OMAC #7 (September-October, 1975)

Wearing darling little red sled shoes, OMAC walked across a lake bed newly bereft of water or surviving aquatic life. Among the dead fish and drooping coral, OMAC found a small opaque rectangular bar sinking into the soft earth. When he tried to pull it out, the weight was too much for him. Even with his strength increased tenfold by Brother Eye, OMAC could barely lift the bar, and began sinking himself. With the last of his vitality, OMAC managed to leap to firmer ground, but the impact collapsed the lake wall and knocked him unconscious.

Over Madras Bay, a clear bar was dropped from a flying red contraption. On contact with water, the bar began collapsing the entire bay into itself. Marine life was crushed “by its own atoms… which cannot reduce as fast as the water.” The filled bar was picked up by the red ship, and hauled into a “weight neutralizer.” The scientific mind behind all of this, Doctor Skuba, was assisted in donning “neutron-gloves” by his fawning daughter and son-in-law, which allowed him to pick up and store the bar by hand.

OMAC awoke at the rest center of the Global Peace Agency, where he was briefed by Peace Agent 430 about Doctor Skuba and his bars. OMAC had managed to carry the compressed atoms of Lake Aragon, which was then left “where it belonged” at the insistence of Brother Eye. Although not explicitly stated, the satellite presumably restored Lake Aragon before aiding OMAC in locating Dr. Skuba’s secret lair.

Upon approaching a large volcanic rock isolated by the sea, OMAC’s flying vessel was suddenly twisted into debris. OMAC dove a thousand feet into the drink, while Skuba watched him through a viewing monitor. Apollo, Skuba’s son-in-law, wanted to kill OMAC before he got any closer. Seaweed, Skuba’s daughter, took a shine to OMAC. “This man looks so… interesting! So… deliciously dangerous.” Skuba had determined from OMAC’s craft that he was with the GPA, and recognized the atom-manipulation that created OMAC as similar to a process he had employed on his children to make them more attractive and virile. Skuba knew how to reverse the effect, and while OMAC stood upon the rocky plateau of his base, a beam stranded him as Buddy Blank once more. Unaware of his new life as OMAC, Buddy began calling for help…

“The Ocean Stealers!” was by Jack Kirby with D. Bruce Berry.