Earlier this year, in an interview with the AV Club, Jonathan Lethem briefly mentioned that he was working on “kind of an emo comic book” for Marvel Comics. The first issue of that comic–part one of a ten issue run–came out back in October, prompting me to go to a comic book store–something that I haven’t done in years. Lethem’s Omega the Unknown is essentially an update of the original Omega the Unknown series, written by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes with art by Jim Mooney. The original ten issue run was published by Marvel Comics twenty years ago.
Lethem’s Omega the Unknown centers on robotically erudite teenager Alex Island and his new life after the bizarre death of his parents (who turn out to be–gasp!–robots). Alex has a strange (and still unexplained in the first three issues) relationship with a superhero who doesn’t speak, but who seems to be watching over him, protecting him from alien androids who are out to get him. Also watching over him after his parents’ deaths are a callow young nurse and a cynical social worker. All the while, local Brooklyn “superhero” The Mink tries to figure out how he can turn this new superhero and his robot villains into an opportunity for more publicity.
I haven’t read Marvel comics in over 15 years, but Omega the Unknown is quite a bit better than even the best comics I remember reading in the late eighties/early nineties (um, Chris Claremont’s X-books). Still, despite its introspection, lack of huge splash pages or silly, purposeless fights, Omega is deeply entrenched in superhero terrain: this isn’t an indie comic. Also, I was able to wait a week between reading issues two and three, even though I had both of them in my possession–compare this to a “superhero” comics like Alan Moore’s Watchmen, which I had to read in one sitting.
Farel Dalrymple’s art is fantastic, especially given Marvel’s current penchant for anime-inspired overly-muscled cartooning. Dalrymple’s figures recall many of my favorite artists, capturing the quintessential stark simplicity of Jack Kirby’s squarish hulks and the wild energy of early John Romita Jr. coupled with the attention and detail to line Art Adams always puts into his illustrations.
I’ll continue to pick up the issues of Omega the Unknown, but so far, it’s hardly essential Lethem, or, for that matter, essential comic reading. Still, for now, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
Biblioklept 
I’ll take your word for it—for now—but I find it hard to believe that Marvel has published comics better than Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men.
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Here’s more on Claremont’s run.
http://thoughtsonstuff.blogspot.com/2006/03/x-men-wrapping-it-up.html
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Damon, I’m going to backtrack a little here in the comments section. It’s unfair to compare three issues of a limited series with Claremont’s decades of work over literally dozens of different comic book series. Claremont’s work on was revolutionary–too bad he didn’t own any of the characters he molded/created. The X-books–particularly the early New Mutants series w/ art by Bill Sienkiewicz–took up a too-large part of my ample spare time circa 1988-1991. The blog that you post above is a great write up of Claremont, and I won’t elaborate further; I will, now, clarify my hyperbolic statement “quite a bit better than.” First off: no, it isn’t, not by a longshot (uh, Longshot was a better limited series, by, ta da, Claremont). However, the dialog and pacing are superior to much of Claremont’s work, particularly in Omega’s lack of exposition via thought bubbles (a necessary device for Claremont’s complicated soap opera). I suppose I just meant that Omega doesn’t “force” the reader (think Frank Miller’s early work here, where the reader is not told “hey, this is what’s going on now”). Still. I relent, I reneg: Claremont was the master. Too bad he’ll never get the credit he deserves, and the general public will think the X-Men synonymous with those awful awful movies.
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