Unusual Heroes: Omni-Man (Lighthouse, 1989)

Readers of OTBP will probably remember my post about L.I.F.E. Brigade, a Blue Comet comic that was amazing in it's absurdity and amateur artwork. My most recent post, The Electronaut, featured a Canadian hero straight out of the 80's. Well, I've found a comic that just might rival both of those, and it's none other than Omni-Man #1! 

Born out of Lighthouse Publications in Brampton, Ontario with pencils by Rob Drew and story by John Sagness, the first issue kicks off with artist William Roberts and his encounter with Queen Vashti and the Omni-Power, and a bad case of hemorrhoids...

And just like that, William Roberts is the "awesome" Omni-Man. Now, time-out a minute. I remember the word "Omni" as being a popular phrase in comics in the 1980's...but what kind of power does it contain? According to the dictionary, Omni is a combining form meaning "all", which I guess means the dude now as "all-power". 

Now armed with the Omni-Bands, Omni-Man takes off for Queen Vashti's planet, eager to kick some barbarian butt!

Funny how the babes already know his name...

Quite possibly the lamest battle-shout ever?

I guess it takes the slaughter of hundreds of barbarians before someone decides to use the "cosmic disruptor staff"...

...and then they decide to throw the dude with "all-power" into the gladiator ring:

Omni-Man take out his challengers with ease as Queen Vashti takes out the Barbarian King, and they both take off for a romantic interlude in paradise.

 The Queen rewards Omni-Man by letting him keep the Omni-Bands, but he has a different reward in mind...

And that will be the last anyone will ever see of Omni-Man, as he is never to be seen or heard from again. Drew and Sagness disappeared from comics themselves a year later. The whole Omni-guy idea may have been incredibly hokey, but it somehow retains a classic appeal (such as the cheesiness of the early heroes in the 40's) that will take you back to 1989.