Comic Review X-O Manowar #1

What better way to start new comic reviews than with a number one issue.  I was not a fan of Valiant or X-O Manowar in my youth when it first started.  I took a passing glance at it just because of the involvement of Bart Sears who happened to be from a town about twenty minutes from where I grew up (there was an article in the paper about him, that’s the only way I knew of his involvement).  That being said I came in to the current generation of X-O with an open mind.  Not knowing what to expect, but hoping to be entertained nonetheless.  This new re-boot of X-O Manowar is brought to us by Robert Venditti (w), Cary Nord (p) and Stefano Gaudiano (i).

For the sake of reviews I would like to break it down to three parts; cover, story and art.  These three components are all important and none should be overlooked.

I like the logo, everything else...meh

Let’s start with the cover for X-O Manowar #1.  There are many different covers to grab (a throwback to the nineties when Valiant first started I assume) but the one that was in the front of the pile was the one that I grabbed (see above).  It is just a generic hero pose, nothing special. 

The positives:  decent coloring.  Does a good job of separating the character from his environment.  The different textures to the suit can be told apart easily even without the use of coloring because of the attention to detail (a common theme throughout the book).   

The negatives:  Where are his feet?  Nord does a great job on drawing people in this book but he does seem to obscure feet a lot, whether that is on purpose or not (maybe he is just creeped out by feet) I do not know, but it is kind of lame that he can’t get the whole character in on the cover.  Also, and this will become a common theme as well, there is a distinct lack of background.  Where is X-O (do I call him X-O, I don’t know)?  It honestly looks like he is in the clouds, or a giant stepping over a mountain range in the early morning sun.  With the amount of time that Nord puts into drawing figures, he could at least throw a damn tree in there to ground the character.

All in all I would give the cover a 5 out of 10.  It would get even less for being so generic if this wasn’t a #1 issue.

The writing is very good as a whole.  It seems to flow fairly well and, while being a little decompressed, leads up to a decent cliffhanger ending.  Unfortunately this cliffhanger ending feels like something you would see before a commercial break in a tv show, not the end of the tv show to get you to watch next week (hence the decompression).  Don’t get me wrong, a lot happens in this issue, we are introduced to the main character, what I assume will be the main villain, as well as given an interesting plot point that I have a feeling will take time to develop, but the overall lack of the written word tends to make this a quick read.  Did Venditti just want to leave room for Nord’s pretty pictures?  Maybe, but then he should have asked Nord to draw some backgrounds.  One thing that Venditti did very well is write for that moment in time.  Because the main premise is in 402 AD, he treats the sensibilities of his characters as if they were in 402 AD.  When they see an alien ship, no one says “are those aliens?” because the Visigoths don’t know shit about aliens.  He makes it a very realistic fantasy and I enjoyed that part of it quite a bit.

The writing gets a pass for being a first issue and one that has a lot of setup to do while still telling an interesting story.  I give it a 6 out of 10.  I am sure it will get better as the series goes on because Venditti is planting some very interesting seeds.

I have seen Cary Nord’s work in the past and I will be honest I was not too impressed.  This was also around ten years ago when he was working on Mutant X for Marvel that I first saw him.  I would like to think that I improved as an artist in those ten years, and I must say, Nord did too.  The art is what saves this book from being very blah and almost generic.  His battle scenes feel epic and have a lot of movement in them.  Nord has a nice sense of realism to his drawings and you can tell he has referenced the weaponry of the times (ancient Rome) and is not just winging it.  Even though he uses reference nothing is really stiff.  This is what Greg Land would draw like if Greg Land could draw and not just trace.  He actually reminds me of early Adam Kubert with some of the characters in this book (see below).

 

Look at any early Wolverine book, that's an Adam Kubert face

The detail in this, especially in the fight scenes (the first few pages in the book) between the Romans and the Visigoths is just great.  Each individual piece stands out and everything is clear.  This is a testament to not only Nord, but Gaudiano, his inker and Moose Baumann, the colorist.  Baumann gets a special mention because he makes up for the lack of substantial backgrounds with his beautiful coloring.

There is not too much to not like about the art in this book, but a couple things jumped out.  There is a panel with a baby in it:

I'm pretty sure I had a nightmare last night where that baby ate my soul with a spork

Oh my sweet Jesus that is an ugly baby.  I can’t talk much, I always have trouble drawing small children and making them believable, but still, holy broken face Batman.

Finally, and this is a big one, is this panel:

This is my disappointed face

What is this guy doing here?  Is he jumping?  Who jumps like that?  Is he running?  Who runs like that?  It honestly looks like a generic Jim Lee Superman flying pose.  Nord, you can do better, and you do throughout the rest of the book.  Why oh why did you have to mail it in on one of the more important panels of the book?  Also look at his hands, something is not right there, and his head, it just doesn’t seem to be attached to his body.  Bad form, bad form indeed.

Despite those two panels and the distinct lack of substantial backgrounds, I give the art a 9 of 10.  What Nord does well, he does really well.  Part of me wishes that the storyline could just stay with the ancient civilizations fighting eachother and not travel into space because the battle scenes are just that good.

Overall I would give this book a 7 out of 10.  I would pick it up for the art alone but the story is decent as well and if you are used to the sparse-text style that is predominant nowadays it will definitely be right up your alley as a change of pace from all the capes.