X-O Manowar
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X-O Manowar (Aric Dacia) is a fictional Valiant Comics superhero created by writer and former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, artist Bob Layton and Jon Hartz. X-O Manowar is also the title of the popular comic book starring Aric Dacia published by Valiant Comics.
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[edit] Publication history
X-O Manowar sold strongly with sales as high as 800,000 copies for "X-O Manowar" #0 until 1996 when Acclaim Entertainment, who bought VALIANT for $65 million, restarted the series under the Acclaim Comics banner. X-O Manowar has sold more than 8 million books to date.
The second series was also popular and featured a new take on the character. The second series ceased publication in 2002, when Acclaim shut down its comic book publication division in anticipation of a bankruptcy filing after suffering heavy losses from its sports videogames division.
The X-O Manowar likeness has been transferred to other mediums including toys, jewelery, and a video game. The Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal video game was published on the PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Sega Game Gear, and GameBoy game counsoles.
X-O Manowar Issues #1 through #4 were reprinted in trade paperback as "X-O Manowar - Retribution". Issues #7 and #8, containing Chapter 5 and Chapter 13 of "Unity" were reprinted as a part of the "Unity Saga" trade paperbacks.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Origin
Aric of Dacia was a Visigoth barbarian born into the strife and war of the 5th century A.D. and where Rome is the center of power and have subjugated his people. A young Aric watched as Romans soldiers first slaughtered his mother and then, his father. He dedicated his life to destroying the Roman oppressors, riding into battle with his uncle Alaric I. Little did he know, he was destined to become one of the greatest warriors of any era.
Some years later Aric took a Celtic slave, Deidre, to be his consort. He grew content with her, even taking to worshiping her god, Lugh, but shortly thereafter, things took a most unusual turn. On an evening’s ride, he came across a grisly scene. Demons of some sort were feeding upon his people. Heedless of the consequences, Aric strode forward to do battle with the strange creatures but was quickly subdued and taken aboard their alien spacecraft.
For some seven years Aric was held prisoner aboard their craft serving in its foul slave pens. At a refueling station several light-years from Earth, he befriended a man known as the "Map Giver", who bore a startling resemblance to Elvis Presley. The "Map Giver" used a discarded bone shard to carve a map into Aric’s palm, which would lead the barbarian to the alien’s greatest weapon. Aric fought his way to the X-O Manowar class armor and donned the control ring. With this living armor he was able to blast his way through the hull of the alien ship and return to the Earth he still believed was his home.
The time dilation effect of near light speed travel on the alien spacecraft meant that while only a few years had passed on board, sixteen centuries had come and gone on Earth. Everything Aric had ever known was gone – replaced by "modern" civilization. He is now the most primitive man on the planet, yet he wields the most technologically advanced weapon in existence.
[edit] Further Developments
It later became clear that the "manufacturing" process for the X-O Manowar armor, which appeared not only self-repairing but also capable of spontaneous 'budding' to generate a new version of itself (approximately every 2 millennia), involved the absorption of a sentient intelligence which became the armor's own sentience.
At first, Aric struggled to adjust to late-20th-century Earth. He encountered a number of Valiant Universe heroes, befriending some and alienating others. Through a twist of fate, he wound up gaining control of Orb Industries, a multi-national corporation formerly controlled by the Spider Aliens.
X-O Manowar played a major role in VALIANT's smash hit UNITY crossover. Aric chooses 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 becomes trapped within the the X-O armor for 10 years to heal.
Aric and the X-O Manowar armor are sent back to Aric's own time by Solar at the end of Unity. Aric tries to convince his uncle Alaric that the Romans are nothing compared to their might now that he has the X-O, however Alaric fears that no one man should have such power. Alaric and the Romans join forces but the weapons of the 5th century are no match for X-O armor.
In issue #28, the X-O armor Shanhara is destroyed. Solar goes 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 can 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 this sacrifice, 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 enimity of Aric. Gilad was rescued from bandits by Aric, however, he betrayed the location of Aric's Visigoth Camp to Roman soldiers, whose attack led Diedre to miscarry Aric's Child. However, Gilad had betrayed the Visigoths as a part of a conspiricy which led to the downfall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Alaric.
[edit] Early Solicitation Information
Valiant produced a number of early previews of X-O Manowar. The one on the right contains panels that were never appeared in the comics. as well as an early look at the aliens.
The text reads:
CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN...DANGEROUS!
He was born a barbarian, raised an animal and trained as a killer. Now armed with the deadliest weapon of mass destruction ever created, he intends to defend his new home - Earth!
[edit] Characters
Not a complete list.
- Aric of Dacia
- Shanhara (original X-O Manowar Armor)
- Ken Clarkson (business partner and close friend)
- Spider Aliens
- Lydia (Spider Alien)
- Gregor Latinev
- Randy Cartier
- Paul Bouvier (Alloy)
- Pol-Bekhara (second X-O Manowar Armor, merged with Paul Bouvier)
- X-O Commando Armor
- Ax (wore a customized X-O armor)
- Turok (Blood Brother)
- Alaric (Aric's uncle)
- Deidre (Aric's wife)
- Rolf (Aric's father)
- Inga (Aric's mother)
- Gafti
- Solar (Phil Seleski)
- Toyo Harada
- Harbinger Kids
- Map Giver (possibly Elvis Presley)
- Erica Pierce (Mother God)
- Geoff McHenry (the Geomancer)
- Crescendo
- Lummox
- Krytos
- Hotwire
- Gamin
- Master Darque
- Mallik
- Gilad Anni-Padda (Eternal Warrior)
[edit] Classes of X-O armor
A number of classes of X-O armor appear in the Valiant universe, all of which originated with the spider aliens. The known types are:
- Manowar class - The most powerful type of X-O armor, worn by Aric of Dacia. The helmet, breastplate, boots, and gauntlets are blue with red highlights, while the remainder is gold. This armor conforms to its wearer, as Shanhara adapted from the base model to Aric after his nearly 1600 year slumber. Other wearers include Randy Cartier, Orb Industries Security Chief, Ado Krieg, self-proclaimed champion of 41st century's Aryantina, and various genetically altered Spider Alien Champions.
- Commando class - The second-most powerful type of X-O armor, and the type worn by Kazuyo Nakadai in Rai and Rai and the Future Force. This suit is armed with 50mgHz Pulse-Ion Cannons. The helmet, breastplate, boots, and gauntlets are red, while the remainder is black.
- Wolf class - It is unknown if there are weaker types of X-O armor than this, nor if there are more powerful types than Manowar and Commando. The Wolf-class is the type worn by the spider alien fighting Aric in X-O Manowar #2. Designed for personal combat, this armor is armed with an Ionic Blade and Claws. It features eight limbs and is colored steel blue.
- "Ax" class- -The customized non-sentient armor created by the renegade Harbinger Ax using stolen Spider Alien Technology. This armor was similar in style to the Manowar armor while featuring the color scheme of Commando-class armor. It featured a Pulse-Ion Cannon mounted on the left wrist, and a spiked glove on the right hand.
Other types of Spider Alien armor may exist, as types of armor which appeared entirely unlike types listed above appeared fighting Solar in the first appearances of the Spider Aliens.
[edit] Acclaim Comics Version
When Acclaim Entertainment rebooted all Valiant Comics properties, in part to form a better videogame franchise, X-O Manowar was significantly altered. The character was now a modern-day scientist who wielded an X-O armor: an ancient artifact that had wound up in the custody of US government, captured from the Nazis in WW2.
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 gives its wearer awesome destructive might and impenetrable defensive abilities that truly make it the ultimate weapon. But there was a price to be paid for such power; once bonded together, the armor slowly siphons the life essence of its wearer, leaving them little more than a burned out husk. Donovan Wylie solved this problem, but there are mysteries surrounding the armor that even his genius cannot unravel. Now, after a tactical error costs one brave man his life, Wylie is forced to don the armor and become the one thing he never wanted to be...a hero.
This series lasted 21 issues, released between February, 1997 and October, 1998.
[edit] Video Game
The character was seen in one Acclaim Entertainment-developed video game, Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal, which also featured Marvel Comics' armored superhero Iron Man. In this game X-O Manowar and Iron Man battle together against a number of villains from both Ironman and X-O Manowar's comics. Trying to stop them from obtaining all fragments of the Cosmic Cube, a cube of cosmic energy so intense that if it fell into the wrong hands universal domination would be at their grasp. Thus X-O Manowar and Iron Man must team up against all odds to stop their enemies. X-O Manowar also reveals his old enemies the aliens, who created his armor... and they want it back!
[edit] External links
- Visual Guide To X-O Manowar's Origin
- Valiant Comics Fan Site
- "Valiant Days, Valiant Nights - A Look Back at the Rise and Fall of Valiant
[edit] Sources
^"X-O Database" No. 1, 1993. Clifford E. Van Meter. Valiant Comics, Voyager Communications
