“Why yes, it does hurt like heck. Call for an ambulance!”
X-O Manowar #3
Valiant Comics (July, 2012)
“The Road To Rome”
WRITER: Robert Venditti
PENCILER: Cary Nord
INKER: Stephano Gaudiano
COLORIST: Moose Baumann
SELECTED (BY COMIXOLOGY) COVER ART: Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic
LETTERER: Dave Lanphear
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Josh Johns
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Jody LeHeup
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Warren Simons
Now baring the Manowar, Aric takes the fight to the aliens, but their explosive kill all his associates. Aric confronts his kidnapper, but he manages to shake Aric off with more explosives. None of it damages the armor, which also restores Aric’s hand and allows him to understand the alien language. Blown into outer space, his thoughts of home cause the armor to teleport back to Earth. Only more time than he thought as past. It’s not the Four Hundreds AD anymore…it’s the 2010s AD. And the army may not be Romans in the way Aric knows them…but try telling him all that.
What they got right: The story and art are really good. I’m not sure what else to really say. Aric is a character you want to root for, as he ends up losing everything but gains “good armor” (instead of “good skin”, which I don’t remember if the original Valiant Comics had him calling it that but it was the name in the Iron Man crossover video game tie-in). I wonder if we’re going to see friction between the warriors and the religious caste, since in a sense the former cost them their most sacred relic/weapon.
What they got wrong: I hope they explain how Aric was able to live so long. Maybe the armor took that long and managed to sustain his life, or teleported into the future or something. We know years passed on the ship but 410 to 2012 is a really long time. Otherwise I won’t have anything to put here except I still don’t know the name of the aliens. Did I miss it? Are they called the Vine? That’s the closest I’ve seen to a name.
What I think overall: It’s strange. Usually the modern take is the darker, more violent one, but in this case I’m enjoying the 2012 version more than I did the 1990s original. I have one more issue to go to see if that changes because that’s the last comic in my comiXology library.
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