“Do you think you’ll ever be safe? That you’ll ever be able to reach your full potential?” The voice of D’Spayre haunts our protagonist, Omnya’s dreams. “You yearn for rest, for focus in your life. But it will never come.” She fears the voice is right.
Creative Team
Paul Allor (Writer), Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque (Penciler, Inker), Larry Molinar (Colorist), Joe Sabino. (Letterer)
Published by Marvel Comics
An Ancient Evil
We meet Omnya, a high school science geek, shortly after she’s been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Most often diagnosed in children, this disease, dubbed “the pissing evil” by a bonafide legend in the 17th century in Europe, has been around most of recorded history.
The earliest recordings of the disease are from 1500 BCE, nearly 1000 years before the birth of Cleopatra. Until about 100 years ago, this was a death sentence. Stumping scientists and doctors for millenia. It wasn’t until 1921 that scientist Frederick Banting successfully isolated the hormone insulin. In 1922 it was successfully administered to 14 year old Leonard Thompson, the first person in history to do it to ‘em. Respectfully. Banting and his team sold the patent to the University of Toronto in 1923 for just one dollar. Forgoing fortune, he famously stated, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” The discovery earned him a 1923 Nobel Prize in medicine. And the rest is history.
Fast forward to 2025, fellow diabetic comic writer Paul Allor (Marvel Rivals), in collaboration with Omnipod, created Omnya, a high school genius and inventor. When we meet Omnya, she is still adjusting to life after her diagnosis. Her restless sleep and self doubt are attributed to diabetes, but something isn’t adding up. The voice of D’Spayre haunts her dreams.
A Waking Nightmare
Omnya, determined to reach her full potential, brushes off the voices taunting her. Her bedroom walls are covered in Iron Man posters and ideas for new inventions she can tinker with in her backyard lab. “I have too much to do!” She laments.
D’spayre’s words hit very close to home for anybody who’s gotten a curveball thrown at them by their own body. The enemy within will always be there. “Do you think you’ll ever be safe? That you’ll ever be able to reach your full potential?” For a brief one-shot comic, there is not a word wasted. This book leaves you wanting more. Or maybe it just leaves me wanting more?
A lesser known but still fierce Marvel villain, D’spayre is a 20,000 year old demonic fear lord, created by the Dweller in Darkness. According to Marvel’s website, “He can instill great fear by touch, though he prefers to act indirectly and cause his victims to generate their own fear by filling their mind with illusions of terror and despondency.”
Being virtually invulnerable, D’spayre has battled some of Earth’s mightiest heroes, bringing them to heel with but a suggestion of their weakness and incompetence. Among some of his most notable foes are Spider-Man, Cyclops, Rachel Summers, Daredevil, and Doctor Strange.
Superheroes, especially in the Marvel continuity, more often than not are dealing with common issues readers can easily empathize with. In stark (pun intended) contrast to these extremely human hurdles our heroes must overcome, they make way for some of the most fantastical and mind bending stories ever told.
I can tell you firsthand, dear reader, that type 1 diabetes sucks. At its best, diabetes is a quick finger prick and a brain teasers worth of calculations for a snack. At its worst, diabetes can be isolating, frightening, draining, and embarrassing. There are no breaks, and there is no cure yet. While it is never specified where on Earth our hero lives, and we don’t know how healthcare works on Earth-616, something this brief comic shies away from is the immense cost of this disease. Understandable, that our high school aged hero wouldn’t be taking on the for-profit system currently plaguing diabetics worldwide. They’re keeping it as lighthearted as possible, and I can’t fault them for it.
Omnya works with her doctors to get the tools she needs (an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor) and is able to discern between her own despair, and the voice of D’Spayre. She gets to work on inventing sonic gauntlets, the only way she will be able to send the ancient demon back to where he came from. When she’s ready, she gloves up and becomes (the great and powerful) Dyasonic.
Read it and Weep…
The comic is free to read here, and I would love to hear your thoughts.
When the comic was released, every Instagram post including an official Dyasonic gif or sticker, Omnipod pledged to donate $1 to Children With Diabetes, up to $25,000.
Check out more from the NI team about Marvel Comics
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