Valiant: X-O Manowar 2017 FCBD Special Review

Valiant: X-O Manowar 2017 FCBD Special Review

Writer: Matt Kindt, Eric Heisserer, Jeff Lemire

Art Team: CAFU, Andrew Dalhouse, Raul Allen, 

Patricia Martin, David Lafuente, Juan Jose Ryp

Valiant Comics

Release Date: May 6, 2017

Cover Price: FREE                                                                    

The Valiant Grab Bag

Well today is Free Comic Book Day, or better known as the day every year that your favorite quaint little comic shop turns into a madhouse of giveaways, freebies, and toss-ins of varying quality.  Usually if you’re able to brave the lines and madness a few gems can be found, which shed some light either on stories already in progress, or those coming in the near future.  I personally usually like to grab the Valiant title because it usually has a little something about X-O Manowar in there, with 2017 being no exception.  So let’s see what the Get Fresh Crews runaway hero of 2017 thus far is up too in here shall we, while I also highlight a few snippets from what else is featured on the pages inside. Join me.

 X-O Manowar

The story is a brief Prologue titled “The Three Prayers of X-O Manowar”  which looks to occur shortly after Aric arrives on his new ‘home’ planet, Gorin.  A narration picks up, that’s occurring between two different people, with X-O appearing homeless and down on himself and his purpose in general.

A local passerby flicks what looks like a coin to X-O, all the while in the background government soldiers are walking through town enforcing quotas on helpless individuals, inspiring our hero Aric to defend those being picked on, and taking out the un-expecting guards in impressive fashion.

X-O enters a nearby bar, a little thirsty from kicking ass, while also in possession of the money from the passerby, and as things  wrap up we get a few cool answers connecting some things together for series readers, in this brief but neat little prologue scene.

Other Content

There are several other previews of future Valiant titles featured within the pages of this FCBD issue as well, one titled Secret Weapons that’s working its way to  comic book shelves everywhere shortly, while the others appear to be scenes and previews of things to come to the Valiant universe later on this year. 

Everything in this free book looks amazing so despite its cheap price tag all creators involved still appear to have put some hard earned blood sweat and tears into their work here, so you’re getting several high quality featurettes. If you’re a fan of X-O or just interested in getting a better taste of the Valiant universe as a whole do yourself a favor sneak out Saturday and pick this lil’ guy up. 

8.5/10