X-0 Manowar #21

by kanchilr1 on January 22, 2014

Writing Robert Venditti Artist Trevor Hairsine, Vicente Fuentes, and Cary Nord

 

Introduction

 

X-0 Manowar has been given a second lease on life when Unity officially began. Unity was locked in to destroy initially destroy king, but utilized clever ideas and flipped the premise on it’s head. Recent events still do not discount the kind on his ongoing adventures, they simply serve to enrich the series at large. Recent developments in status quota regarding Aric Of Dacia make the series more entertaining than ever, as his previous questionable behavior is starting to catch up with him. The best part about this comic over the past couple of months, is the fact that readers can truly feel writer Robert Venditti speeding up the engines. He has been heading towards something huge involving Aric and company for the past year or so, even though this issue will not be the smoking gun setting off recent events, it will still be another interesting tease in a series of events in the life of Aric Of Dacia.

 

Writing

 

The introduction to this issue has some really interesting writing that fills in some much needed characterization with the protagonist and his father. It also effectively ties the past and present together with some heavy themes. This is not quite the change in tone the book has needed, but it definitely provides some really interesting themes regarding the context of where Aric is headed. The issue itself is called Asylum, which clues readers into where the issue is headed. Unfortunately the second half of the issue is where things start to stumble slightly, the comic hits on many of the same beats that we already know about Aric. Watching him put up resistance to crimes he has committed over and over again is difficult to observe.

 

Art

 

Unfortunately, the art in this title is all over the place. Three different pencillers are credited on this issue with no inker, whether there is an inker or not is an unanswerable question. The different pencillers attempt to really make some kind of sense between the three of them sharing one 22 page comic book, but in the end, it is grating on the eyes. Looking at how different each page of this title is in terms of quality may really make readers upset. X-0 Manowar is one of the most important entries in the fuller Valiant line, it deserves a more  unique vision from both members of the creative team that are working on the title. Diego Bernard is listed as drawing the next chapter of X-0, hopefully this proves to be true and readers can expect a high degree of quality in the artwork within the pages of the Manowar. If I had to give a reader one reason why the work is not up to par, it is simply because the pencils look far too rushed, with no offense to Valiant or any of the creatives involved here.

 

Conclusion


X-0 Manowar is building to something, unfortunately this issue lacks the grace populating some of the other Unity crossover issues over the past couple of months. Hopefully Venditti has a larger game plan involving his pillar of the Valiant Universe.

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside