COMIC BOOK REVIEW: X-O Manowar #0 – Valiant Beginnings
You might be wondering who or what an X-O Manowar is? You are not alone. X-O Manowar started its original run in the early 90’s – also known as the Dark Ages of comics and graphic novels – a time where artists and writers are pushing their new creations left and right while some are […]
You might be wondering who or what an X-O Manowar is? You are not alone. X-O Manowar started its original run in the early 90’s – also known as the Dark Ages of comics and graphic novels – a time where artists and writers are pushing their new creations left and right while some are killing-off iconic characters. X-O Manowar was hidden into obscurity because of this and only reached his height of popularity because he was in an Iron Man game.
It is not uncommon today to see reboots, retcons or origin stories. Fortunately, X-O Manowar #0 is not any of those. It tells the story of the Aric of Dacia -a warrior from the 5th century –before he acquired the sentient relic known as the Manowar to become one of Earth’s greatest champions. That was according to the recap page, which was short, thorough and friendly to new readers – an example a lot of other publications could learn from.
We all know what attracts new readers, right? A nice great cover art! X-O Manowar #0 does not fall short on this. Even from afar, as you check the comic book stands, one would not fail to notice this beautifully drawn cover – where a man in a suit is standing (for lack of better words) valiantly as he wields an energy sword while the sun rises behind him- and in large fonts it simply says X-O Manowar. Simple yet bold on its own- it educates potential readers that this is X-O Manowar and he is awesome. Also, he has an energy sword and to make remind everyone he’s not an Iron Man rip-off.
X-O Manowar #0 was made by the amazing collaboration of artists – penciler Clay Mann (X-Men, Gambit), inker Seth Mann, colors by our very own Romulo Fajardo Jr. (Batman: Eternal, GI:Joe) and written by Robert Venditti (The Surrogates, Green Lantern). The first 2 pages of this book just stunned me. I had to stop reading to check if it was consistent and it was. The artwork, colors and panels was amazing. Not what I was expecting, as most of the times, we are misled by books having amazing cover art and be disappointed by sub-par interior artwork. It was so great that the artwork and panel sequencing itself would have been enough to tell readers what is happening. The artwork was spot-on as the characters and background are very detailed combined with excellent colors and shading – one would simply notice that each panel has its own unique mood.
As the saying goes, “You can’t have it all.” The plot of the story was very simple and lacks depth. Acceptable and somewhat expected, as it is a pre-origin story. As I said before, you can tell what was happening without reading the dialogue and just view the artwork. Most conversations were not necessary and not impactful to the story. As the climax of the story was on its peak, it was abruptly stopped and the story marched into the present time where Aric – wearing the X-O Manowar suit was fighting a being named Pestilence with his energy sword leaving no explanation or whatever as the issue ended.
X-O Manowar # 0 is a great attempt to captivate new readers. The combination of stunning artwork and simple plot can attest to that. I, personally, got hooked into X-O Manowar because of it and I’m reading back-issues because of it and will definitely watch out for upcoming issues. I wanted to give this a highly recommended rating but I didn’t like the plot/story progression. The story feels cramped and forcefully contained to not affect current and planned plots. If there was a X-O Manowar # 0.1, I would definitely read it just to see where the story goes. I’m giving it a 3.5 stars. (Originally 4 but had to deduct half a star for lack of energy swords in the issue.)
