X-O Manowar #15

The Team
Writer Robert Venditti Artist Lee Garbett

X-O has been in a precarious place as of late, due to the fact that the main character is a killing machine. Aric of Dacia has the emotions of a greedy child, and it has always gotten him into trouble when he should have been doing something else. While he is doing great as an unstoppable killing machine with the world’s greatest weapon, seeing him in this new role of leadership should prove interesting because he really has no right to do so. Aric is really only good at fighting other people and being an arrogant prick. The last few issues showed that he came around a little bit and started listening to what other people actually had to say. Beyond that it would be nice to see a deeper layer of character development for Aric in order to actually care about him and his further pursuits. Many Marvel characters started off this way such as Thor and Hercules, now each has a fully nuanced piece of characterizations. This was also brought about by a few decades for each character along with hundreds of issues. Aric is slowly changing his ways and beginning to see his faults, but will readers care a couple dozen issues down the line?

This installment also serves as a greater introduction the Eternal Warrior who has a book launching soon. The encounter makes sense due to the fact that he is a Visigoth as well. Unlike Aric he has lived throughout all of these years and had some time to grow and change as a person. As a result the Warrior seems more likeable and righteous than our titular hero. This is an interesting dynamic to explore in this issue, it is bold for a series based around a certain character to show that he is indeed wrong about something. Perhaps next issue X-O Manowar will get beaten in battle, which would also change up the rhythm of this story. Ever since Planet Death this title has been slightly different, it is unique how our hero is happier in some aspects and more depressed in others. The relationship between him and the woman who looks like his wife is sort of dark, as she could be related to him in blood. After getting rid of the Vine for the moment, it will be interesting to see what exactly writer Robert Venditti will throw at the armor clad hero going forward in the title.

Artist Lee Garbett is incredible in this issue. His pencil style really suits the Manowar in his ongoing adventures, and really expresses the drama happening in this issue. While faces are not incredibly unique, they suit the story quite well. Everything here is easy to differentiate and expressive to an impressive degree. There is no page laid out in such a way that would blow any reader of the series away, but the story moves in a quick manner.

This is another solid issue of X-O Manowar and it will be interesting to see where this series goes in the future, due to the Visigoths formerly of Dacia are not being very wise choosing their leader. Writer Robert Venditti and artist Lee Garbett have introduced another solid issue in this series.