X-O Manowar Part 24: X-O Manowar #9 (October, 1992)

Thanks to Solar, Aric returns to his own time…with the X-O armor.

I have this issue.

After the events of Unity, Aric is returned to 408A.D. not long after he was taken by the Spider-Aliens in X-O Manowar #0. He is reunited with his uncle Alaric, who is laying siege to Rome, and Deidre – his love from before he was taken – but all fear the power of the armor. The dramatic shift in power is so great that Romans and Visigoths work together to set a trap for him in a Roman temple, with Deidre as bait. Aric arrives and accidentally destroys the temple, killing everyone…including Deidre.

Heartbroken and betrayed, Aric has the armor take him somewhere in North America and buries himself in the ground.

Notes of Interest:

1) Aric still cares for Deidre.

2) His loyalty to his uncle never wavers either, which is interesting because with all his power and strong hatred of the Romans, Aric still kills in Alaric’s name.

3) The X-O armor offers to heal Aric’s pain after losing Deidre.

4) Aric is still mortally wounded at this point and can’t remove the armor.

WTF? Moment: Writer Bob Layton, artist Mike Leeke and inker Tom Ryder did a great job on this issue. Aric looks awesome, the armor is beautiful to look at and everything that happens in this book makes sense…except…

WTF? Moment #2: How much does the armor weigh? Is it even possible for a horse to carry that much weight?