Image credit: Valiant Comics
XO Manowar completely passed me by when this character and the series debuted in the early 90’s. I had already moved away from comics. Part of the reason was that the manga was already becoming gimmick-heavy, and that it was becoming overly mature and edgy, emphasizing style over content.
However, Valiant Comics, which I rejected at the time, seemed to be going completely against industry trends. Sure, their works could sometimes turn into something edgy and needlessly violent, but for the most part they were well written and good looking from an artwork standpoint.
Of course we know that now. And while I’ve been reading a lot of Valiant comics that I’ve missed, there are a few that really stand out as my “new” favorites.
XO Manowar is one of them. This is the story of Aric of Dacia, an ancient Visigoth warrior who is abducted by aliens. After escaping their clutches in biomechanical armor and a bit of resourcefulness, he returns to what was then modern Earth in the 1990s.
This omnibus collects just under half of the original XO Manowar series, plus some additional material for context and continuity purposes. As I mentioned in my review of XO Manowar #1, the series gets off to a strange start with an escape and very little useful detail, but if you start reading from #0 (also included in the omnibus, but published much later) everything is given a lot more context.
With so many issues involved, there’s a really good sense of progression here, and the long-form storytelling is really compelling.
Aric’s workmate Ken Clarkson is treated rather harshly, and (unfortunately) homophobia rears its ugly head, but the fact that the series has such a prominent gay character feels especially unique given the era in which it was created. It’s a shame that he was shown to be untrustworthy and dishonest early on, even though he becomes a character that later on starts to be portrayed in a more positive light.
Far more positive, however, are elements such as the well-handled anti-corporate subsidiary storyline, the brief switch to female XO Manowar (and the fallout from it), Arik’s bromance with Native American dinosaur hunter Tullok, and the continued battle with the aliens.
Oh, and let’s not forget the truly horrifying body horror, as I mentioned in my review of XO Manowar #30.
Unity’s crossovers have some weird diversions, but they’re extremely unsatisfying without the rest of the story continuing. This is something that unfortunately plagues most early Valiant collections. Especially since Unity wouldn’t be the most appealing crossover anyway.
That said, this is a really good book to dig into, and the character’s unusual, fish-out-of-water nature, coupled with the sometimes intergalactic, but often pretty grounded, Iron Man-style action, makes it a great foundation for the series. Each successive writer and artist seems to have done a good job of writing the main characters and their extended cast, with not only Tulloch making guest appearances but also other denizens of the Valiant Universe. Armorines also debut here before getting their own series.
If you’re a comic book fan who wasn’t able to read Valiant back in the day, I thought this was the perfect way to do it. It takes advantage of the strengths of a shared world while still bringing the protagonist front and center. I loved it so much that I continued reading it past issue 30 thanks to the fact that the entire series is available at GlobalComix for no additional charge if you have a Gold subscription.
I’m not trying to make this an advertisement for GlobalComix or anything, but the fact that so many complete Valiant series from multiple eras are available as part of a Gold subscription makes this service incredibly value for money.
Anyway, XO Manowar: Great. This omnibus is a great read and I’m glad I finally caught up with it after over 30 years. I think I’ve said it somewhere before, but it’s better late than never…
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