XO Manowar

I’ll also have a new story in the X-O Manowar: Black, White & Gold hardcover from Valiant/Alien Books, which was a Kickstarter campaign. The volume will ship later this year. My artistic partner-in-crime on this one is my buddy Bart Sears, who was the artist on my X-O run for the original Valiant back in the mid-’90s. I really enjoyed the series and especially the main character, which was best described that as Conan and Iron Man mashed together. But I had to leave the book back then because I was offered writing duties on Marvel vs. DC, and my schedule was already full. Something had to go, and it was X-O. Truthfully, I also had a sense that some rough seas might be ahead at Valiant, which had been purchased by Acclaim at what seemed like a highly inflated value. Turned out I was right, and Valiant collapsed in a few years.

But I always felt like X-O was unfinished business, something I wanted to write again. I even discussed it with one of the previous editorial regimes, but that incarnation of Valiant flourished and perished before anything came of it. When the opportunity to contribute to this anthology came up, I was all in, and fortunately was able to lure in Bart as well. Sometimes you can indeed go home again.