X-O Manowar Part 40: X-O Manowar #24 (January, 1994)

The Visigoth returns to civilization.

I have this issue.

Aric returns to the offices of Orb Industries and tells Ken to shut down Spectar Enterprises. He also demands copies of Spectar’s personnel files and recent activities for the past year. Ken then fills him in on Randy’s activities while he was away.

Aric arrives at his house to talk to Randy, and she admits that the X-O armor has changed and that she’s the reason. She returns the X-O ring to him, and when he dons the Good-Skin he is surprised by the armor’s appearance. Fortunately, the armor is fine, and Aric tells her so. They then head to a bar for a beer and a talk.

At the bar, Aric tells her everything that happened in Peru, including the fact that Spectar Enterprises is a subsidiary of Orb Industries. She tells him that if he wasn’t there, the Yanomama still would have been killed.

Another group of people enter the bar, and one of them gets a little too close to Randy. He hits her, and Aric steps in – taking on the rest of the men. When it’s all over, Aric apologizes to the bartender for the incident and pays for the damages. Back at his house, Aric confesses to her that he’s not sure he can handle the “modern world”. She tells him that he doesn’t have to handle it alone…and kisses him.

The next day, Aric visits the men at the hospital where they’re getting patched up and gives them money…in gold pieces…to pay for their medical needs.

Notes of Interest:

1) Apparently, Aric knows how to play pool.

2) He also knows how to ride a motorcycle.

WTF? Moment: While at the bar, there’s a line of dialogue where Randy asks him if he plays pool and he replies “a little”. I don’t recall where I’ve seen him play billiards before, but I can see him learning it back when he was dating Lauren. It’s the motorcycle riding that bugs me. In what possible situation could Aric have needed the Good-Skin to teach him how to ride a motorcycle? A simple line of dialogue here could have cleared that up.

WTF? Moment #2: With all that’s been going on, Aric needed a good bar fight. He also needs a good “somethin’ else”, but it isn’t clear if he got that too…