Quick recap of OMAC history

[tib2d2]

Let me see if I have this right.

OMAC debuted in the 70s from Jack Kirby as a guy in the future who gets superhuman abilities from the Brother Eye satellite.

The series was cut short and cancelled.

A mini series came out in the early 90s to "finish the story" of Buddy Blank the OMAC.

Then right before Infinite Crisis a new version of OMAC debuts as mindless drones under Brother Eye's control.

Then in the New 52, a new OMAC is introduced with a new guy who's given powers by the Brother Eye satellite.

That sound about right?

[TheMaker1610]

Let me see if I have this right.

OMAC debuted in the 70s from Jack Kirby as a guy in the future who gets superhuman abilities from the Brother Eye satellite.

The series was cut short and cancelled.

A mini series came out in the early 90s to "finish the story" of Buddy Blank the OMAC.

Then right before Infinite Crisis a new version of OMAC debuts as mindless drones under Brother Eye's control.

Then in the New 52, a new OMAC is introduced with a new guy who's given powers by the Brother Eye satellite.

That sound about right?

Interestingly enough, the OMAC 1st series story was continued in some "Warlord" issues, before COIE, but it didnt get a proper ending as the book itself was cancelled too (sigh)

Also you have 2 takes of New 52 OMAC
The 1st take, is the one you just mentioned, a normal guy given powers by the Brother Eye Satellite (before it went rogue, and told batman to screw himself, which didnt get elaborated upon for some reason lol)
And the 2nd one, is the one for n52 Future´s End weekly, which shows it again as a mindless puppet for Brother Eyes machinations in that timeline

After that, there were no further appearances of OMAC as far as I can recall (but brother Eye made a cameo in Tec recently)

[Jim Kelly]

The original OMAC was a prequel to KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH. In Kirby's version, Buddy Blank lives in a near future dystopia, like Orwell's 1984, and he becomes OMAC (One Many Army Corps). After the Disaster (which Kirby never fully documented and only hinted at all the root causes), old Buddy Blank is living in Command D with his grandson--the only fully human survivors of this apocalypse; when the grandfather dies, the last boy on Earth sets out on his odyssey from Command D.

But where Kirby had a lot of time to write and draw KAMANDI before others took over, his run of OMAC only lasted eight issues. Jim Starlin did the one back-up in KAMANDI 59 and then the first three back-ups in WARLORD.

[Robotman]

Kirby originally came up with the concept when he was still with Marvel. He had wanted to do a “Captain America in the future” story. So instead of the super soldier serum, Steve Rogers or his descendent would gain powers from the Brother Eye satellite. He was able to bring the concept to life as OMAC during his time at DC.

[K. Jones]

Particularly in the run up to Infinite Crisis, and in several of the follow-up stories after it, various retcons and flashbacks to historical DCU definitely gave a lot of HINT-HINT, WINK-WINK nods to various government programs that would eventually end up being the original "near future" OMAC stories by Kirby, tying the universe together somewhat. Even Infinite Crisis's Batman Brother Eye that keeps recurring in modern continuity (continuities) is typically referred to as "Mark 1" sometimes to signify that it's a precursor, an earlier model of the benevolent spy satellite we'll later get in Kirby's original storyline.

1. Original OMAC is Buddy Blank, a young technician in the near future that's conscripted by the Global Peace Agency and Brother Eye to fight dangerous reploids and monsters.

2. OMAC Project results on loads of nanotech OMACs running amok in the DCU assimilating people, basically just an A.I.-based borg zombie trope. End result is mostly that Batman shouldn't make paranoid spy satellites, and Sasha Bordeaux gets nano-tech.

3. OMAC follow-up follows Michael Costner, "The Last OMAC" and his travails with an increasingly HAL9000 Brother Eye.

4. REMAC shows up in the pre-R.I.P. Batman and the Outsiders stories, as a reprogrammed I.C. OMAC that ends up merging or absorbing the brainwaves of Batman's ally Salah Miandad, until it's sabotaged and destroyed, heavily implied to be part of the R.I.P. assaults on Batman.

5. Countdown to Final Crisis has Paul Dini trying to shoe-horn in just about everything, including sending Jimmy Olsen to Cadmus where a Buddy Blank is doing Brother Eye stuff in the present, not the future, basically cramming a lot of Great Disaster near future stuff into present-day DCU. It didn't really work, or tie into what Morrison was trying to do with Final Crisis - but Final Crisis involved Morrison using Rucka's Checkmate, which had access to Global Peace Agency stuff, including Kit-Bash "BIOMACS" (fully android) and a supercomputer called LORD EYE (that most likely had some version of Maxwell Lord's brain inside). Also in his Earth-51 Kirby/Kamandi universe, BIOMAC tech existed and powered Ben Boxer (Kamandi cyborg character.) Finally in Final Crisis, in one of Rucka's side stories, Checkmate resisters are able to use dormant OMAC Project OMACS to fight back against Darkseid's Justifier technology. And following this and Maxwell Lord's revival, they return once again during Brightest Day, including an OMAC PRIME (mega combiner) that he sends to try to get revenge on Wonder Woman.

6. New 52 OMAC is a new kid named Kevin Kho. While the story has tropes associated with the Universe Relaunch and "NEW & DIFFERENT" histories, it effectively works at telling a story where Brother Eye, relaunched alongside the universe and entirely confused or bemused by the changes in the timeline, uses the kid for its agenda - of course, conspiratorially everyone else ever has a hand in it - New 52 Max Lord, New 52 Apokolips, New 52 Anyone-and-Everyone. This kid as OMAC is hijacked by the Crime Syndicate and the Suicide Squad. Later he becomes friends with Blue Beetle. This kid has appeared in Rebirth.

7. Brother Eye returned with OMAC tech in Detective Comics, as Rebirthy timeline patching had resulted in Future Evil Batman Tim Drake bringing Brother Eye tech back with him, and events led to The General, Ulysses Armstrong, classic Tim Drake enemy, getting his hands on the ability to make One-Man Army Corps. This is technically an Alt-Brother Eye - an Alt-Future version of the Pre-Flashpointed Brother Eye. But hell, it's still the same Crazy Paranoid Batman-Built Mark 1 Brother Eye we all know. Turned Colony soldiers into OMACS and Tim Drake into a BATMAC before Stephanie Brown saved the universe. These are effectively just a reprise of the OMAC Project nanotech OMACs. I thiiiiinnnnkkkkkk this was the last appearance of OMACs in the DCU?