This is a book that doesn’t need to be as smart as it is, and yet it is. Cary Nord and Trevor Hairsine contribute amazing art to the book with Hairsine bringing his robust style to the Planet Death prologue and Nord showing us why he’s an award-winning illustrator with his action set pieces. Aric’s response is impressively noble and broadens his character from that of his seemingly thoughtless fighter, ask-questions-later persona. It’s a gifted writer who can have you sympathizing with a supposedly villainous race and actually feeling pangs of sadness at seeing them die, and Venditti is nothing if not gifted.Īric’s character continues to be explored too as he’s confronted with an old friend whom we met in the first volume and has reappeared here in altered form.

I mentioned in a review of an earlier volume that writer Robert Venditti has portrayed the Vine – the spider-faced aliens who abducted Aric – as more than just the villains of the piece, and he continues to write them as more complex and interesting characters than simply one-dimensional bad guys fulfilling a role.Ī lot of the book goes into exploring the Vine culture and divided peoples, some of whom favour war, others who prefer a more peaceful solution, and both groups of people will suffer Aric’s wrath. That said, even if there is a lot of fighting in this book, it’s a surprisingly deeper read than you’d expect. What happens next? The title says it all: Planet Death. After repelling the Vine’s invasion of Earth, Aric, together with Shanhara the sentient X-O Manowar armour, takes the fight to the Vine homeworld in an attempt to end the threat to Earth and free his people, as well as every other race captured by the Vine, from enslavement.

X-O Manowar, Vol. 3 by Robert Venditti