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Valiant's X-O Manowar #1 Takes Over March with Matt Kindt and Five Rotating Artists – Giorello, Braithwaite, Crain, Bodenheim, and Suayan – Across 2017

Published Mon, 05 Dec 2016 11:00:20 -0600

Last updated Wed, 07 Dec 2016 17:52:02 -0600

As we suspected based on last week's big tease proclaiming "War is Coming," Valiant has just revealed a series of major plans for a new X-O Manowar monthly title in 2017 and beyond…

Just announced via arranged PR at Entertainment Weekly, March will see the release of a new X-O Manowar #1 by writer Matt Kindt and recent Valiant exclusive signee Tomas Giorello, who will be leading off a cast of five rotating interior artists that also includes Doug Braithwaite (Justice), Clayton Crain (Rai), Ryan Bodenheim (The Dying & The Dead), and Mico Suayan (Bloodshot Reborn) across the series' first year.

Launching just in time to coincide with the character's 25th anniversary, the X-O Manowar #1 will see Aric of Dacia taken into deep space to seek a new life – only to find himself forcibly conscripted into the ranks brutal alien army leading the conquest of "a strange and primitive new world." The series will then chart X-O Manowar's rise through the ranks over the first thirteen issues, which have been divided into four, three-issue story arcs and one standalone across X-O Manowar's first year: "SOLDIER" with art by Giorello; "GENERAL" with art by Braithwaite; "EMPEROR" with art by Crain," a one-issue interlude with art by Bodenheim, and "VISIGOTH" with art by Suayan.

Notably, the series will also set out to redefine Aric's relationship to the X-O Manowar armor with Aric at odds with the sentient weapon and forcing it to submit to his will. Valiant's CEO & Chief Creative Officer, Dinesh Shamdasani, states that not only will the series be "the biggest book Valiant will be publishing in 2017," but that it could Valiant's single biggest title of all time with subsequent X-O Manowar plans to soon be announced that will span "comics, video games, and even film."

Kindt has a track record of leading notable successes for the resurgent Valiant have also included hit series like Divinity, Ninjak, Rai/4001 A.D. and The Valiant. Meanwhile, its also worth noting that creative plans this far-reaching and ambitious have are a rarity in comics, even among the Big Two. So, in the wake of major 2016 series like Faith, Britannia, Harbinger Renegade and, most recently, Savage, Valiant's appears to be betting big on their most well-known character for 2017…and we wouldn't expect them to stop there.

Expect more on X-O Manowar's promotional plans very soon with a special eye toward ComicsPro in just a few months time…

X–O Manowar #1 is slated to arrive on March 22nd, 2017 from Valiant Entertainment with covers by Lewis Larosa, Kenneth Rocafort, Tomas Giorello, Mico Suayan, JG Jones, and Monika Palosz.