| X-O Manowar | |
|---|---|
Cover image of Valiant Comics FCBD 2012 from Valiant Comics. |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Valiant Comics |
| First appearance | X-O Manowar #1 (February 1992) |
| Created by | Jim Shooter Bob Layton Jon Hartz |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Aric Dacia |
| Team affiliations | Orb Industries |
| Abilities | Possesses indestructible armor |
| X-O Manowar | |
| Series publication information | |
| Schedule | Bi-monthly |
| Format | Ongoing |
| Publication date | (Valiant Comics) February 1992 – September 1996 (Acclaim Comics) February 1997 – June 1999 |
| Number of issues | (Valiant Comics) 71 (Acclaim Comics) 21 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | (Valiant Comics) Jim Shooter (Acclaim Comics) Brian Augustyn Mark Waid Dwayne McDuffie |
| Penciller(s) | (Valiant Comics) Bob Layton (Acclaim Comics) Scot Eaton |
| Inker(s) | (Acclaim Comics) Pam Eklund Jim Hudson |
X-O Manowar (Aric Dacia) is a fictional superhero co-created by writer and former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, artist Bob Layton, and Jon Hartz. Current Marvel Comics Chief Creative Officier Joe Quesada was a key creator in the origin of X-O Manowar as seen in X-O Manowar #0. The eponymous comic book series published by Valiant Comics has sold more than 8 million copies to date. X-O Manowar has also starred in a video game alongside Marvel Comics's Iron Man. X-O Manowar comics have been translated into a number of languages including German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Filipino and Chinese[1][2] among others.
Contents |
X-O Manowar originally sold strongly, with sales as high as 800,000 copies for X-O Manowar #0. In 1996, Acclaim Entertainment bought Valiant for $65 million and restarted the series under the Acclaim Comics banner. The publication of the second series ceased (along with all of Acclaim's non-core business) in 2002 due to Acclaim's financial difficulties in their video game division.
Issues #1-4 of the original X-O Manowar series were reprinted in a trade paperback, X-O Manowar: Retribution, which sold over 150,000 copies. Issues #7 and #8 were reprinted as part of the Unity Saga trade paperbacks.
In April, 2008, Valiant Entertainment released X-O Manowar: Birth, a deluxe hardcover collection collecting the first seven issues of X-O Manowar. The collection was digitally recolored and "remastered" from the original material and included a new story, "The Rise of Lydia," by Bob Layton, one the title's original artists. A press release from Valiantfans.com stated:
X-O Manowar: Birth (FEB084088), published by Valiant Entertainment, is solicited in the February Previews (Volume XVIII #2) and scheduled to arrive in comic book stores nationwide on April 30, 2008. This digitally re-colored and re-mastered special edition collects the full X-O Manowar origin story from issues #0-6 for the first time ever, and includes an all-new epic "The Rise of Lydia" story by comics legend Bob Layton and a new cover by Sean Chen! Aric Dacia is a Visigoth barbarian captured by spider aliens and enslaved aboard their starship until he steals their ultimate weapon - the X-O Manowar armor. Aric returns to Earth only to find that 1600 years have past. Now the most primitive man on the planet wields the most technologically advanced weapon in existence! Features explosive art by Barry Windsor-Smith and Marvel EIC Joe Quesada and a story by legendary creators Bob Layton and Jim Shooter! The book is a full-color 192 page deluxe hardcover edition with a suggested retail price of $24.95.
Aric of Dacia was a Visigoth born in the 5th Century A.D. under Roman rule. As a young boy, Aric witnessed the slaughter of his parents at the hands of Roman soldiers. He henceforth dedicated himself to destroying the Roman oppressors, with the help of his Uncle, Alaric I.
Some years later, Aric took a Celtic slave, Deidre, to be his consort. He grew to love her, and worshipped her god, Lugh. One evening, he saw demons attacking members of his tribe. Aric attacked them, but was quickly subdued and taken aboard their alien spacecraft.
For the next seven years, Aric was held prisoner in the slave pens of the spacecraft. At a refuelling station several light years from Earth, he befriended a man known as the "Map Giver," who looked similar to Elvis Presley. The "Map Giver" used a discarded bone shard to carve a map into Aric’s palm that would lead him to the alien’s armory. Aric fought his way to the X-O Manowar class armor and donned the control ring. It later became clear that the "manufacturing" process of the X-O Manowar armor, which not only self-repaired, but also reproduced, involved the absorption of a sentient intelligence that then became the armor's own sentience. With this living armor he was able to escape from the alien ship and return to Earth.
Due to time dilation, as Aric had been travelling at the speed of light, although only a few years had passed onboard, sixteen centuries had passed on Earth. Aric thus found himself in the unfamiliar world of the 20th century. At first, Aric struggled to adjust to late-20th Century Earth. He encountered a number of Valiant Universe heroes, befriending some and alienating others. He eventually gained control of Orb Industries, a multi-national corporation formerly controlled by the Spider Aliens.
X-O Manowar played a major role in Valiant's successful Unity crossover event. In this storyline, Aric chose not to help the other Valiant heroes defeat Mothergod (Erica Pierce), and instead built a small empire in the "lost land." Eventually, he was tricked by Mothergod and his people were slaughtered. Aric was eviscerated by a cyborg-tyrannosaurus and became trapped within the X-O Manowar armor for ten years to heal.
Aric and the X-O Manowar armor were sent back to Aric's own time by Solar at the end of Unity. Aric tried to convince his uncle, Alaric, to help him destroy the Romans. However, Alaric was concerned about the power that Aric had gained through the armor. Alaric and the Romans joined forces to fight Aric, but failed to defeat him.
In issue #28, the X-O Manowar armor (known as Shanhara) was destroyed. Solar went to Saturn to recover the armor left there, after defeating the alien he battled in Solar #7. This armor chose to remain with its deceased wearer, but had sprouted a seed, which Solar took. These seeds could be used to create a new Manowar armor, but only through the sacrifice of a sentient being. Aric's friend, Paul Bouvier, who was dying from spider alien poison, consented to be sacrificed so that Aric could continue his battles with the Spider Aliens.
In the X-O Manowar Yearbook, it was explained how Gilad Anni-Padda, the Eternal Warrior, earned the eternal enmity of Aric. Gilad was rescued from bandits by Aric, but he betrayed the location of Aric's Visigoth Camp to Roman soldiers, whose attack led Deidre to miscarry Aric's child. However, Gilad had betrayed the Visigoths as part of a conspiracy that led to the downfall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Alaric.
This may not be a complete list.
When Acclaim Entertainment acquired the comic series, X-O Manowar was significantly altered. The character was now a modern-day scientist named Donovan Wylie who wielded X-O armor, an ancient artifact owned by the United States government, having been captured from Nazi Germany in World War II.
In this series, the X-O Manowar armor is an artifact of unknown origin that has been worn by a myriad of warriors throughout history. It essentially gives its wearer indefinite power; however, the armor slowly siphons the life essence of its wearer, damaging their mind and body. The armor attaches itself to the wearer's nervous system and cannot be removed without killing the person wearing it. It can, however, be changed to its "metal" form at the wearer's will, but the metal is permanently grafted onto the wearer's chest. (It is unknown if the armor will activate if grafted onto another part of the body.)
X-O Manowar was featured along with Marvel Comics' armored superhero Iron Man in the Acclaim Entertainment-developed video game Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal, produced for PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Sega Game Gear, and Game Boy. In the game, X-O Manowar and Iron Man fight together against villains from both heroes' stories in order to stop them from obtaining all fragments of the Cosmic Cube.