Countdown to Infinite Crisis - The OMAC Project

看過了兩部較為冷門的Countdown故事，這次閱讀的The OMAC Project可不能同日而語。

先從WIKI把故事提要搬過來吧：

Blue Beetle is dead, Booster Gold is in the hospital, and the Checkmate organization, led by Maxwell Lord, continues its mysterious operations against DC's superheroes. Booster Gold wakes up and, after learning of Ted Kord's disappearance, decides to investigate with the help of Wonder Woman.

OMACs (Observational Meta-human Activity Construct) have been spotted all over the world and have managed to kill several metahumans. Batman and Wonder Woman investigate the OMACs while Booster, after meeting Guy Gardner in space, decides that he would rather investigate Ted Kord's disappearance with other former members of the Justice League International.

Interwoven through this plot are scenes detailing the power struggle within the Checkmate organization itself. Checkmate is led by the White Queen, White King, Black Queen and Black King, each of whom have Knights of corresponding color. Through his machinations, Black King Maxwell Lord becomes the only leader of the organization, despite being double-crossed by one of his own Knights, Sasha Bordeaux.

Lord is then killed by Wonder Woman (in the pages of Wonder Woman #219) to prevent him from continuing to direct the actions of a mind-controlled Superman. Brother Eye, the artificial intelligence directing the OMAC drones, initiates a protocol specifically designed to be used in the event of Lord's death and OMAC drones worldwide begin to wreak havoc and destruction.

Sasha herself is transformed into an OMAC-like being, powered by nanotechnology. Rocket Red #4, a former member of the Justice League Europe, sacrifices himself in order to destroy several drones and save the lives of his friends.

Batman and Sasha then work with the remnants of Checkmate and other government organizations to lure the majority of OMACs to the Sahara Desert. There, as OMACs gather to attack a large number of gathered heroes, Batman activates an EMP device that disables all of the OMACs, allowing their human hosts to be freed. However, the Brother Eye satellite is still hidden and has about 200,000 OMAC's still under its control.

Brother Eye overrides all television screens around the world and broadcasts Wonder Woman's killing of Maxwell Lord. People don't understand the circumstances, only that they're watching Wonder Woman murder a recognized Justice League colleague.

As the series closes, Brother Eye prepares to launch an all-out war against metahumans to protect humanity. Batman works furiously to disable his rogue creation, while Wonder Woman and the Amazons of Themyscira face international backlash over Diana's brutal means. Brother Eye's campaign against the Amazons leads into Infinite Crisis #1.

本作中出現的角色，大多都是極有名氣的重點人物，加上劇情緊湊，所以本作算是多部Countdown中最大路者，新手必定會喜歡的。

造成這次事件的主因，來自Batman對其他英雄的不信任。這又得牽涉到Identity Crisis，Batman被同伴們消去記憶，但最終知道此事，於是決心研發一種系統，能大規模地監視英雄與壞蛋們的舉動，為此他甚至製作了一個私人衛星作為這個系統Brother Eye的基地。然而同樣對英雄抱有不信任感的Maxwell Lord知道了Batman的行動，入侵了系統，把Brother Eye變成自己的私有物，並製作了一大堆的OMAC以執行自己的計劃。這則是Batman意想不到的結果，英雄們也因而遭到OMAC的攻擊，昔日的同伴都就這次的危機之予頭指向Batman。多麼有發揮空間的故事呀。

此外，英雄與英雄對決的劇情已成為了每次大事件的指定動作。能夠操縱人心的Maxwell Lord這次玩弄著Superman的精神，使他誤以為Batman是殺害了他的妻子和朋友的Brainiac / Doomsday / Ruin的化身，以致最終把Batman打成重傷，加劇英雄間的不信任。不過Superman暴打敵人的情節都不在本作中細述，想仔細地看看他與「宿敵」的對戰，則要閱讀Sacrifice這個故事線了。

最終Superman被Wonder Woman暫時制伏，後者得知要讓Superman從精神控制中解放出來的唯一手段就是殺死Maxwell Lord，於是她果斷的扭斷Lord的脖子。Superman對此感到驚訝和憤怒，事實上WW在她的漫畫中也表現出各種負面情緒，雖然自稱不後悔，但在私下向在Batcave養傷的Batman尋求諒解，也只被Batman一句get out打發，WW內心的感受不言而喻。超級英雄殺人，這本來已是個震撼彈，但更要命的後果還在後頭——Brother Eye把WW親手殺死Lord的片段向全世界直播，這一下普通人民對超級英雄的懷疑與恐懼上升到最高點，也不知道後續的發展了。而WW殺人的這一幕，也成為了漫畫迷不時提起的經典。

其實本作中出現的反派OMAC和Brother Eye都是「借屍還魂」的。OMAC是個古早的英雄角色，但早已被人遺忘，這次他以另一個背景、另一個外型重生，倒是個成功的例子。Brother Eye在過去是OMAC的助手，這次他華麗逆轉，成為了OMAC的創造者，而據我所知，由於Brother Eye的能力可謂無所不能，在之後也成為了DC經常拿出來使用的大魔頭，算是吐氣揚眉了。

話說OMAC的造型簡單得來卻很有存在感，我認為是個成功的設計。在設定上OMAC刀槍不入，知悉各英雄的特長和弱點，故也殺死了一些英雄如Rocket Red等等，當他們在空中大規模集結時，天上一片藍海，沒有Blue Beetle的大型EMP機器可無法收拾他們。然而OMAC也有著一個匪而所思的弱點，在Robin的其中一期，一位女英雄把箭射中了OMAC胸前的「眼」，她解釋不知何故，若OMAC沒有發現她，她的箭就能對OMAC造成傷害，然而一旦OMAC留意到她了，箭枝就無法起效。我還以為OMAC的外甲是一直保持刀槍不入的狀態，想不到會是這個設定，那麼只要事先埋伏突襲他們不就好了？不過在本作中並沒有提到OMAC的這個缺點，那我就先無視他好了。

在本作中的「女主角」Sasha，身為Batman的女友，又是Checkmate中為Batman效力的間諜，在本作中的戲份頗多。然而，她在故事的尾段被Brother Eye入侵，成為了另一種OMAC般的存在，雖然仍能保有個人意志，但全身都被納米機械所覆蓋，左眼是Brother Eye的紅眼標誌，老實說，有點醜。然而，這是否表示DC世界中又誕生了一位超級英雄？但我可沒印象在之後的漫畫中出現這號人物，也許我要繼續追看才能知道了。其實我想說的是，Batman的女友數量真的多不勝數，其後繼者Dick Grayson不停與其他女性角色發生關係也是師傅傳授的技能對吧。

總括而言，本作是一部大堆頭的作品，劇情不算複雜但節奏緊湊，加上一大堆有名英雄的演出，本作絕對是不能不看的作品，讀起來非常順暢，也讓人有興趣繼續追看其後續故事。

80分。