Acclaim X-O

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armlessphelan
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Acclaim X-O

Post by armlessphelan »

So, I recently bought and read the whole series. It was... Fine. Nowhere near as interesting or ground-breaking as the story of Aric of Dacia, but it wasn't the dumpster fire of, say, Magnus. I even enjoyed quite a bit of the Unity storyline.

But it was a surface level comic only. Nobody had characterization beyond randy scientist or ego-driven tech genius. When it ended I didn't find myself missing any members of the cast. Or remembering the names of most of them. And this was Mark Waid and Dwayne McDuffie! At least the title had a consistent artist in Scot Eaton.

I've often read that this book (along with Shadowman and Quantum and Woody) were the highlights of Acclaim. And if the highlight of the universe is utterly forgettable then I can see why the relaunched tanked so bad.
Manga, comics, who cares? They're pretty much the same thing.

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by SwiftMann »

I recently re-read all of Acclaim over a couple months and agree with your assessment of X-O.

But anyone saying X-O, Shadowman, and Q&W are the highlights are crazy.

Q&W, yes. It holds up as a great book 20+ years later.

X-O is, as you say, "fine."

I thought Shadowman was absolute garbage.

Honestly, it was all the original stuff that fared better - Q&W, Doctor Tomorrow, Troublemakers, Trinity Angels (arguably). Turok and Solar had their moments of great fun, but also some duds. Bloodshot, EWs, Magnus, and Ninjak were all dumpster fires.
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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by Dallow Spicer1 »

SwiftMann wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45:39 am I recently re-read all of Acclaim over a couple months and agree with your assessment of X-O.

But anyone saying X-O, Shadowman, and Q&W are the highlights are crazy.

Q&W, yes. It holds up as a great book 20+ years later.

X-O is, as you say, "fine."

I thought Shadowman was absolute garbage.

Honestly, it was all the original stuff that fared better - Q&W, Doctor Tomorrow, Troublemakers, Trinity Angels (arguably). Turok and Solar had their moments of great fun, but also some duds. Bloodshot, EWs, Magnus, and Ninjak were all dumpster fires.
Weirdly I thought the Garth Ennis Shadowman (with Ashley Wood on art) was the best run that character has had. It was Vertigo-esque which was what I hoped Valiant do with that character again, unfortunately none of the VEI attempts have been remotely interesting. The current Acclaim 2.0 version of Valiant give the next run of Shadowman to Cullen Bunn after the very average (at best) Punk Mambo and , it beggars belief what they make decisions based on. :?

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by armlessphelan »

Dallow Spicer1 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:38:08 pm
SwiftMann wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45:39 am I recently re-read all of Acclaim over a couple months and agree with your assessment of X-O.

But anyone saying X-O, Shadowman, and Q&W are the highlights are crazy.

Q&W, yes. It holds up as a great book 20+ years later.

X-O is, as you say, "fine."

I thought Shadowman was absolute garbage.

Honestly, it was all the original stuff that fared better - Q&W, Doctor Tomorrow, Troublemakers, Trinity Angels (arguably). Turok and Solar had their moments of great fun, but also some duds. Bloodshot, EWs, Magnus, and Ninjak were all dumpster fires.
Weirdly I thought the Garth Ennis Shadowman (with Ashley Wood on art) was the best run that character has had. It was Vertigo-esque which was what I hoped Valiant do with that character again, unfortunately none of the VEI attempts have been remotely interesting. The current Acclaim 2.0 version of Valiant give the next run of Shadowman to Cullen Bunn after the very average (at best) Punk Mambo and , it beggars belief what they make decisions based on. :?
It was the Acclaim run that the video game was based on, no? That might play a role in the alleged fond memories.
Manga, comics, who cares? They're pretty much the same thing.

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by Phantom »

I enjoyed Shadowman Accliam, and I never played the video game.
I am kinda a fan of Garth Ennis, but not all his work. Hit and miss for me. But shadowman Vol 2 and 3 I quite enjoyed ( voil 3 not garth ennis)

I am a huge Xo fan from issue 5. After the dream sequence and xo bike stuff at end of original run, I really enjoyed the relaunch from acclaim.
Even re reading Vol 2 it I felt it was still good, maybe because I read it directly after re reading vol 1.

When the VE1 relaunched xo I was and am super happy. Perfer long runs of books, xo in the valiant universe seems to be the strongest keeping its tille running. Have not read recent issue 1 (heard such bad reviews, may pick up as a set off ebay.
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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by SwiftMann »

Dallow Spicer1 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:38:08 pm
SwiftMann wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45:39 am I recently re-read all of Acclaim over a couple months and agree with your assessment of X-O.

But anyone saying X-O, Shadowman, and Q&W are the highlights are crazy.

Q&W, yes. It holds up as a great book 20+ years later.

X-O is, as you say, "fine."

I thought Shadowman was absolute garbage.

Honestly, it was all the original stuff that fared better - Q&W, Doctor Tomorrow, Troublemakers, Trinity Angels (arguably). Turok and Solar had their moments of great fun, but also some duds. Bloodshot, EWs, Magnus, and Ninjak were all dumpster fires.
Weirdly I thought the Garth Ennis Shadowman (with Ashley Wood on art) was the best run that character has had. It was Vertigo-esque which was what I hoped Valiant do with that character again, unfortunately none of the VEI attempts have been remotely interesting. The current Acclaim 2.0 version of Valiant give the next run of Shadowman to Cullen Bunn after the very average (at best) Punk Mambo and , it beggars belief what they make decisions based on. :?
Ennis/Wood was only four issues of the 18(?) issue run. I noted those issues just gave a "hazy explanation of the set-up was too long and just devolved into obscenity for the sake of obscenity." And then most of it was undone/tweaked by Delano/Adlard. I think they may have been trying for a Vertigo vibe with the book, but, for me, it was a huge miss.

I did really like Vol. 3 though.

And, yeah, I'm at a loss for whatever VEI has been trying. There were moments in the original run. I know a lot of folks here liked the recent Diggle run (it didn't do anything for me). To me, VEI has spent WAY too much time trying to explain Deadside and make it logical and force the history of the characters. None of this stuff was the focus in the first three volumes, and while I didn't like Vol. 2, it wasn't straining at all times to explain everything.

Bunn will not fix this issue. I know folks always go back to "horror is what he does best." That may be, but it seems like just his horror without corporate guidance, cause I haven't read anything from Marvel or VEI by him that I've enjoyed.
"If you think any of these [older comics/shows/movies] do not carry a political content and is not using the medium of science fiction to explore real-world ideas, than you have not been paying attention." - Dan Abnett, VCR #246

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by betterthanezra »

I enjoy the Acclaim Heroes VH-2 quite a bit but no X-O isn't one of the strong books from that run..

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by Dallow Spicer1 »

armlessphelan wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:46:08 pm
Dallow Spicer1 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:38:08 pm
SwiftMann wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45:39 am I recently re-read all of Acclaim over a couple months and agree with your assessment of X-O.

But anyone saying X-O, Shadowman, and Q&W are the highlights are crazy.

Q&W, yes. It holds up as a great book 20+ years later.

X-O is, as you say, "fine."

I thought Shadowman was absolute garbage.

Honestly, it was all the original stuff that fared better - Q&W, Doctor Tomorrow, Troublemakers, Trinity Angels (arguably). Turok and Solar had their moments of great fun, but also some duds. Bloodshot, EWs, Magnus, and Ninjak were all dumpster fires.
Weirdly I thought the Garth Ennis Shadowman (with Ashley Wood on art) was the best run that character has had. It was Vertigo-esque which was what I hoped Valiant do with that character again, unfortunately none of the VEI attempts have been remotely interesting. The current Acclaim 2.0 version of Valiant give the next run of Shadowman to Cullen Bunn after the very average (at best) Punk Mambo and , it beggars belief what they make decisions based on. :?
It was the Acclaim run that the video game was based on, no? That might play a role in the alleged fond memories.
I think you might mean the 3rd iteration of Shadowman that Dan Abnett wrote?

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by armlessphelan »

Dallow Spicer1 wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 12:56:05 pm
armlessphelan wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:46:08 pm
Dallow Spicer1 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:38:08 pm
SwiftMann wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45:39 am I recently re-read all of Acclaim over a couple months and agree with your assessment of X-O.

But anyone saying X-O, Shadowman, and Q&W are the highlights are crazy.

Q&W, yes. It holds up as a great book 20+ years later.

X-O is, as you say, "fine."

I thought Shadowman was absolute garbage.

Honestly, it was all the original stuff that fared better - Q&W, Doctor Tomorrow, Troublemakers, Trinity Angels (arguably). Turok and Solar had their moments of great fun, but also some duds. Bloodshot, EWs, Magnus, and Ninjak were all dumpster fires.
Weirdly I thought the Garth Ennis Shadowman (with Ashley Wood on art) was the best run that character has had. It was Vertigo-esque which was what I hoped Valiant do with that character again, unfortunately none of the VEI attempts have been remotely interesting. The current Acclaim 2.0 version of Valiant give the next run of Shadowman to Cullen Bunn after the very average (at best) Punk Mambo and , it beggars belief what they make decisions based on. :?
It was the Acclaim run that the video game was based on, no? That might play a role in the alleged fond memories.
I think you might mean the 3rd iteration of Shadowman that Dan Abnett wrote?
I've actually never read any Acclaim Shadowman, so I genuinely have no idea what about it folks enjoy. XD
Manga, comics, who cares? They're pretty much the same thing.

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by dornwolf »

I rather liked the X-O/Operation Stormbreaker. Nice way of attempting to build a history for the version of the universe.

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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by SwiftMann »

Dallow Spicer1 wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 12:56:05 pm
armlessphelan wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:46:08 pm
Dallow Spicer1 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:38:08 pm
SwiftMann wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45:39 am I recently re-read all of Acclaim over a couple months and agree with your assessment of X-O.

But anyone saying X-O, Shadowman, and Q&W are the highlights are crazy.

Q&W, yes. It holds up as a great book 20+ years later.

X-O is, as you say, "fine."

I thought Shadowman was absolute garbage.

Honestly, it was all the original stuff that fared better - Q&W, Doctor Tomorrow, Troublemakers, Trinity Angels (arguably). Turok and Solar had their moments of great fun, but also some duds. Bloodshot, EWs, Magnus, and Ninjak were all dumpster fires.
Weirdly I thought the Garth Ennis Shadowman (with Ashley Wood on art) was the best run that character has had. It was Vertigo-esque which was what I hoped Valiant do with that character again, unfortunately none of the VEI attempts have been remotely interesting. The current Acclaim 2.0 version of Valiant give the next run of Shadowman to Cullen Bunn after the very average (at best) Punk Mambo and , it beggars belief what they make decisions based on. :?
It was the Acclaim run that the video game was based on, no? That might play a role in the alleged fond memories.
I think you might mean the 3rd iteration of Shadowman that Dan Abnett wrote?
Same version of the character in Vol. 2 and 3.

Game came out in March 99. First issue of Vol 3 wasn't until late July.

No clue what game play story was like, but I got the sense from the ads that it was based on the Wood/Delano run
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Re: Acclaim X-O

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

Phantom wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 11:31:00 am I enjoyed Shadowman Accliam, and I never played the video game.
Seconded. Acclaim's Shadowman is pretty cool and I never cared for playing the game either.


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