The OMAC Project (Countdown to Infinite Crisis)

With a nod to Jack Kirby's One Man Army Corps, The OMAC Project continues DC's inexorable path to Infinite Crisis. In addition to the OMAC Project miniseries, the trade paperback begins with the 80-page issue Countdown to Infinite Crisis, in which Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, investigates some financial troubles but discovers a huge plot to eliminate all "meta-humans" (that's superheroes to most of us). Attempts to involve the Justice League are unsuccessful, and with buddy Booster Gold unable to help, Kord sets out on his own. The OMAC Project might be the most engrossing of the four stages of the Prelude to Infinite Crisis. Like the rest, it can be confusing without encyclopedic knowledge of the DC Universe (and two of the interacting characters are almost indistinguishable from each other), but a background page on the key characters helps significantly. Written by (among others) Greg Rucka, with art by Jesus Saiz, Rags Morales, Cliff Richards, and others. Not included is the 2006 one-shot follow-up. --David Horiuchi