Image Credit: Cutaway Comics (Fair Use)

Image Description: The cover of Omega #4

Tides was provided with a free review copy of the comic

By James Ashworth

After three issues of space opera, politics and deep lore, Omega is now drawing its tale to an end with its fourth issue. More ambitious than its predecessor, Lytton, Omega has consistently delivered a compelling storyline and fantastic artwork since its debut some 10 months ago. As Princess Malika takes the fight to Omega himself, the series gives itself a satisfying ending that brings things full circle.

After three instalments set on and around the planet of Minyos, the fourth avoids it entirely in favour of uncharted territory. In some ways, this instalment functions as a bottle episode, connected to the plot of what went before but acting as something of a postscript for the series as a whole. It’s not entirely successful, putting the brakes on the story that went before, but functions well in telling its own tale. That said, it manages to bring things full circle with an ending that looks back to the state of Minyos before Omega ever became involved.

The character of the eponymous god is also explored in this story, adding more depth than ‘shouty man in a hat’ as presented in Doctor Who on TV. While the comic strip has already added new character detail, the portrayal of Omega as a petulant child stripped of his reasoning through isolation is one that adds depth while also resonating somewhat in light of the ongoing pandemic. Malika, meanwhile, maintains a sense of realism while remaining dead set on a mission of vengeance.

This mission is depicted, as ever, in loving detail by artist John Ridgway. It’s one of Cutaway Comics’ most beautiful series to look at, from the mundane to the fantastic. For issue four, the depiction of a giant beetle soaring through space is one that feels as though it shouldn’t work, but in the artist’s hands it does.

Martin Geraghty’s art for the backup strip, The Demons of Eden, shouldn’t go unappreciated either. The final confrontation with the Sarzok, which the series has been building to, lives up to the pressure that has been placed on it with some great artwork. The story also comes to a satisfying end, while leaving the door open for more to come on the future.

As the second series from Cutaway to come to its conclusion, saying that Omega currently leads the pack doesn’t sound as high a compliment as it should do. The combination of its excellent main story, and pulpy back up strip, have given readers four well-rounded issues exploring other stories from a Doctor Who-adjacent universe. With the loss of Bob Baker last month, it’s also does justice to the stories he created all that time ago.