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Book of Death: Fall of X-O Manowar #1
Kareem Ali 4.5

Book of Death: Fall of X-O Manowar #1

 

  • The good

    Great character development overall and truly representative of Aric of Dacia. Intense and suspenseful action.

  • The bad

    Didn't get to see Aric in battle one more time. Shanhara's ultimate fate?

  • The ugly

    • Book of Death: Fall of X-O Manowar #1 chronicles the end of Aric of Dacia, the King of Visigoths. It opens up decades in the future when X-O Manowar is universally viewed as one of the greatest heroes ever, and he has a museum and a memorial dedicated to him. It’s a normal day when a father takes his son to the museum to show him Aric’s history and tells him the story of Aric’s gravesite location. It’s located in a separate area that is off-limits to the public but they can view it and take pictures of it. Suddenly things go wrong when a number of intruders break into the off-limits section of the memorial in order to exhume the casket and retrieve the body. However, it’s actually Commander Trill leading the Vine but he’s not doing it out of hatred for Aric. At some point over the past decades Trill came to recognize Aric as the chosen one, the true owner of the sacred Shanhara armor, and he feels he’s doing this to protect Aric’s legacy. He believes that a pretender has sullied Aric’s legacy by wearing an armor and seeking to replace him. But who is this new armor wearer and what does Trill want with Aric’s body?

    Book of Death: Fall of X-O Manowar #1
    The Fall of X-O Manowar has been one issue I’ve been looking forward to reading and seeing how the life of one of Valiant’s greatest heroes ended.The preview was very intriguing although I wondered how exciting  or surprising this issue could be with Trill considering the number of times the two engaged in battle. However, this issue took an interesting approach to Trill and made it clear from the beginning that he was now leader of a group wanting to defend Aric’s legacy feverishly. And even though Aric was already dead the suspense was about who the new armor wearer was and what Trill could possibly want with the body. The former question became apparent once the flashback showing Aric’s final moments started to unfold, and the latter was answered in a way that would require me to spoil this issue so I won’t do that. And even though the idea of a flashback may seem tiresome it was actually done pretty well here due to the fact that it encapsulated Aric of Dacia.

     

    When I think of Aric’s characteristics I think of family, honor, and strength among other things. This issue touched on all of that as would be expected of the character. And It was clear from Aric’s physical condition (and the things he said) that he was in numerous battles over the decades although I do wish at least one of them were shown briefly. However, it was fascinating to see what became of him and how this issue even touched on the armor “virus” in the form of Aric’s relationship with Shanhara. So this issue did successfully chronicle Aric’s end, and overall it was satisfying.

    Book of Death: Fall of X-O Manowar #1
    The way things unfolded after this flashback was pretty surprising and intense as Trill and his group engaged in combat with the new X-O since Trill was in possession of the one weapon that could kill an armor. But it wasn’t just all action and I enjoyed the character development tremendously. This was different from the other Fall of issues but fit perfectly for X-O Manowar. And I’m glad about that.

     

    SUMMARY

     

    The Book of Death: Fall of X-O Manowar #1 is a satisfying issue that’s representative of Aric of Dacia and covers almost all of the Manowar mythology. Aric’s last acts as king create an exciting chain of events with some twists involving Trill and the new armor wearer. Unfortunately this issue doesn’t show Aric in battle one more time but there’s plenty of intense action and I was on the edge of my seat wondering if/when Trill would strike the fatal blow. If you’re a fan of X-O Manowar then you should enjoy this issue.

     

    Release Date:10/21/15

    Writer: Robert Venditti

    Artist: Clayton Henry

  • Rating ( 8.75 )
  • Total score 8.8

2 comments

  1. Drew Millz - October 23, 2015 9:08 AM

    I was a little disappointed in this one. It lack a relationship with the valiant universe like the other Fall Of books did. Airic is such a pivotal character in Valiant and to have them show his non heroic end like this is surprising.

    Reply

    • Kareem Ali - October 23, 2015 7:57 PM

      I agree that the connection to other events in the Valiant universe was lacking in this issue especially since Bloodshot’s mentioned the second armor hunters war and alluded to Aric’s fall. But I did enjoy this as a standalone issue that tried to inspire hope and show he had an overall positive impact on the world

      Reply

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