The Russian mutant supervillain Omega Red is a remarkably distilled embodiment of the X-Men’s transition out of the 1980’s and into the 1990’s. Codename Omega Red, real-name Arkady Rossovich is Russia’s equivalent of Wolverine, Weapon X, but from the foundation of a serial killer.
Debuting in X-Men #4, in a story by John Byrne and Jim Lee, Omega Red is the very first supervillain the X-Men face after Chris Claremont’s final written issue in 1991 after an approximate 16 year tenure as lead writer for all things mutant. Red looks like Ivan Drago had a three-way baby with Doctor Octopus and the spirit animal powering all of 90’s Image Comics. He’s also a wonderfully over-the-top vampire super-soldier with the mutant ability to secret death pheromones. [Read more…] about The Essential Omega Red Reading Order!