Ever wondered where the X-O armor came from, and for that matter who these hunters are that are burning up the Valiant comics in the new summer event? Ever wonder if it’s good?
X-O Manowar #27 (Valiant Entertainment)
If you’re looking for the Earth born and bred X-O Manowar you have come to the wrong place. This issue is a flashback and focuses on the early beginnings of the Armor Hunters attacking Earth in the other Valiant books right now. You do, however, get a ton of info when it comes to the X-O suit’s origin and a nice shining light on the heroic nature of the villains of the main event. Villains as heroes, you don’t say!
Killers or hunters? Two different things dude.
This issue does a few things right. The first thing is showing the scope of what the Armor Hunters were going through before they were the last ones standing. There were way more of them for starters, but the war on the X-O suits becomes more clear. Entire planets have fallen, and many hunters don’t come home. You also get a very good understanding of the leader of the Armor Hunters, Reebo, and it’s interesting to see him wide-eyed and ready for battle. He’s war-torn in the main event, but here he’s still excited to win this war against armors. Writer Robert Venditti captures the personality of Reebo really well, to the point where you can see how this young buck will become disillusioned and tired in the not-too-near future.
It’s not all exposition and intro though, as the comic quickly cuts to Reebo’s first hunt. We get to see all the Armor Hunters from the main event, plus many more that were obviously lost over the years. It’s a neat juxtaposition, because you root for Reebo now, even though only a few short weeks ago he blew up Mexico City.
The art by Diego Bernard is top notch as well. The man loves his speed lines—that’s for sure—populating his action scenes with them whenever he can. The dialogue-heavy moments indoors do get stuffy, and it’s a testament to the guy that the dialogue-heavy scenes outside are exceptional, but the pace does feel the stuffiness and slows down in these scenes.
A hunting we will go!
Is It Good?
If you ever wanted to get more info on the mysterious X-O suit you’ve come to the right place and it’s all revealed in a very Starship Troopers kind of way. The idea that these suits are incredibly dangerous and evil is very clear after reading this. Most importantly, the villains of the Armor Hunters series are given purpose and meaning.
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