here plus a lot of character and story revelations having big reveals in this issue and it would be an injustice to Martin’s story to spoil them here. So I will try to keep it brief (but a small warning as spoilers may slip through); Anathema and her group, “The Vicious Circle”, begin their reign of terror on the populace, allowing her team to kill both heroes and villains without mercy, and they grow stronger each day. But The O Men team are in ruins, each member scattered and in danger of being next on their death toll (or to join their ranks). As the body count starts to rise close to home, the team are backed into a corner and running out of time. But all is not lost yet as heroes from around the world are rallied to the cause to do battle with Anathema. As we witness the final confrontation on the premises of the O Mansion, who will be fighting alongside them and who will still be standing once the dust has settled? And how will this affect the world of supers and its future?

Now, there is a lot of content to digest here and the pacing is great once again. Each scene never felt too overbearing and the team get an even amount of screen time, with fast transitions between characters and settings to keep the momentum and narrative flowing. And forget everything you know about some of your favourite characters as in one scene, they may change into someone you would never expect with the big reveals and twists coming thick and fast, its unpredictability kept me on my toes and heavily engrossed. We also get to see some of those great characters designs go into overdrive and we see some return in spectacular fashion as well as a few new faces that kinda creep into spoiler territory so will say no more (find out for yourselves!)…

In the end, “The Vicious Circle” offers a strong ending of our first big story-line with The O Men, with new and returning faces contributing to a finale full of strong characters and wonderfully built relationships truly tested by the recent events they had to overcome as a team. But it may seem that the team name is far from being laid to rest. As the threat of Anathema’s return seems all too terrifying, it appears that another hero may step forward to accept the mantle and build a new team to counter the threats that the world has yet to reveal. This story isn’t over yet and I will gladly stay tuned to see what is next…

Have you considered picking up The O Men? Which character has been your favourite? Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter!

About the author

Connor Filsell