X-O Manowar Part 23: Unity #1 (October, 1992)

Unity has ended, and as the Lost Land is destroyed Solar returns Aric and the others to when they came.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 4 Trade Paperback.

Aric shouts at Mothergod from the battlefield about how she feared him despite being the most powerful enemy the world has ever faced. And as he vanishes back into the timestream, he wonders what glories the X-O armor would have brought him in the days before his abduction by the Spider-Aliens.

Notes of Interest:

1) He’s in all of three panels this issue, but it’s clear that he’s pumped from defeating Mothergod.

WTF? Moment: It’s a nit-pick. First Aric was on a battlefield, then he was in the tower attacking Mothergod’s reactor and now he’s shouting at Mothergod from a battlefield. Did Aric leave the tower after Mothergod’s defeat and then shout at her from the battlefield? Did the tower and reactor disappear around him when she was defeated? Does Aric even know that Mothergod can’t hear him? I know that in the grand scheme of things these are of little importance, but it’s the little things that make big stories like Unity so enjoyable.

X-O Manowar Part 22: Rai Companion #1 (December, 1993)

Aric has a brief conversation with Geoff McHenry during the battle of Unity.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 4 Trade Paperback.

As the battle of Unity raged on, Aric smashes through a wall to find Geoff McHenry sitting in a room full of bones. He tells the geomancer that the boy has caused him nothing but trouble since talking him into fighting the war. Despite his anger, Aric tells him to follow the other released prisoners to safety and then continues towards Mothergod’s tower.

Notes of Interest:

1) Obviously, this takes place before Aric meets Solar in the tower and attacks the reactor.

WTF? Moment: This is a different Aric that the one who protected the boy back in Unity #0, and having followed him throughout the event we now understand the circumstances behind that change.

X-O Manowar Part 21: Solar, Man of the Atom #13 (September, 1992)

Aric (once again) joins the others (once again) to fight against Mothergod (once again) in the final battle.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 4 Trade Paperback

That’s really all there is to say about Aric’s involvement this issue.

Notes of Interest:

1) Aric actually says something this issue, but nothing that hasn’t been said before: “Mothergod *blah, blah, blah* must die *blah, blah, blah* and all her minions.”

WTF? Moment: Aric’s in all of one panel. Two if you count the explosion he caused.

X-O Manowar Part 20: Harbinger #9 (September, 1992)

Aric reunites with the other Valiant heroes as they launch their final assault on Mothergod.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 4 Trade Paperback.

Aric reaches Mothergod’s tower and teams up with Gilad, Sting, Archer, Armstrong, Zephyr, Flamingo, Solar, Magnus, Geoff and…the other Gilad as they attack Mothergod. He helps fight off an aerial attack and then witnesses Sting push through Mothergod’s force fields, allowing them to reach the reactor that’s powering her Unity machine.

Notes of Interest:

1) Although it isn’t mentioned, remember that Aric is mortally wounded at this point and held together by the X-O armor.

WTF? Moment: Four panels total here and he doesn’t say a word.

WTF? Moment #2: I’m confused. It shows here that Aric reaches the reactor with Sting, Zephyr and one of the Gilads. But in Unity – The Lost Chapter #1 we see Aric entering with Solar who tells him to attack the reactor head on as a distraction. Now, it’s possible that Aric is the only one who gets close enough to attack it, where Solar meets him and tells him to do so, but it’s pretty vague. I’m more inclined to disagree with Lost Chapter than this issue though since this one came out first.

X-O Manowar Part 19: Unity – The Lost Chapter #1 (February, 1994)

We learn what happens with Aric after losing his army to Mothergod

I have this issue.

After leaving the battleground from X-O Manowar #8, Aric finds that some of his Skammr army were on a different raid and missed Mothergod’s invasion. They regroup, and the next morning Aric leads an attack on the dinosaurs that took part in his defeat.

Meanwhile, a smaller Skammr party finds another of Mothergod’s weapon caches and brings back to camp a war machine. Aric decides to use it and launches an attack on Mothergod’s tower. The opposing army is stronger, and all of Aric’s remaining Skammr army is killed.

Aric reaches Mothergod’s tower, and Solar tells him to focus his attack on the core of her Unity Machine while the Man of the Atom deals directly with her. Aric does so, and Solar succeeds in defeating Mothergod once and for all.

The Lost Land is destroyed, and Solar sends Aric back to his respective time.

Notes of Interest:

1) This issue came out seventeen months after X-O Manowar #8, but continues the events that took place there.

2) Even though the X-O armor will need ten years to heal him, it’s clear that Aric isn’t going to spend that time sitting out the war.

3) I find it touching that Aric remembers Cayla’s name and claims revenge in her honor.

WTF? Moment: Nit-pick note to comic artists everywhere – if you’re going to re-tell specific events from a previous story, keep those visuals the same as the source material. I understand why an artist would take his/her own spin on things, but if the X-O armor and Mothergod’s outfit look the same, the clothing worn by everyone else should be the same as well.

WTF? Moment #2: It’s established in the story that all of the Skammrs were killed. So why is there a panel showing Aric, his Skammr army laid out dead on the battlefield…and one Skammr with eyes open looking directly at the reader?

I love Mike Bair’s art, and thought he did a great job both on his Alpha Flight run and with this issue, but it’s these inconsistencies that throw off the overall visual of this book. My hope is that there was some miscommunication between Bair and writer Kevin Vanhook.

WTF? Moment #3: In the end, was this issue really necessary? My answer is no, it wasn’t. Filling in some “blank moments” of the Unity storyline was a good idea, but it would have been better if we learned that it was during Aric’s battle with the dinosaurs here that he broke his way into…and out of…the prison cell holding Archer and Armstrong from Archer & Armstrong #2. This issue doesn’t say that, but I’ll infer that it does and move on.

X-O Manowar Part 18: X-O Manowar #8 (September, 1992)

Aric becomes a thorn in Mothergod’s side…and pays the price.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 3 Trade Paperback.

It’s day 150 of the Unity war as Aric leads his Skammr army into one of Mothergod’s facilities to take a converter she’s been working on. Rai is there, and they argue over who gets it. Aric convinces him to return to camp with them so they can fight for possession of the machine without Mothergod’s interference.

At Aric’s camp, the two men prepare to fight when they’re interrupted by the arrival of Magnus and Gilad. Aric was planning to use the converter as a bargaining tool, but Rai and the others convince him to destroy it instead.

The next day, he gets a request from Mothergod to meet and discuss a truce. Aric accepts the invitation, and invites her into his camp. They talk, and Mothergod offers him four women as a sign of good faith. Aric chooses one and agrees to discuss terms the following morning.

Aric takes his “present” to his tent but is soon distracted as one of Mothergod’s dinosaurs attacks. He can’t find the X-O armor anywhere, and left defenseless is almost bitten in half. The armor returns in time to keep him alive, and with it fights off the invading forces. During the battle, Aric is knocked unconscious from an explosion.

He wakes up four days later to find his army dead and his camp destroyed. The Good-Skin tells him that it can heal him, but it will need ten years to do so. Enraged, Aric leaves the battlefield bent on making Mothergod pay for her treachery.

Notes of Interest:

1) Aric proves to be a successful leader if not an intelligent one.

2) His great respect for other warriors comes up again as he offers Rai the chance to fight him for the converter, as well as believing what Magnus and Gilad tell him about Mothergod’s plans.

3) Is it wrong for me to comment on the fact that Aric chooses his “prize” because she has fire in her eyes...or that he only chooses one in the first place?

4) Aric is almost cut in half - his entrails are sticking out for crying out loud – and he still shouts to the dinosaur about how he’ll rip out it’s tounge on his way down it’s throat? HOW F**KING AWESOME IS THIS!?!

WTF? Moment: You’re telling me that Aric is so…in the moment…that he doesn’t even notice the Good-Skin’s absence? Sorry, gotta call B. S. on that.

X-O Manowar Part 17: Magnus Robot Fighter #16 (September, 1992)

Aaaaand we’re back to single panel appearances.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 3 Trade Paperback.

Aric is (once again) brought into the Lost Land (once again) and fights (once again) Mothergod’s forces (once again).

Notes of Interest:

1) We discover that reading the same thing in eight out of twelve issues is pretty f**kin’ boring.

WTF? Moment: I don’t get it, we had a good thing going with Archer & Armstrong #2 where Aric did something noteworthy that affected other characters and now we’re revisiting “Unity Day 1” again. W…T…F?

X-O Manowar Part 16: Archer & Armstrong #2 (September, 1992)

In all of seven panels, Aric does more here than he has in his past four appearances.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 3 Trade Paperback.

Aric is in a heated battle with a bionic female tyrannosaurus rex. So much so that they burst through the prison cell holding Archer and Armstrong…inadvertently freeing them…and continuing into the night.

Notes of Interest:

1) We learn that in the X-O armor, Aric is stronger than Armstrong.

WTF? Moment: Only one word is spoken by Aric: “HRAHH!” There’s no “hello”, no “how are you”, no “stay out of my way while I handle this”. Not even a thought balloon or a caption. That makes the entire scene that much funnier. It makes you wonder how Aric got into the fight in the first place, and it’s that kind of interwoven storytelling that Unity has been lacking up to this point. 

X-O Manowar Part 15: Eternal Warrior #2 (September, 1992)

Aric takes part in the first battle against Mothergod

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 3 Trade Paperback.

Aric arrives in the Lost Land (again...) and disappears after six panels.

Notes of Interest:

1) Aric learns that he’s fighting against a woman named Erica who’s an energy being like Solar.

WTF? Moment: It’s Good News/Bad News time. The Bad: this is yet another retelling of Aric’s arrival in the Lost Land. The Good: this is the last retelling of Aric’s arrival in the Lost Land.

X-O Manowar Part 14: Solar, Man of the Atom #12 (August, 1992)

Mothergod learns of Aric’s arrival in the Lost Land.

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

We learn about how Mothergod became Mothergod and how she created the Lost Land. Solar finds out what she’s been up to and brings some help - help in X-O Manowar armor.

Notes of Interest:

1) Another POV of Aric joining the fray…in all of one panel…and it isn’t even a “true” panel…it’s on a screen in the panel.

WTF? Moment: Enough with the POV madness. We get it, just move on already.

X-O Manowar Part 13: Harbinger #8 (August, 1992)

Aric joins the battle in the Lost Land and helps save one of the Harbinger kids.

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

Aric is recruited and arrives in the Lost Land with the Harbinger kids and geomancer Geoff McHenry. After meeting several other Valiant heroes, he disappears during the initial battle. Aric reunites with Magnus, Gilad and others who launch an attack/rescue mission after Sting goes off and faces Mothergod alone.

Notes of Interest:

1) Aric is limited to four panels here, but at least they’re different panels this time.

2) We get a glimpse of Aric fighting alongside Magnus and Gilad, which makes us wonder how they got together…

WTF? Moment: We totally skip over Aric’s recruitment, which is sad because of all the moments to repeat from various perspectives it would have been nice to see the Harbinger group suddenly appear in Aric’s office.

X-O Manowar Part 12: Shadowman #4 (August, 1992)

Aric continues to battle Mothergod’s minions.

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

Shadowman enters the Lost Land and witnesses Aric battle Mothergod’s minions.

Notes of Interest:

1) Aric appears in all of one panel this issue. In fact, it’s a panel we’ve seen before…

WTF? Moment: I understand the purpose of Unity was to have a kind of “Secret War” that brought Valiant’s characters together, but the overall story crawls along as we witness the same event repeatedly. It would have been better if the one panel we see Aric in this issue (which makes sense because it is about Shadowman after all) was of him leading the slaves away from the complex. That way, it would have shown faithful Unity readers that while time may not be absolute, at least it’s still moving.

WTF? Moment #2: Why am I calling this Aric’s twelfth appearance with only one panel? I’ll argue the fact that while we’re following Shadowman here, time has moved past what we’ve seen of Aric so far in the Lost Land, and by issue’s end Aric has begun gathering his army of Skammrs…

…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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! 

X-O Manowar Part 10: Archer & Armstrong #1 (August, 1992)

Aric joins the battle against Mothergod’s minions.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 1 Trade Paperback.

This time, we witness Aric arriving in the Lost Land along with Archer and Armstrong.

Notes of Interest:

1) This issue re-tells Aric’s arrival in the LostLand (from Unity #0). 

WTF? Moment: I really can’t complain about Aric’s lack of presence here because the focus is understandably on the main characters of this brand new series...but yup, another three panels for Aric with absolutely no character development.

X-O Manowar Part 9: Eternal Warrior #1 (August, 1992)

 

Aric meets Gilad for the first time…again.

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 1 Trade Paperback.

We witness Aric’s first meeting with Gilad from the Eternal Warrior’s perspective.

Notes of Interest:

1) This issue shows how time fluctuates throughout the Unity storyline as this appearance is the same appearance of Aric from Unity #0 - just from another POV.

WTF? Moment: Aric appears in all of three panels. Four, if you count just his leg.

X-O Manowar Part 8: Unity #0 (August, 1992)

Unity begins and Aric, of course, is involved…

I have this issue in the Unity Saga Vol. 1 Trade Paperback.

Aric arrives outside a phone booth near Holden, Utah (along with the kids of Harbinger) thanks to Geoff McHenry - this generation’s Geomancer. He witnesses another man appear within the telephone booth and, along with even more people, winds up in a very strange place about to be attacked by an army of creatures and machines.

Notes of Interest:

1) Aric appears for less than ten panels in the second half of the issue. We have no idea how he meets Geoff, or how he handles seeing Sting and the others again.

2) The man appearing in the phone booth is Gilad the Eternal Warrior, whom Aric meets for the first time this issue.

3) Aric (as always) is ready for a fight.

4) The strange place Aric and the others find themselves in is the Lost Land, where Mothergod works towards resetting the universe.

WTF? Moment: When Gilad yells at Geoff, Aric threatens to cut the Eternal Warrior in half. Considering the loyalty issues Aric’s been dealing with lately, how could he be prepared to protect the boy to the point of killing a complete stranger so quickly?