Review: X-O Manowar Vol. 1- By the Sword

Quick Summary

Pros: The story is very interesting and does a great deal to introduce a lot of concepts that will serve as the basis for the rest of the series.

Cons: This story is an introduction to the series and feels like it is such. Also, the art feels like it belongs in a superhero comic, not a gritty war book like this.

Overall: Like most series introductions, this book has to make sacrifices in order to tell the story that it needs to tell. It promises to deliver a story that feels like Iron Man meets Star Trek meets X-Files, yet is not there yet. Though not the best start to the series, this is one of the more interesting character origins in comics.

Story

The concept of this character and story are clearly this book’s finest points as they are extremely interesting and set up the series to do a lot of good in the future. However, this work suffers in that it feels like an obligatory starting point for this interesting concepts, rather than a good story on its own. Overall, this story is the opening act for the band you came there to see: they’re not bad and they sound alright, yet they are not the reason you bought the tickets and they are not who you are there for. Hopefully, our main event ends up being a worth the price of admission.

(spoilers start here)

This book’s biggest strength is in what it promises to deliver; this all starts with Aric. A mystical suit of armor, more powerful than any in the galaxy, that only can be wielded by the chosen one is already a good concept to start with. However, this story doubles down and puts that armor behind an alien cult only to have the chosen one turn out to be an ancient human. Then, the story triples down and throws the ancient human wielding the armor into modern day. This concept alone is dense enough to splinter off into hundreds of interesting stories, and it is not the only concept introduced in these short issues. Overall, this story ends in a very optimistic fashion, one that it will hopefully deliver on in upcoming volumes.

I also am extremely interested in the plotline dealing with the alien seeds who have infiltrated humanity. The concept of a secret society of aliens working behind the scenes to influence humanity and gain power sounds incredibly interesting, especially when you throw in the fact that the human/alien leading it seems less than enthusiastic about his job. This feels like something directly out of the X-Files and will hopefully be just as good. I am particularly looking forward to its reveal to Aric and/or the world and the effects it could potentially have. I think that this is shaping up to be the best part of this upcoming story.

The worst part of this book being an introduction is that it becomes a case of a book telling a story that is not the story it wants to tell. The collection’s end is a clear indication of that; the story improves dramatically as soon as Aric returns to Earth. Venditti clearly wants to be telling a story about Aric struggling with controlling the Manowar suit while also dealing with life in the 21st century, but in order to do so he must explain the background. Hopefully, this means that this first volume is a prelude to something better, which the final issue of this collection leads me to believe.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Overall, the art in this collection is alright, but does not seem to really match the tone that the book is going for that well. The book is  dark and grim throughout, with its tales of slavery, war, and death, yet the art does not reflect this. The art is bright for most of the book and features a wide array of light colors and somewhat cartoonish character depictions. While usually I would find no fault in this, it does not work for this book. I think the main problem here is that this is a gritty tale of war and struggle yet it is drawn and colored like it is a simple superhero story. Hopefully future volumes will be able to match the art a little closer to the tone.

However, there are some positives for the art as well. Scenes of the alien farm look extremely nice as they are full of the life and color that they deserve to be. The same thing goes for panels set in the modern day, being clear of war and suffering they end up serving for a should-have-been a nice contrast to the panels set in the past. In addition, the cover art for each individual issue is wonderful and is almost exactly what I would imagine for a work like this.

 

Continuity

Coming Soon.