Thankfully after my initial flick through, I was relieved to discover that this wasn't a take on Grant Morrison & Steve Yeowell's Zenith (of 2000AD) not some gritty/surreal Vertigoesque fare. Instead we have the mysterious Doctor O calling upon the services of a group of retired superheroes who reluctantly agree to capture some escaped super villains for him. So far. so typical superhero fodder. However there are lots of intriguing questions left unanswered along with some promising character interactions, which make Eden's claims in the introduction to issue 1 that this is a 'Super human Soap Opera' more believable.
When Eden cuts out the unnecessary cross hatching & keeps the linework simple, the artwork looks very effective, at times reminiscent of early (pre-Kane) Paul Grist. At times the art may seem a bit crude & sloppy but Eden's saving grace is his strong use of patterns from check shirts to the flow of Grace's hair. Martin isn't afraid of using a lot of black which helps the compositions become a lot bolder. So he may not be as slick as the Image style boys but unlike them he knows how to tell a story. However I did spend sometime pondering over where he cribbed some of his poses from.
Reuben Willmott.

O Men #1

A soap opera with superhumans as the characters is basically how Martin himself describes the O Men. You'll note the term superhuman rather than superhero as Martin states that his characters, "do not run about all of the time in skin-tight costumes". The creator does his utmost in the prologue to inform the reader that this is not your usual superheroes vs. superbaddies stuff. If this was/is the intention why is it that by page 12 the three main characters (previously of a now defunct superteam) are fighting it out with a group of supercriminals for the remainder of the book? It all seems to be standard superhuman fare with the odd bit of swearing thrown in to make it a little more street. Perhaps the soap opera part will become more obvious in the rest of the series.
The art is not too bad. It is clear throughout and gets too the point in most frames. I found the character and costume design a tad boring. This may have been a conscious decision by the creator to get away from the pants-over-the-trousers effect but he may of gone too far in the opposite direction.
If you're into the genre then this may be worth watching. Personally, a comic in this genre has to be pretty special to hold my attention. This did not. There is nothing intrinsically bad about the comic but nothing to mark it above anything else either.
scruff

The three reunited members of a disbanded superteam are back again. Still on their final mission to capture five dangerous escaped criminals.
The thing that surprised me about issue 2 of the O Men was that the artwork has already started to improve. The clarity and use of space is far better than issue 1. This made the whole comic a far easier read. There is a far more developed use of black.
I still believe Martin's claim of a soap opera has yet to hit the mark. There is nothing in the story that differs from the usual darker superhero tales. Every supertale shows some of the 'normal' life of its hero(s) and the story in The O Men is no different.
The O Men is developing nicely. If a little more thought gets put into the soap opera side of it then this may appeal to many people. This one gets a thumbs up for potential.
scruff