Publishers Weekly reports that Marvel Comics has snagged Jonathan Lethem to “reimagine an obscure but highly regarded comic from Marvel’s past: Omega the Unknown.”
The comic, originally by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, debuted in 1976. Omega was “the highly evocative tale of a mysterious and silent superhero; a lonely boy named James-Michael Starling who discovers that his dead parents were actually robots; and the strange bond that grows between them in the sometimes-brutal Hells Kitchen of ’70s New York.”
Lethem has credited the comic as one of his influences, and referred to it in his 2004 novel The Fortress of Solitude. Now, to celebrate the rebirth of the comic, Marvel has made the first issue available for free at this link. The new Omega the Unknown has art by Farel Dalrymple and color by Paul Hornschemeier.