X-O Manowar Part 11: X-O Manowar #7 (August, 1992)

Now we get to see how Aric got to the Lost Land.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 2 Trade Paperback.

Aric returns to his home in upstate New York and continues adapting to being sixteen hundred years ahead of his time. He has a discussion with Ken about his betrayal and consequential punishment (from X-O Manowar #6), and then heads to his first Orb Industries board meeting and handles a union dispute as only Aric can.

After a full day of meetings, Aric dons the armor and prepares to head home when five youngsters appear in his office. One of them introduces himself as Geoff McHenry, a geomancer who is using the power from Solar’s hand to find people to help save the world. Aric doesn’t believe him, but the Good-Skin does, so Aric agrees to go and leaves Ken in charge of the company.

Aric arrives in the Lost Land, which the armor tells him is a place outside of normal time. He sees even more people waiting for them when they’re attacked, and the battle is joined.

Aric faces off against several Pterodactyls and is knocked out of the sky. He lands in a prison and learns that one of Mothergod’s armies, called Skammrs, are feeding captured slaves to intelligent dinosaurs in exchange for weapons. Aric kills the Skammrs and the dinosaurs and leads the remaining slaves to a safe place where they can hide. As he heads back to the battle, Aric decides that he’ll need an army to win this war and rather than take the time to train the slaves, he plans to take command of the Skammrs.

Notes of Interest:

1) We’re re-introduced to Lauren, the exotic dancer Aric met in X-O Manowar #5, and it’s nice to see the beginnings of their relationship.

2) Aric has a unique opinion about several historical events, such as the American Civil War, both World Wars and the Battle of Waterloo.

3) Not only has Aric never heard of Conan the Barbarian…but the X-O armor has no info on him either.

4) The others that appear in Aric’s office with Geoff are Sting, Flamingo, Zephyr and Kris from Harbinger, all of whom he’s met before.

5) Among those he meets for the first time in the Lost Land are: Archer, Armstrong, Gilad, Rai, and Magnus.

6) During the fight, Aric keeps learning – about robots and dinosaurs.

7) I may be wrong, but I think this is the first time Aric uses the X-O’s detachable camera.

WTF? Moment: LOVE the Conan references!