On The Shelf: @ValiantComics Preview of X-O Manowar #1 “Solider”

Deep within the far reaches of space, the dogs of war have found Aric of Dacia. Conscripted into an alien army and forced into combat, Aric must enter an alien battlefield unlike any he’s faced before. His only hope for survival is also the source of his greatest rage – the living suit of armor known as X-O Manowar.

On April 26th, “SOLDIER” –  the brutal opening story arc – continues as the most important Valiant debut of all time fights onward, only in X-O MANOWAR #2 – featuring covers by Lewis LaRosa (Bloodshot Reborn), Kenneth Rocafort (The Ultimates), Mico Suayan (Bloodshot Reborn), and Kaare Andrews (Astonishing X-Men)!

But first: Witness history in the making on March 22nd in the all-new X-O MANOWAR #1 – the FIRST ISSUE of THE EPIC NEW ONGOING SERIES from New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (Divinity, Ninjak, Mind MGMT) and a rotating cast of powerhouse artists – including Tomas Giorello (4001 A.D.: War Mother, Bloodshot Reborn), Doug Braithwaite (Armor Hunters, Bloodshot U.S.A.), Clayton Crain (Rai, Carnage), Ryan Bodenheim (The Dying & The Dead), and Mico Suayan (Bloodshot Reborn) – that together will span the series’ first year in 2017 and beyond!

Born under the oppressive thumb of the Roman Empire, Aric of Dacia learned warfare at an early age. It was amid such violence that he was abducted by an alien race. Forced into slavery, he survived where others perished. His escape would come from bonding with a weapon of immeasurable power: the X-O Manowar armor. With it, he returned to Earth…only to find himself stranded in the modern day.

But that was a lifetime ago.

Now, far from home on a strange and primitive new world, Aric has begun a new life. Liberated from his past, he tends to his crops. Free from war. Free from violence. Free from the armor.

But the machinery of death marches his way once again. Conscripted into an alien army and thrown into an unforgiving conflict, the fury inside him finds voice as he is forced to embrace the armor once more. With it, he will decimate armies, topple empires and incite interplanetary warfare as he rises from SOLDIER to GENERAL to EMPEROR to VISIGOTH. They wanted a weapon. He will give them war!

In the wake of “SOLDIER”’s staggering assault in issues #1-3, X-O MANOWAR then continues in 2017 and beyond as a superstar cast of Valiant’s most acclaimed artistic talents chart Aric’s path from SOLDIER to GENERAL to EMPEROR to VISIGOTH for a vicious, year-long journey of bone and bloodshed born from the battlefields of a herculean alien empire: