Comic Book Review: 4001 AD XO-Manowar #1

 In the first issue of 4001 AD we got an introduction to the situation at hand as well as a brief overview of the characters. Now we get our first tie-in book X-O Manowar, but interestingly enough we actually only see the armor. This book gives us information as to who created the XOs suites, how and why. It looks like it was the world’s early response to the threat of Father who had gotten out of hand and needed to be stopped. In a sort of Pacific Rim way the world’s nations come together and each build an XO to fight Father. This book gives us the perspective of the American pilot. Sadly all that work goes to waste as Father saw the whole attack coming. He promptly destroys the all but one XO, the American one that did not manage to take off. Father had sent one of his agents to disrupt the launch and warn the humans about further attacks on New Japan. This character (who I didn’t get his name sorry) has a cool design that includes blue and red eyes looking like he is wearing the classic 3D glasses. The American pilot is left there alive but helpless. His XO is also left there for years to be claimed by nature until 4001 AD.

   Tie-in issues are usually not very exciting but informative. They fill in gaps that do not make it onto the main book. In this case I appreciated learning about the XO Jaeger like robots that failed miserably. My only thought after reading this was if a fleet of these were destroyed in a heartbeat, what chance does Rai have in just one XO that has been rusting for so many years? I guess I will have to keep reading to find out. Henry, Reber and Dalhouse do a great job with the artwork. If I am being picky I would like to see a bit more detail in the backgrounds, again just me nitpicking. My favorite panels are near the end where we see the XO slowly giving into its surroundings. Overall this is just another quality book by Valiant not much else to say.