Re-Reading: X-O Manowar #18

[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.

X-O Manowar #18

[magnusr]

This comic is based on the government's realisation that there are some powerful individuals out there. Valiant is set in a real world, and in a real world this is unavoidable, should actually have happened sooner. It's still a pity. The more public the super-beings become, the less real the Valiant world becomes. Apart from some plot holes, it is handled rather well. Combine that with great art and you get a good issue.

/Magnus

[Daniel Jackson]

This book was a pretty good read. The government wanting the X-O suit makes for an exciting story.

[Todd Luck]

This issues has some problems, which the series will have for the next little bit:

a) The stories are comic book cliches. If the government thought Aric was a threat they'ld either spy on him or pick up him for questioning. There would be none of this "people from various government agencies get together to kidnap his employee and blackmail him" crap. That's comic book villian behavior. Though if you're expecting realism at this point, I feel for you.

b) Aric's edge is totally gone. He's no longer this violent, unpredictable barbarian in a world he doesn't understand. He's a big gruff guy who drives a sports car and occasionally pouts about civilization.

c) The armor's too powerful. Where's the sense of danger? The army blasts him with a ton of missles but it only takes maybe three panels to tell they're not really going to be able to hurt him (or even knock him off his feet). They don't stand a chance against him in this plotline. There's no heroism without danger.

So there you have the things that keep this being a truely great story. But for what it is, the plotline works on it's own level.

Aric does have a nice presense here (I loved him snuffing out Mandrake's cigerette). He's not as interesting as before but we still care about him.

Randy and Paul turn out to be rather cool, interesting characters. Randy becomes the modern warrior to Aric's ancient barbarian.

The story itself, once you get past the fact that we're in more Stan Lee territory than Jim Shooter, is a great idea and works well enough here. I wish they'ld done it in a different book with a hero(s) the government could actually do something too.

So a 7.

[jedimarley]

Good read. Really enjoy Gonzalez writing, and a classic team up of Calafiore and Ryder.