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Omlevex is primarily a Mutants and Masterminds Superlink supplement (rather equivalent to a D&D d20 supplement; written by someone other than the main company but properly licensed). Within one can find game stats for heroes and villains, world background, the occasional new game mechanic, and a revised timeline for the supers age.
What makes Omlevex different from other such supplements (other than being hard to pronounce) is the way in which this material is presented. Omlevex is written in much the same way one might expect to see a DC or Marvel RPG (or Crossgen or Image; isn't is about time, folks?) to be written: it talks not only about the characters, but about their writers and artists, and the Omlevex company as a whole.
Was there ever an Omlevex Comics? Nope. But after reading this, you might be convinced there was.
Parenthetical note: astute and regular readers of the reviews may have noticed that Cynthia (this book's writer) did a review of my game as well. There's no mutual back-patting agreement here; we agreed to review each other's products before they even came out, and if they suck, we let people know it. What follows is an honest review.
Brave Heroes!
The heroes of the Omlevex universe are as varied as those of any comics world. There's a stuck-up actor whose friend builds him high-tech gizmos, a monster who loves his country, a superheroic superspy, a woman who fights monsters out of horror movies and fairy tales, and a three-member team that looks like they were taken off a random hero generator. (That's not a put-down, by the way: the Avengers look that way too. Example: "I'm a Norse god!" "I talk to ants!" "Let's hang out together!" Whee!)
There are a good number of sidekicks, love interests, and supporting characters listed for each of these heroes, None of them are statted out, but that's ok; they don't really need to be. If one of them ends up in combat, it's because someone's holding onto them and saying, "Now you must do as I bid you; else your girlfriend will fall into the Pit of Doom! Bwahahahaha!" A few brief character notes are what they give you, and that's all you really need.
All of the characters have a strong Silver Age feel to them, from their sample dialog to their motivations to their tactics. Notes are given for "modernizing" the characters; see my comments on that below. There's not too much in the way of innovative heroes, but then again there's not supposed to be.
Dastardly Villains!
This is probably what most people want out of the book; a bunch of foes to throw at their heroes. There are 38 statted out here, and each hero also has about 5 minor villains whose stats aren't listed. Again, the Silver Age feel is strong in most of them, especially people like Grunn ("Bridger of a Thousand Worlds!") and The Russian Gargoyle. Some of the villains are a bit wacky for my tastes, but then I flipped through some old JLA issues and found Kanjar Ro and his Gamma Gong, so I'm gonna shut up about that. There are a good number of innovative villains in here, from creepy to tragic to just messed in the head.
I have to give special recognition to American Gargoyle's concept here. His comic supposedly featured the main villain almost as often as it featured the hero, and with a villain like Jonah (and that freaky little living voodoo doll that follows him around) that would make for a pretty cool comic. I wish the major companies out there would do that sort of thing more often.
The notes for "modernizing" the characters (both villain and hero) seem a bit extreme to me. It seems to take them into the dark early '90s of comics instead of to the modern-day renaissance of heroism. Most of the modernization notes would make the characters suitable for inclusion in Punisher, a Vertigo comic, or any of the old Image blood/death/kill titles. Maybe in Authority or Ultimates.
Kirby Buttons!
That's a comics fan in-joke, that is. See those big buttons on Thor's outfit? On Mister Miracle? Them's Kirby buttons. Jack Kirby, one of the great early artists of the Silver Age (now sadly passed away), did that. And while no one in the book has those buttons, you can still feel his influence on the art. Basically all of it would fit quite well as a comic book panel or cover.
The layout is rather good too. There are practically no glitches, the headers stand out nicely (and their font fits well), and everything is quite legible.
Gushing Fanboys?
Interspersed in all this material is comments about the "creators" of the Omlevex universe; those who (never) wrote and (couldn't have) drawn the characters in their early appearances. While it might seem like this is just a gimmick, it's actually kind of useful. You get more of an insight into the characters and the world this way, and find out why Man-Cactus looks so friggin' goofy. My god, so friggin' goofy. The Stan Lee-esque hype is... well, I have no great love for Stan Lee, but it's certainly appropriate to the period.
It's also nice to have the notes about the early "issues" of these comics. Why? It helps establish a timeline, and gives your own heroes places to interact with these guys.
But wait, there's more!
Omlevex is primarily a Superlink supplement, thus it has stats for Mutants and Masterminds games. However, those who look at the top left of the cover will also see the Silver Age Sentinels and Champions logos, and that's not just for show. The final pages of the book have stat blocks, for every single character, for SAS and Champions. That's a really nice touch for fans of those games.
There's a chapter about the country/protectorate/whatever of Metazon, where a lot of the action happens. It's a chain of islands off the coast of Georgia. It's also the size of Colorado, according to the map (which shows Alaska smaller than Texas). It's an acceptable setting, I suppose, but there's far too much happening in not enough area. The central island (largest of the chain) is spooky and dangerous and lawless. The eastern one is modern and industrial. The western one is a tourist trap. The southern one is a continuous battleground between the US and (of all places) Cuba. The northern one is a magical nexus. Oh, there's a floating high-tech capsule city between the central and southern islands, too. There's just too much happening nearby for me to believe that tourists would risk their lives flying near a magic-tainted war zone.
There's also a good section for Players and GMs about games set in the Silver Age. The best part of it, in my opinion, is an excerpt from the Comics Code and the reduced version of it that Omlevex followed. A page worth of suggested source material follows.
Will Our Heroes Survive?
Here's what it all boils down to:
Style: 5. Excellent composition, solid writing, proper art. The only way this could have been better is if it were in color... and on shoddy newsprint. Just kidding about the last one. Good work.
Substance: 5. Very solid work. I was considering giving it a 4 because of the setting, but the inclusion of SAS and Champions stats boosts it back up.
In general, this is a really good supplement if you're planning on running a game in the Silver Age. Golden, Bronze, and Modern Age games won't get quite as much use out of it, but it certainly gives you a lot to work with. Worst comes to worst, you have over three dozen villains to fill up the ranks of the Masters of Doom. Well worth it.
