'X-O Manowar, Vol. 6: Agent' by Matt Kindt with art by Juan Jose Ryp collects issues 19-22 of the series.

Aric is back on Earth and he is recruited by Colonel Jamie Capshaw. She recruits him to help investigate an alien threat. It turns out aliens have shown up on Earth because one their leader is looking for his wife, who has apparently been abducted. Nothing will stop him from declaring war. Aric tries to use his armor, but it starts behaving strangely to the alien attacks.

I liked this story with Aric back on Earth. I didn't think the art was quite as good as art in some previous volumes, but I still liked the interesting looking alien races.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Valiant Entertainment, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

In full disclosure I received a copy from netgalley but to be honest I should have been paying more attention since you usually can't just drop into volume 6 of an ongoing graphic novel and get out of it what you should.

I will say I liked the art, a lot. It was nicely detailed. The story seemed to be setting up for something down the road but since I'm not familiar with the series I wasn't sure what. It was fairly standard superhero fare for the most part. Aliens over Australia though was a nice touch, a little different at least setting wise.

It would have helped, however if I had been paying attention and realized this wasn't #1, my mistake and not really taken into consideration when I rated it.

The Emperor Of The Universe is always a good ally to have in your corner especially if a motivated invasion force is trying to make their way in perpetuity onto your planet using an impenetrable metal sphere that can break certain elements of time space. In “XO Manowar – Vol 6: Agent” [Matt Kindt/Valiant/112pgs], Aric, who seems resigned to his exile, is brought back by the one mortal woman who can connect to him (though that exact pull without reading earlier volumes does not truly connect). Capshaw, said connected woman and a colonel with a special division of the US Government, asks him to help even though he knows she is using him and vice versa (though what would an immortal stand to gain except ego). He attacks the sphere only to find his thinking armor which usually protects him has no said defense against his foe who seems a nomad by appearance whose behavior is rendered inert. Either way he is able to still able to battle them which seems almost antithetical. It turns out this warrior is searching for his Sky Princess whom he believes has been taken by a man named David Camp. Camp is a personification of the religious sector that wants to govern its people’s whether it be a David Koresh or Jim Bakker. The Sky Princess soon turns against him but the damage is basically done. Aric defeats Camp but the last third of the graphic novel looks like it is washed in ash since it shows Camp opening up a portal to bring down a meteor or perhaps the sphere. Capshaw is able to claim victory but the end seems a bit misaligned since it doesn’t build to a specific perception. Like other ideas, the overall arch especially with those moving towards immortality loses the identifiable connection in its wake. The ash based conclusion of the graphic novel is not as detailed as it needs to be which causes the illustrations to lose their way.

D

By TIm Wassberg

Former colonel Capshaw recruits Aric to head to Australia to take on an alien threat. So the things that jumped out to me as good about this story center around the way it connects into other parts of the Valiant Universe. Capshaw has been used in a bunch of books, but I think this is the first one I've read that gives her a chance to take the lead. It gave her some more personality and showed some good indications of why she was the one that was heading G.A.T.E.

The book also acts as a follow up to the Eternity mini-series. I like that it utilizes those events sooner rather than later. Some of the characters that show up in this book as a result of being so closely linked to Eternity are pretty cool. I would definitely like to see more of them. Despite Capshaw and the Eternity stuff taking center stage, Aric does get some time to shine, especially ones the fighting breaks out. He has a personal moment or two, but that clearly isn't the focus of this book.

I think the biggest drawback for me was the art. A lot of the characters just didn't look right to me at various points throughout the book. Every time Capshaw or Aric were in a pose that struck me as odd it pulled me right out of the story. Don't get me wrong though, there are some great artistic moments in this book. Ryp's character work just didn't work for me this time around. The other thing that sort of bugged me about this arc is that it almost entirely neglects the end of the previous volume. There was a lot of comic used to set that up and then it didn't even make an impact here.

I felt like there were a few more bumps in the road with this volume of X-O, but I'm not giving up on the series.

This story spills out of Eternity, so you should read that first if you want to know where all these aliens came from. Everyone but Divinity shows up on Earth looking for their kidnapped leader. G.A.T.E. sends X-O Manowar to investigate. Then they get involved in a battle with New Eden. Juan Jose Ryp draws fantastically weird creatures. His art is amazingly detailed. This is actually a pretty standard punch 'em up but it's fun and Aric of Dacia is one of the best characters at Valiant.

X-O Manowar: Volume 6 is an omnibus of issues 19 – 22 of Matt Kindt’s 2017 story arc. Here we follow Aric of Dacia, back on Earth, where Colonel Jamie Capshaw recruits him to help investigate a strange and hostile threat. What Aric didn’t expect was that he would soon be involved in a battle he has little interest in, but will do it to help Colonel Capshaw. Aric, armed with his suit of bio-armor called Shanhara, will once again become X-O Manowar to fight for what he believes is right and just.

I was so excited to see that X-O Manowar: Volume 6 was being offered on NetGalley! Although it had been several issues since I had read an X-O Manowar book, having had a little background to Aric’s story, I was able to pick up this volume and get right into it. As with many Valiant books, the artwork by Juan Jose Ryp is amazing. The colors as well as the fine details help tell the story panel after panel. Matt Kindt has brought this story to life where you can understand that Aric has come back to Earth with little to no purpose, until Colonel Capshaw asks him for this favor. The story is set up and then it’s right back into battle, where we readers love to see X-O Manowar dominate.

Thank you to NetGalley, Diamond Book Distributors, and Valiant Entertainment for this E-ARC. All opinions are my own.

This duff-em-up almost seemed better than the typical Manowar book, and fans of the publisher will like mentions of other franchises, but in the end it has too much about it that's stupid for me to not mention a few instances. The urgent response to an unknown alien ship over Australia is to meet there in two days, apparently. Half of issue two here is a straight replay of issue one or repeating itself. One race that initially seems a threat calls the other race that initially seems a threat by a name it's not been told. Someone is told to fetch something important, I guess quickly, for someone, and waffles their titles back to them pointlessly – but worst perhaps is the bear disposal. Just bonkers, and not really in a good way. The artwork is the saving grace here, so two and a half stars, but this really needed to be a lot more polished and less childish.

It was very nice to come face to face wirh new superhero.
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Aric and his suit; well there is some similarity to Ironman in concept but story, illustrations and backgrounds are really novel and innovative.
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Aric is nonhuman exiled king of some other planet and has miraculous bio armor covering him. As opposed to clean shaven heroes, he supports intimidating beard.
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Illustrations are big, beautiful and captions are not too long or complicated.
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I liked Colonel Jamie the most and her influence is stamped throughout the pages.
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Characters come to life with awesome colouing and fight scenes are realistic.
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Quality of graphic book is of the level of Marvel and DC and I look forward to read future adventures of the duo.

Matt Kindt brings intensity and creativity to this smashing combination of image and word. I have been reading Valiant Comics and X-O Manowar for decades now, and in Kindt's capable hands the journey continues. This is not your typical superhero comic, instead drawing on science fiction and fantasy. An entertaining and well-illustrated read.