Review: X-O Manowar #11

It should be good to be the king.

Aric is the emperor of Gorin. He should be reaping the fruits of conquering an entire planet. Instead, when the issue opens he is single-handedly building an aqueduct stretching thousands of miles in an effort to end a famine devastating one of the three races on the planet he rules. It ends in a disaster worse than the famine.

It also places him in a dangerous place politically and personally. He needs to solve these crises quickly to avert a war between the three races. They are divided among each other one every issue. Aric failures to bring them relief is adding stress to the cracking eggshell of the society he hopes to create.

At this point there is only one thing they agree on: they need to get rid of Aric. But how do you get rid of the man who controls the X-O armor, the most dangerous weapon in the universe? They do the only thing possible, they bring in professionals.

The best bounty hunters in the galaxy know that they have to separate Aric from his armor. And in focusing on that part of the problem, they underestimate Aric himself. Despite that the odds have shifted greatly against him, if he is to save himself and his planet.

Matt Kindt and Ryan Bodenheim have wisely brought this part of the Aric“s story around to focus on his greatest weaknesses. He is a great tactician and guerrilla fighter. He is nearly invincible in the X-O armor and in battle, the armor can give his needed strategic advice which he can understand. But Aric, at heart, is still the battle chief of a band of Vandals.

He doesn“t understand the complexities needed to run a planetary government. He is used to being the guy who fixes all of the problems himself. He inherently distrust all his subordinates with any authority and has created a self-fulfilling prophecy. The people he needs to depend on distrust him as much as he does them.

Kindt (Mind Mgmt, Grass Kings, Ninjak) is great at balancing these issues against the action needed to propel the story forward. He is equally adept at showing that it is Aric“s own decisions that are turning friends to foes.

Bodenheim (Bloodshot Salvation, The Dying & The Dead) matches Kindt in his ability to show the complex emotions of the characters even while fighting. The looks on the faces of the refugees as they stream from the city ruins and the designs of the bounty hunters are laid out with equal skill and care. Valiant has always valued great art and even if the plot weren“t worth the cover price (and it is), Bodenhiem“s pencils and inks surely are.

I have always admired Valiant“s ability to tell individual stories that work within their universe as stand alone stories, but still function in their larger designs as well. This is a more coherent universe than either DC or Marvel at this point. It really is a shame that more people are not taking a chance on these books.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Ryan Bodenheim
Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
Cover Art: Lewis Larosa with Diego Rodriguez
Publisher: Valiant

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!