Omega Flight #5

Background

Super villains are flooding into Canada after the Registration Act was passed in the U.S. and the Canadian government decides to create a new Flight team. Powered up by Tanaraq, the Wrecking Crew battle against the new Omega Flight with the help of the strange alien creatures referred to as the Great Beasts by Talisman. Completely consumed by the power of Tanaraq, Sasquatch has now turned on Omega Flight and holds Michael Pointer by his throat.

Story 'Alpha to Omega'

Things open up with Talisman rising from the rubble to see Pointer in the grasp of the Tanaraq fueled Sasquatch. His eyes red and bleeding, her pleas seem to have no effect. Wrecker takes advantage of the distraction to grab her, but a sudden psionic web from Arachne blinds him. She continues her offensive as she attacks Sasquatch to no avail. Beta Ray Bill breaks free of the Great Beasts that were swarming him and charges towards Sasquatch. Bill slams into him and the two begin to trade blows. As Bill attains the upper hand, Pointer declares he won't let anyone else be killed and interjects. He stops Bill before he delivers the final blow to a momentarily dazed Sasquatch. Talisman offers to try and talk to Walter, if he can even be reached inside the beast. It's hard to write Arachne instead Spider-Woman, and not just because it's a cooler name, but Julia really reminds me of Spider-Man in this mini-series. Her moves and posture have a very Spider-Man-esque look to them. She even gets his usual "Thwip" for her webbing.

Speaking of Julia, she amazingly holds her own against the Wrecking Crew. USAgent is...less successful. Well, unless he wanted Bulldozer to slam him face first into the pavement of course. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Arachne seals herself in a giant web ball.

As Talisman talks to Sasquatch, urging him to come to his senses, the effects of Tanaraq's illusions can be seen. Visions of an evil Talisman and the death of Alpha Flight haunt him as Tanaraq's spell sends him into a rage. Crying out for Elizabeth to help him, Talisman pulls out her father's Shaman Bag. She manages to wrestle the demon free of Walter as he fights against it to force it into the bag. However, to completely rid them of Tanaraq, the bag needs to be destroyed.

With the Wrecking Crew now de-powered, thanks to the sealed Tanaraq, they're easily subdued by USAgent weilding the Wrecker's mystical crowbar. With the Great Beasts attacking them in an attempt to get the Shaman Bag, Beta Ray Bill grabs it. He flies towards the dimensional portal that the Wrecking Crew had opened earlier in the museum. Pointer urges him to turn back, but he valiantly charges in, telling Pointer to seal the exit behind him. He reluctantly does as he's told.

Fully recovered and back in his regular orange form, Sasquatch confronts Thunderball with his ball and chain. Sasquatch begins to choke him out as a thanks for the torture he had to endure. Predictably, Sasquatch stops before crossing any serious line. I especially liked USAgent's expression as Thunderball was being choked. What a freak. With the Wrecking Crew in chains, everyone relaxes as Sasquatch goes to talk to Pointer. He thanks him for saving him from Beta Ray Bill and admits he understands that he was being controlled by the Collective when he killed Alpha Flight. He gives him his blessing as the new Guardian and tells him to make Canada proud as Pointer sheds a single tear. Only one this time though!

The title closes with Arachne's daughter telling her she released Pointer to give them the help they needed. Elizabeth puts the Talisman title on the shelf for a little bit as she returns to her tribe. USAgent continues to bust heads in Canada in the most convincing reason I've seen for him to be up there, and that's to keep America from looking bad. As for Beta Ray Bill? He's locked in an endless battle against the Great Beasts in the realm of Tanaraq. I feel sorry for the monsters.

General Comments

The book itself is pretty well put together. Oeming and Kolins keep up the great work and largely keep it a fun and accessible read. There's still question as to how the Great Beasts connect to Tanaraq conclusively. Outside of some visions shared by Talisman and Beta Ray Bill, there isn't any real answer given in the series. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say it just looks like Oeming wanted to use Beta Ray Bill in the title. Considering how fun his appearance was, I'm not too inclined to be too harsh on him because of that. Still, there could have been a better explanation.

With the mini-series coming to a close, the big disappointment was that it seemed more like Omega Flight with Beta Ray Bill. When looking at as the end of a mini-series, it was a bit unsatisfying. The main problem of criminals flooding to Canada is still a major problem, and I can't quite say Pointer has proven himself as Guardian to anyone aside from Sasquatch. However as a pilot for an ongoing, which seems incredibly likely considering the sales of the series, it's a fairly promising start. There's enough internal conflict to keep the dynamic interesting, and with the threat of villains swarming Canada, there's room for plenty of stories in the future. In the interests of being fair however, it's best to be conservative and look at this as strictly the end of the mini-series itself as the ongoing has yet to be officially announced. With that in mind, my initial somewhat disappointed judgment will have to stand. I don't mean to sound too harsh though, there are definitely a lot of fun superheorics in this title.

Overall Rating

A decent end to a decent series. Given a little more time, it could be a great ongoing. Then again, I'm only giving it the benefit of that doubt because this was a mini-series. This score would be a half web lower if this were the first five issues of an ongoing.