Re-Reading: X-O Manowar #0

A week-to-week plan is available for re-reading VALIANT from the beginning...
start anytime, go at your own pace.

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How would you rate this book?

10
4
19%
9
2
10%
8
7
33%
7
3
14%
6
1
5%
5
1
5%
4
2
10%
3
1
5%
2
0
No votes
1
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 21

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xoken
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Re-Reading: X-O Manowar #0

Post by xoken »

I thought we could do a book a day (that way people can read one every day or catch up on weekends), talk about it on its own, in the context of whats next, in regards to what expectations it creates and vote on how good it is. I don't have to be the one that posts everyday. If I miss a day or if someone wants to take over please do

For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.

Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.

Somehow I forgot to post this one in release order :oops:

X-O Manowar #0
Image

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Todd Luck
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Re: Re-Reading: X-O Manowar #0

Post by Todd Luck »

xoken wrote: Somehow I forgot to post this one in release order :oops:
Well, in continuity, you would read this before issue 1. Unlike Shadowman 0, their's no "modern day" part to that story that places in it with the issues that were being put out at the time. So it really doesn't matter when it was put out.

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Post by Zardoz »

I really didn't care for the Elvis as the Map Giver. Jim Morrison might have been a better choice. :wink:

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Post by muzzsucker »

Zardoz wrote:I really didn't care for the Elvis as the Map Giver. Jim Morrison might have been a better choice. :wink:
wow elvis, jimmy & steven tyler all appeared in valiant comics.

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Re: Re-Reading: X-O Manowar #0

Post by magnusr »

Great art, a story that spans the years and space. We get to know and understand Aric. Maybe there's nothing that echos the greatness of the early comics, but it's a nice read and it is based on what we know since before. I like it!

/Magnus

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Post by Daniel Jackson »

This is one of my favorite of all the Chromium covers. I liked the story as well. I think seeing Elvis as the map giver was a very cool idea. It was around this time that the whole " Elvis may still be alive "TV specials and books were coming out. So I thought it was rather fitting for them to put a Valiant twist on what really happened to the King.

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Post by Todd Luck »

At long last we witness the bioforging of the Manowar armor...hey what a minute...did it just pop out of tree?!? :o Wow, that's...underwhelming. :|

The rest issue is part barbarian cliche, part anal explaination for a lot of aspects of the character no one cared about, and part going through the motions, following all the things we already know. We really don't learn anything new except that the mapgiver is Elvis (some jokes are best left in the office). Their's no particular twist put on any of it and the story just feels uninspired and incomplete. It feels like set up (or follow up depending on your point of view) to the original X-O barbarian issue (which is way better).

Sorry, this issue just doesn't connect with me story-wise. I think Quesada's art is great but I'm grading how it reads. A 6.

Continuity Notes: It's recton time agian kiddies!

Unlike the explianation given in X-O 2, Aric's not put in suspended animation for 1600 years, instead it's a time dialation thing where 1600 gets rolled into only a few for him. I think mainly it's just so they could have work in an alien slave camp (leave no cliche unturned guys!)

And so Solar does fight the fleet over Earth. But over in Solar he's no where near Earth when he's fighting the fleet. We have to assume he caught up to them around Earth, they stopped to fight him, and then he somehow lost them again.

This seems a bit unnessary. We've got a fleet fast enough to travel between planets and loose a being who can travel at the speed of light. It's really easy to believe that Aric could've started his trek through the monsteriously huge ship when they were near Saturn fighting Solar and have made his way to the X-O by the time they were passing Earth on the way out of the system. Oh, well :|

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Post by xoken »

X-O #0 is a special book both for its successes and its failures.

There is no doubt in my mind that this cover is a masterpiece. An example of the pinnacle of the art in its modern form. I don't think Joe Q has every done better and now that he's fat and draws all his characters fat I don't think he ever will.

More on the cover - the coloring plays a vital role. The Valiant crew must have realised what they had when this piece came in because it looks like they told the colorist to take the week off and just work on this one piece. The levels in the explosions under Aric alone are great. Behind Jay jay's work on Alpha & Omega this cover is my fave Valiant coloring job.

Even more on the cover - this is the only book I can think of where chromium is a necessity. The mix of an armored hero and a metal cover are perfect, the shine the metal gives to the art makes this thing an amazing book to own even for people who hate comics.

But a great cover alone does not make a book. So how is the inside?

The art is top notch. More great work from Joe Q, especially the panel design (just look at the use of negative space between panels to extend more important panels) and the level of detail.

The story has its strong and weak parts. I agree with most of what Todd said but that doesn't mean I hate it all.

Yes, the barbarian first half is cliche (it's practically a rip off of the opening to Conan the barbarian!) but I love it.

Yes, the creation of the X-O armor is beyond lame. I get what they were trying to do by connecting the origin with the aliens worship of nature but this is a first draft idea and the editor should have never let it stay.

Yes, Elvis should have stayed an office joke. While I found it amusing 10 years ago, today I can't stand to look at him.

Yes, not much is added by the story elements (the one new thing that I did like about the story was the map being carved into aric's hand) but the art adds a lot to the mythos. This is the first instance of the most famous x-o manowar pose, aric as a captive in that crucified position is fantastic, and solar destroying the alien ships without using energy beams or whatever but just little bits of solar magic while stuff blows up (that's the way solar should work) to name a few. And Joe Q's Deidre is possibly the most beauty female in the valiant universe, followed by Bernard Chang's Carmen and Sean Chen's Leeja.

Yes, there are major continuity questions that arise and like the origin of the X-O I wish they were fixed but the rest of the book is top notch and these things are the only ones keeping me from saying 10.

One of my very favourite Valiant books a high 9

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Post by Todd Luck »

xoken wrote:(the one new thing that I did like about the story was the map being carved into aric's hand)
It's probably just the wording that's confusing me. Do you mean seeing the map actually being carved into his hand was new? Aric has a map already carved into his hand in X-O #1.

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Post by xoken »

Todd Luck wrote:
xoken wrote:(the one new thing that I did like about the story was the map being carved into aric's hand)
It's probably just the wording that's confusing me. Do you mean seeing the map actually being carved into his hand was new? Aric has a map already carved into his hand in X-O #1.
that's right I looked again and he did :oops: I did think it was too cool an idea compared to the rest of the book.

Check this out here are pages from whats supposed to be the original script. They show you just how bad the story telling was in the prologue, I've read this book 20 or 30 times and there are panels in the begining that I only just understand now.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=19346

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Post by Daniel Jackson »

xoken wrote:
There is no doubt in my mind that this cover is a masterpiece. An example of the pinnacle of the art in its modern form. I don't think Joe Q has every done better and now that he's fat and draws all his characters fat I don't think he ever will.
I agree, it’s definitely one of his best pieces if not the best.

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Post by Todd Luck »

xoken wrote:
Check this out here are pages from whats supposed to be the original script. They show you just how bad the story telling was in the prologue, I've read this book 20 or 30 times and there are panels in the begining that I only just understand now.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=19346
You keep listing problems with the issue and then you give it a 9. I bet you'll give Solar 50 a 10 :)

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Post by xoken »

My two main problems are the opening (which I somehow manage to ignore everytime I read it) and the Elvis thing. The rest I know could have been so much more but I actually like the way it was done ie the barbarian cliche's

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Post by Daniel Jackson »

Todd Luck wrote:
xoken wrote:
Check this out here are pages from whats supposed to be the original script. They show you just how bad the story telling was in the prologue, I've read this book 20 or 30 times and there are panels in the begining that I only just understand now.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=19346
You keep listing problems with the issue and then you give it a 9. I bet you'll give Solar 50 a 10 :)
Ha, ha, ha... he got you there, man.

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Post by xoken »

Daniel Jackson wrote:
Todd Luck wrote:
xoken wrote:
Check this out here are pages from whats supposed to be the original script. They show you just how bad the story telling was in the prologue, I've read this book 20 or 30 times and there are panels in the begining that I only just understand now.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=19346
You keep listing problems with the issue and then you give it a 9. I bet you'll give Solar 50 a 10 :)
Ha, ha, ha... he got you there, man.
I really really like the cover :oops: I'm a sucker for them gimmicks

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Post by CACTVS »

Still to this day the cover to this is what I think of when I think of Quesada. I thought the whole issue was great and really liked Elvis being in it.

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Post by Daniel Jackson »

CACTVS wrote: I thought the whole issue was great and really liked Elvis being in it.
I agree, I thought it added a nice touch.

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Post by CACTVS »

This issue came to mind when I first saw Bubba Ho-Tep.

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Post by Todd Luck »

xoken wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:
Todd Luck wrote:
xoken wrote:
Check this out here are pages from whats supposed to be the original script. They show you just how bad the story telling was in the prologue, I've read this book 20 or 30 times and there are panels in the begining that I only just understand now.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=19346
You keep listing problems with the issue and then you give it a 9. I bet you'll give Solar 50 a 10 :)
Ha, ha, ha... he got you there, man.
I really really like the cover :oops: I'm a sucker for them gimmicks
So if I throw Solar 50 across the room after reading it, does that qualify as a moving cover? :)

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Post by xoken »

Todd Luck wrote:
xoken wrote:
Daniel Jackson wrote:
Todd Luck wrote:
xoken wrote:
Check this out here are pages from whats supposed to be the original script. They show you just how bad the story telling was in the prologue, I've read this book 20 or 30 times and there are panels in the begining that I only just understand now.
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=19346
You keep listing problems with the issue and then you give it a 9. I bet you'll give Solar 50 a 10 :)
Ha, ha, ha... he got you there, man.
I really really like the cover :oops: I'm a sucker for them gimmicks
So if I throw Solar 50 across the room after reading it, does that qualify as a moving cover? :)
Only if the cover price is a a dollar more than usual

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Post by jedimarley »

Todd Luck wrote:So if I throw Solar 50 across the room after reading it, does that qualify as a moving cover? :)
Heh. If that's the case then the last 25 issues of Solar are moving covers.

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Post by jedimarley »

To me , this issue was made for new readers, a jumping on point.

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Post by xoken »

jedimarley wrote:To me , this issue was made for new readers, a jumping on point.
That's right, at the time this was being planned and came out the early X-O issues were hard to come by and very expensive. I think there was even a letter that showcased this in an X-O issue (21 maybe?)

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Post by jedimarley »

xoken wrote:
jedimarley wrote:To me , this issue was made for new readers, a jumping on point.
That's right, at the time this was being planned and came out the early X-O issues were hard to come by and very expensive. I think there was even a letter that showcased this in an X-O issue (21 maybe?)
Thus the major continuity questions.

Re-write the characters' history to suit the curent market.

Slap in the face to long time readers.

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Post by Todd Luck »

xoken wrote:
jedimarley wrote:To me , this issue was made for new readers, a jumping on point.
That's right, at the time this was being planned and came out the early X-O issues were hard to come by and very expensive. I think there was even a letter that showcased this in an X-O issue (21 maybe?)
You know, they used to just take a couple of sentances (or panels) to explain the backstory occasionally instead of wrapping it in Chromium and charging $3.50 for it...


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