X-O Manowar Volume 1: 01 Hardcover – 12 Nov. 2013

So my first Valiant epic has started. I chose X-O Manowar because apparently this is the best place to start and the premise sounds excellent.It starts with a Clan of Visgoths or Goths from the time around the invasion of the Roman Empire.Their king, Aric, went out to take vengeance on his Roman attackers with an army and found a strange battle spaceship, not realising it was alien they attack it and are subsequently defeated and abducted.The aliens are called the vine and they worship an orb, an alien armour which they believe to be a god. Aric creates a small army and fights them back with farming weapons and steals the armour, and by accident it accepts him as host.The rest is a truly well written story with good artwork and great action scenes.The writer - Venditti had never written a comic book series before this. Only single issues. The COO of Valiant had seen some of his work and asked him to write for them and boom! What a grand job for his first series. I'd be very proud of myself if I was him.Everyone should grab something from Valiant.

Never read a Valiant comic book before and got this in a humble bundle. Was surprised at how good it was - real page turner and theres a lot of pages in this volume - some 300 plus from 14(?) issues of the title. Its a sci-fi tale about a visigoth warrior ripped out of time and into slavery in an alien culture and his fight back. This is a reboot of the character and doesn't require you to know anything about the previous comics or any other comic in the Valiant line.

I read this first as individual books. Then recently as trades, which I have given to friends. Now I have the Hardcover. Great price on the hardcover and has extras at the end showing initial sketches and layouts (which are an interesting insight to the production of comics).The story is based arround a man called Aric who is fighting for his land and the defence of his people. Unknown to him when he goes into battle a second time, its not the romans he comes up against ~ he is actually fighting against an alien landing party who is seeding earth with 'the vine people'.After losing the fight and being captured as a slave, he is forced to work for many years under harsh conditions. He escapes with a powerfull weapon, and returns to earth. However over 1000 years has passed due to traveling at speed through space. And that is where the adventure really beings.An accident warrior, with a space alien technology xo skelton, in the modern day ~ this is what good comics is all about.

When news of Valiant's return first came up this was the dream. X-O Manowar in a deluxe over-sized edition. It comes with the first issues which you should already know are amazing! This is a complete package. The art is great! The story is fantastic! It introduces new characters , new ideas, new origins, and promises even bigger stories to come! It is a wonderful collection packaged so as too look just as nice standing next to those other little comic book trades. If you have not already picked up the first several trades you can do yourself a favor and pick up the first 14 issues in this great oversized edition! This is the ideal starting point into the Valiant universe and I can not recommend highly enough!

This X-O Manowar Deluxe Edition collects issues #1-14 of the monthly comic, which in total, collects the first three trade paperbacks into a single coherent volume. These are:X-O Manowar Volume 1: By The Sword (Issues 1 - 4)X-O Manowar Volume 2: Enter Ninjak (Issues 5 - 8)X-O Manowar Volume 3: Planet Death (Issues 9 - 14)The book covers a vast sequence of events, of which I won't give too much away here, but essentially it revolves around the main character's acquisition of a superior suit of armour, which he then uses to exact revenge on a race that imprisoned him and his people for a great many years.The book contains a grand balance of action and deep plot, which hits all bases for me. The action sequences are exciting, very well illustrated and it's easy to follow the flow of action from panel to panel, and the plot sections are very well thought out, with all characters involved given a good measure of character building and panel time. The plot and characters involved are all interesting and nicely fleshed out, and the dialogue is superb. A great many perspectives are offered by the characters on the events within the book, so it's easy to follow multiple approaches and attitudes towards the events that occur, and in turn to sympathise or dislike them, as well as the characters offering them, and to understand and change your feelings toward the characters as they change their minds, as and when they do. And when you realise that what you originally considered to be 'the enemy' aren't necessarily portrayed as one-dimensional baddies, it's easy to see how this book is much more than you originally thought it was going to be.Comparing the price of this book to buying the comic on a month-by-month basis, it's really a steal. If you've got any vague interest in Valiant or indeed X-O Manowar, it's definitely worth taking a chance with this book to take a good, deep dive into what Valiant have to offer and find out for yourself what you've been missing out on so far.As of writing, Valiant are also collecting their Harbinger and Bloodshot comics in similar format in the near future, so given the price of the books, I sincerely feel that if people *STILL* aren't reading Valiant, then they'll be missing out on some of the best comics that are coming out these days.Seriously, Marvel? DC? Give me a break. Think I'm wrong: Read Valiant and *then* tell me what you think.