X-O Manowar #1 Review

Valiant, the little company that made it’s presence felt in a big way, is back. Is the greatness back too? Today I will be reviewing X-O Manowar #1. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

X-O Manowar #1

So let’s talk about the book. It begins with a huge battle between the nomadic Visigoths and the militaristic Romans. The Visigoths are heavily outgunned and outnumbered and their king sounds a retreat. Aric, his nephew, refuses to run and instead decides to attack with a pack of men. After an initial few kills due to surprise, the Romans regroup and start massacring Aric’s forces, even mortally wounding his father. Aric flees to his village. However, when there is a report of Roman pursuit, Aric launches a counterattack. The sight that greets him though is not one he expects. A huge ship with some strange creatures wearing some strange armor come out and engages Aric. They easily overpower Aric and his men and take them captive. When Aric wakes, he is bound and being herded. After some quick thinking he manages to escape with one of his men. They go to a chamber where they observe a ritual being performed. Some alien like armor forms itself around one of the alien captors and then proceeds to kill him. The armor rejected the alien as a wearer. He is then caught once again and taken to his cell where he contemplates a plan on getting some of the alien’s weapons. Including that armor. And that’s the book.

So let’s talk opinions. VALIANT IS BACK!!! And it is back in a great way. For the record, I was a huge valiant fan. I had and still have the majority of the entire valiant universe. I also try out every Valiant related title every time it was brought back such as the Solar and Magnus series’ from Dark Horse. Whether through lack of story, lack of origin, too confusing a plot, or too much reliance on the reader knowing the character, those books failed. This one is very different. This title is new reader friendly. It doesn’t matter if you know who Aric or X-O Manowar is or not, this book will allow you to get to know them from the ground floor. This is an origin book. That is how a new universe has to start. With an origin. Aric’s origin is pretty damn cool for now. If you are a Conan fan, or a science fiction fan, this book is gold for you. Especially with Cary Nord, the former Conan artist doing the artwork for this book. Cary is a veteran of medieval times and sword battles. He is really good at putting a lot of detail in every panel. There really is a lot going on in every image and it definitely gives you pause. Especially in the sense of how grand his scenes are. The layouts for the battle of Pollenta are a perfect example. You can see the depth of each image as his characters are all excellently placed. Some are clearly in the front and others in the back. Their faces look amazing as well. But enough about the amazing art. Let’s talk about the awesome story. How about the non-stop action from cover to cover? How about the huge war in the opening pages? How about those freaky aliens? We really didn’t get too much of that in the original X-O series. To be honest, I really don’t want to compare the two as most people will. I want this book to stand alone, which it clearly has the ability to do. If these emotionally filled action packed stories are any indication of the direction that the new Valiant universe is heading, then you can call me a fan from day one. I can’t wait for what comes next. That’s my opinion folks. Take it or leave it.

More X-O Manowar @ acomicbookblog.com/tag/x-o-manowar

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