X-O MANOWAR #1

The all-new Valiant Universe kicks off with a landmark, oversized # 1 issue of X-O Manowar by New York Times-bestselling author Robert Venditti (The Surrogates, The Homeland Directive) and Eisner Award-winning artist Cary Nord (Conan)!

Born into battle, Aric of Dacia — heir to the throne of the Visigoth people — has never known peace. After a brutal encounter with a mysterious enemy known as The Vine leaves him a prisoner on an alien world, the only hope Aric has of returning to his family and saving them from slavery is to seize a weapon of incalculable destruction and become X-O Manowar!

Story by Robert Venditti
Art by Cary Nord
Cover by Esad Ribic

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 2.5%

Reviews

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Xavier Bautista05/21/12NoRead Review
TheHopelessGamer05/03/12NoRead Review
xoman05/03/12NoRead Review
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Avg Rating: 4.2
 
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Comments

  1. Gimme gimme now now now.

  2. This week is finally here!!!

    Valiant is back!!!

  3. I’m thinking this will probably be awesome.

  4. Anyone know if this is going to be available digitally anywhere? I’m interested in this (never read it as a kid, but I can remember seeing ads for it all the time in Wizard magazine), and want to check out this first issue if possible.

  5. World’s first talking comic!!!

  6. I’m so excited for this book!!!

  7. I only heard about this relaunch last night, and I’ve never read any Valiant books before, but I find myself oddly excited about all four books. I can’t wait for this!

  8. This is going to be GREAT!

  9. My most anticipated book of 2012! I have been waiting 20 years for this. haha
    Heard in an interview w/ the guys from Valiant … the new books will be available first only in Comic Shops then digitally later this year, and eventually day and date, but for now you’ll have to run to your LCS to pick this gem up. This is gonna be epic!

  10. The FCBD book is great too, so grab that on Saturday! If you’re familiar with old Valiant, it has some GREAT teasers at the end!

  11. I missed out on Valiant the first time round. I was just getting into comics and the Ultraverse was my universe of choice. This time round though I am completely on board for the Valiant books. The Marvel and DC comic characters have become too inelastic. No matter what the writers do with the setting, the characters have to stay the recognisable brands that the movie watching / game playing / cartoon watching person can jump into. I can’t wait to read a cohesive universe of books where characters can evolve in any direction, where change can come at anytime without the necessity to change back.
    Oh yes, I am looking forward to this and Harbinger and Bloodshot and A & A.

    • My thoughts exactly!

      Marvel and DC has become very limited in their story telling possibilities. Stan Lee would probably not be allowed to killed Gwen Stacy in the modern Marvel U. Likewise for DC.

      That’s why I’ve been preferring books from Image, Oni, and Boom lately. True change can and does happen.

      And that’s why I’m excited about the return of Valiant!!!

    • Avatar photo filippod (@filippodee) says:

      Ah the Ultraverse… I was so sad when Marvel acquired it.

  12. I hope Valiant does well with this relaunch, but I remember not liking Valiant at all back in the 90s so I think I’ll hold off on picking this up until I see some reviews. I’ll buy the one Swierczynski’s writing, though.

  13. I know there is a lot of blind excitement, but with a pretty much unknown writer I can’t see how everyone is so sure this will be awesome. I’m coming in with low expectations and if it proves me wrong I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

    • It’s not “blind excitement.” Here are several early reviews from other sites:

      BrokenFrontier.com – “must have”

      ComicBook.com – “sets the stage for a long, bloody and exciting first arc”

      ComicBooked.com – 9.5 out of 10

      ComicBookResources.com – 4.5 out of 5

      CosmicBookNews.com – “relish every page and yearn for more”

      Examiner.com – 9 out of 10

      InsidePulse.com – 8.5 out of 10

      Multiversitycomics.com – 8/10 and 8.5/10

      OnlyTheValiant.com – 4.5 out of 5 (four reviewers)

      RevenantMedia.com – 5 out of 5

    • Pete, I think you misunderstood me, I was saying the people here and elsewhere who have not seen or read it were already going a bit over the top for it. Early reviews are OK, but to be taken with a pretty big grain of salt. All I was saying is that it is cool to be excited but to maybe keep it in check with the fact that I guarantee none of these people even have read anything the writer has done previously… mainly because he is mostly unknown. He may turn out to be great. I love indie and creator-owned stuff so I hope nothing but the best for this book and any others.

    • Venditti has some clout. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Venditti#Bibliography

      I think a lot of the excitement is from people who remember Valiant the first time around. They came in like gangbusters. Sadly, some poor creative/editorial/business decisions, along with the decline of the comics industry did them in.

      I read the FCBD issue when it got to my shop. It was really good. I’m excited about this Valiant relaunch for quite a few reasons. Nostalgia, creative teams, and I just love cool comics.

    • Firevine, I’m aware of his bio… only two things there people could have read: The Surrogates and The Homeland Directive. The rest were just editing or adaptations, etc. I personally don’t know anyone that has ever read anything by this guy and I asked on a number of sites and in my shop when this was first announced, no one had ever read either of those two books. Anecdotal but I can’t imagine there are big Vendetti fans (yet) out there. I think you hit the nail squarely on the head though an mix of anticipation and rose-colored nostalgia glasses more than anything to this point, I will be picking mine up shortly to see how it actually pans out.

  14. I’ve been waiting half a year for this book. Couldn’t be more excited

  15. Read this tonight. This was totally worth the wait. I wish #2 was coming out next week.

  16. Picking this up as soon as the shops open. It’s amazing that Valiant is embracing digital and releasing their both on the same day. I have a feeling they are going to have killer first week sales.

  17. Brilliant, unseats Daredevil #1 as the best book I’ve read all year. I can’t believe only 250 people are pulling this one

    GET IT NOW

  18. This was awesome, I’m so glad I picked this up on a whim to try it. I didn’t even know Cary Nord of Conan fame was handling art until I read it…just didn’t look at any previews or anything. I’m not at all familiar with the original, so this is all brand new to me and it’s an excellent first issue entry for anyone enjoying a great adventure comic.

  19. I lied in a previous comment about Earth 2 being the first I read this morning. This one was. After Twitter exploded about this comic over the weekend, I just had to pick this up. SO GLAD I DID. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and I can’t wait to read the other titles Valiant has coming out this summer.

    Everyone should pick this up!

  20. I’m a huge Valiant fan, absolutely loved this comic. Cary Nord’s art is a-mazing, and I love all the subtle changes Venditti made to the story so far.

    Cant wait til Aric gets the “Good Skin”! The other titles can come soon enough.

  21. I got even more excited when I was Eternal Warrior and Rai were coming back too. With Archer and Armstrong and Bloodshot coming back I had a feeling EW and Rai would return, since those books are kinda related.
    More stories like Unity I’m ready for, Checkmate not so much. Lol.

  22. Really enjoyed the return of X-O. I am also looking forward to the return of some of my favorites from the Valiant universe. The Eternal Warrior is coming back at the end of the year. Really great to have Valiant books being published once again.

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