X-O Manowar

Gather 'round, children, and let me tell you a tale of times past. Back in the days before the Internet, back when you could not read through a disturbingly thorough summary of any comic book character and/or lightsaber fighting style anytime you wanted, we got our information from Who's Whos and Official Handbooks, and by gum, that's how we liked it. Nowadays, even in this more modern era, Valiant is keeping the dream alive with Valiant Universe Handbook 2016, a compendium of information that'll bring you up to date on characters like Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Faith, and of course, Ninjak. Really though, the only fact you need to know about that dude is that he rules. Check out a preview!

X-O Manowar, the story of a barbarian king who gets a suit of alien power armor and just goes on a rampage with a lightning sword, is one of the single best premises in the history of comic books. And apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so. Since Robert Venditti and Cary Nord relaunched the series in 2012, chronicling Aric of Dacia's battles against the Vine, Ninjak, and other worldwide threats, the series has racked up sales totaling one million copies.

Legendary comics artist Colleen Doran is contributing a gorgeous variant cover to the landmark 50th issue of Valiant's X-O Manowar. Her cover, seen above, is an homage to Michelangelo's sculpture The Pietà, with the titular armor in place of Jesus Christ. The mix of sci fi and Celtic fantasy imagery (not to mention the androgynous white-haired figure), while appropriate for X-O Manowar, is also reminiscent of Doran's own magnum opus, A Distant Soil.

It was only yesterday that we covered the upcoming 50th issue spectacular for Valiant's X-O Manowar, and the news that the publisher will be marking the occasion with a jam cover featuring fifty different artists doing their takes on Aric of Dacia and his high-tech alien armor. At that time, we only had the names of five of the artists involved, and while getting a close look at their versions of X-O was pretty great, it left me wondering what the whole thing would look like when it was all put together. But now, I need wonder no more. Today, Valiant has revealed the full cover and the full roster of creators, and it's pretty great. Check it out below!

Ever since Valiant returned to comics in 2012, X-O Manowar has been the company's flagship title --- and for good reason. The idea of putting a visigoth from barbarian times into a suit of high-tech space armor and letting him just basically destroy everything that makes him angry with a sword made of lightning is pretty great. Now, though, the relaunched X-O is closing in on its 50th issue, and to celebrate the occasion, Valiant has hinted at a jam cover that will involve 50 artists doing 50 different takes on Aric of Dacia and his radical space armor. Today, we've got a close look at five of the artists participating: Colleen Coover, Dave Bullock, Ramon Villalobos, Michael Walsh, and Pere Perez.

If you're like me, then you've probably looked at the eponymous suit of armor in the pages of Valiant's X-O Manowar and thought, "Yeah, okay, it's an indestructible suit of space armor that has wrist-rockets and a lightning sword, but wouldn't it be better if it was a hundred feet tall?" If that's the case, well, I have good news, bad news, and worse news. The good news is that we're finally going to see what that looks like when Valiant's 4001 AD Summer crossover explodes into an X-O Manowar one-shot next week! The bad news is that, as the title indicates, it's not actually going to happen until the 41st century. The worse news is that it happens in a version of the future that's generally described with words like "ruination" and "despair," where people probably aren't doing well enough to appreciate how rad it is to have a giant robot. But we can, if we would only check out a preview below!

Here's the nice thing about the world of X-O Manowar: Everything is labeled in a very convenient manner. I mean, just look at the man himself: He's a warrior from barbarian times --- a literal man of war --- flying around in a high-tech exo-suit. And the Vine, the alien race that kidnapped him from barbarian times? They're essentially just cosmic gardeners although their idea of "pruning" tends to involve killing all humans. It's a very straightforward way to keep track of everything. So when a new group shows up with claims of being a legendary, omnipotent force from beyond the stars, you really hope that they're going to be named something like "The Niceness" or "The Friendlies," or maybe even "The Make-You-Some-Pancakes Bunch." Unfortunately for Aric of Dacia, though, they're called "The Torment," and when X-O Manowar #47 hits in June, from Robert Venditti, Joe Bennett and Roberto De La Torre, they're probably going to live up to that name. Check out a preview (with some unfinished but beautiful art) below!

Valiant Comics' shared superhero universe is smaller and less familiar than those of its major rivals, but even a small shared universe can offer a lot to learn about. To help those readers looking to take the plunge into the Valiant Universe, we’ve assembled our own team of delinquents to break things down. Steve Morris knows Valiant inside out; J.A. Micheline is new to the universe. Micheline has the questions, and Morris has the answers. Over the last month Steve has introduced JAM to the superpowered Harbinger team and the brainwashed assassin Bloodshot. For the next assignment, though he set JAM homework of a more cosmic nature --- the flagship Valiant series X-O Manowar. If that wasn't enough, it's also finally time to talk about the British Enigma that is Ninjak. She gamely accepted the mission --- and now they're back to talk about it!

When it comes to shared comics universes, most people turn their mind straight to Marvel and DC, publishers that have mastered the concept over several decades. But a few years ago, Valiant Comics came roaring back, relaunching themselves for a contemporary audience, and providing a simpler superhero universe to get to grips with. Yet even a small shared universe can feel like a lot to learn about, and readers may have held back from taking the plunge. To help those readers whose curiosity has been piqued, we've assembled our own team of 'delinquents' to break things down. Steve Morris knows the Valiant Universe inside out; J.A. Micheline is completely new to the universe. Micheline has the questions, like what exactly is a "psiot", and who is that bloke in the blue and yellow helmet, and why is everybody so afraid of a goat; and Morris has answers. We hope.

As you might have gathered from the title, Valiant's big Book of Death crossover has been a bit of a downer, especially the issues where we see what's become of the Valiant heroes in the near future. It has not ended well for pretty much any of them, a sad fact that has taught us that not even Ninjak is immune to the ravages of time. That's why it's nice to see the relatively peaceful future of Book of Death: The Fall of X-O Manowar, by Robert Venditti and Clayton Henry, where there's a beautiful museum in Italy devoted to all of Aric of Dacia's many achievements in giant monster hunting. If the preview below is any indication, then we're finally going to get to enjoy a look at this horrible future that's just a peaceful day out. Oh, and also there's some aliens trying to murder him with a spear, I guess, but other than that...