Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got four new comics:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

”X-O Manowar” Issues 1-6 by by Robert Venditti and Cary Nord (1-4) and Lee Garbett (5-6)

Valiant Comics are back and this is my first review of one of them. I pretty much ignored Valiant back in the early 90s but bought a couple of their titles in the Acclaim years in the middle 90s. This go around is a whole new relaunch so there is no reason to worry about having to read any of the old stuff. They’re starting fresh. Not that I would have worried about not having read the old stuff anyway.

”X-O Manowar” starts out as one kind of comic before it turns into a more of a superhero story. The story begins way back in the Roman Age with a battle between Rome and some Visigoths. Things happen, aliens show up, and a former Visigothic warrior ends up in the 21st century wearing the sacred X-O armor of the aliens. That’s the story of the first three issues. How a sword wielding Visigoth becomes a slave of aliens and then gets super powers. It’s kind of historical fantasy/sci-fi.

After X-O gets back to our time the story becomes a little more familiar. Aliens have secretly infiltrated the Earth and are going to take over. Or already have taken over. Or something. X-O and whoever else can figure out that the aliens are there have to stop them. Nothing I haven’t read before but pretty well done.

The art on X-O both by Nord and Garbett is good stuff. I don’t think I’ve heard of Garbett before but I think I might like his artwork more than Nord’s. They’re both good at the illustrative super-hero stuff. The coloring and lettering are both pretty well done too. Overall Valiant has done a good job with it’s first relaunched book.

The only quibble I have is that the first few covers were less than enticing. They were dark and boring. But at least the insides were good. Give X-O a try if you’re looking for a good sci-fi super-hero comic.