X-O Manowar #1 Review: Like the Romans Did…Kinda

If history has taught us anything, it’s that people in the ancient world hated the Roman Empire- despite all the technological and scientific progress they did. Which is why this makes for some great storytelling and Robert Venditti and Cary Nord threw their hats into the arena with “X-O Manowar.”

“X-O Manowar #1” starts in 402 AD when the Visigoths decided to attack the Romans. We are immediately thrust into one of these battles and introduced to a Visigoth prince named Aric. When the reader thinks the story is about the Visigoths’ battles with the Roman Empire, the comic quickly decides to change its mind and turn all out hard SciFi with Aric and his men getting captured by aliens.

This sudden change in story will cause some readers to do a double take and say “what?” The big battle between the Visigoths and the Romans was so outstanding that the aliens will come as a sudden smack to face. Since this is only the first issue, it’s too early to make judgments on where Venditti and Nord are going with the story. If the cover is any indication, a Visigoth in a powered spacesuit could be a stroke of genius and make for an excellent story.

The artwork is very well done and looks similar to Marvel and DC’s recent superhero work. The character models have nice features, have smooth movements and the action scenes are appealing to the eye. The best example of these scenes is the opening battle scene where we see a long shot of the entire battlefield. The detail in that scene alone will make you look at it for long periods of time and it screams “epic” with bows in the air, the Visigoth army charging and the Roman army waiting in their neat box formations. Banners and broom tops and all.

Not to mention the pose Aric strikes when we first meet him looks like something you’d see in a Thor comic. It makes a nice poster.

“X-O Manowar #1” has some pretty nifty art but the story at this point remains something that needs to be seen. It’s interesting enough to draw you in just to see where this story is headed and if this could work. Hey, Spartans in space have been done before so now it’s the Visigoth’s turn to put on a powered spacesuit. Just don’t let the Romans get their hands on it.