X-O MANOWAR BYBY THETHTHEE SWORDSWOSWSWORWOORORDRDD Sample file ROBERT VENDITTI | CARY NORD | STEFANO GAUDIANO CREDITS X-O MANOWAR #1 Writer: Robert Venditti Penciler: Cary Nord Inker: Stefano Gaudiano Colorist: Moose Baumann Letterer: Dave Lanphear Cover Artists: Esad Ribic, Cary Nord, David Aja and Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic Assistant Editor: Josh Johns Executive Editor: Warren Simons X-O MANOWAR #2 Writer: Robert Venditti Penciler: Cary Nord Inker: Stefano Gaudiano Colorist: Moose Baumann Letterer: Dave Lanphear Sample fileCover Artists: Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic and Arturo Lozzi Assistant Editor: Josh Johns Associate Editor: Jody LeHeup Executive Editor: Warren Simons X-O MANOWAR #3 Writer: Robert Venditti Penciler: Cary Nord Inker: Stefano Gaudiano Colorist: Moose Baumann Letterer: Dave Lanphear Cover Artists: Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic and Mico Suayan Assistant Editor: Josh Johns Associate Editor: Jody LeHeup Executive Editor: Warren Simons X-O MANOWAR #4 Writer: Robert Venditti Penciler: Cary Nord Inker: Stefano Gaudiano Colorist: Moose Baumann Letterer: Dave Lanphear Cover Artists: Doug Braithwaite and Don Kramer Assistant Editor: Josh Johns Associate Editor: Jody LeHeup Executive Editor: Warren Simons 2 Collection Cover Art: Esad Ribic Sample file X-O MANOWAR #1 Second Printing 4 Cover Artist: Arturo Lozzi Peter Cuneo Chairman Dinesh Shamdasani CEO and Chief Creative Offi cer Gavin Cuneo CFO and Head of Strategic Development Fred Pierce Publisher Warren Simons VP Executive Editor Walter Black VP Operations Hunter Gorinson Marketing and Communications Manager Atom! Freeman Sample file Sales Manager Travis Escarfullery Production and Design Manager Rian Hughes/Device Trade Dress and Book Design Jody LeHeup Associate Editor Josh Johns Assistant Editor Peter Stern Operations Coordinator Ivan Cohen Collection Editor Russell Brown President, Consumer Products, Promotions & Ad Sales X-O Manowar®: By the Sword. Published by Valiant Entertainment, LLC. Offi ce of Publication: 424 West 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001. Compilation copyright ©2013 Valiant Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Contains materials originally published in single magazine form as X-O Manowar® #1-4. Copyright ©2012 Valiant Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, their distinctive likenesses and related indicia featured in this publication are trademarks of Valiant Entertainment, Inc. The stories, characters, and incidents featured in this publication are entirely fi ctional. Valiant Entertainment does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of 4 ideas, stories, or artwork. Printed in the U.S.A. Second Printing. ISBN: 978-0-9796409-4-0. CONTENTS 2 CREDITS 6 INTRODUCTION 8 BLADES AND OPEN FIELDS X-O MANOWAR #1 Sample file 38 ESCAPING EDEN X-O MANOWAR #2 62 THE ROAD TO ROME X-O MANOWAR #3 85 THEN & NOW X-O MANOWAR #4 108 COVER GALLERY 5 INTRODUCTION hat you are holding in your hands is a true collision of many great genres — superheroes, Wpiece of history. sci-fi , historical fi ction, action-adventure — with, most importantly, many big ideas. The relaunch of X-O Manowar didn’t just Here, in X-O Manowar, we are introduced to a signal the return of Valiant Comics; it signaled character that can lay the foundation for an the return of one of the all-time greatest entire universe to follow. comic book characters ever realized. A generation ago, Valiant Comics captured That single fact alone is a testament to just the hearts and minds of comic readers how strong a character Jim Shooter, Bob worldwide, and with good reason. Valiant Layton, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Jon Hartz Comics has always prided itself on putting forged when they dreamed Aric of Dacia storytelling above all else — and has always into existence two decades ago. And now, delivered the goods. This was a company Robert and Cary have expanded the mythos that, originally, represented the future of they created and taken it to previously what comics could be. And, fi nally, with unimaginable heights. Here, you will begin Robert Venditti and CarySample Nord’s all-new takefile a journey unlike any you have taken before. on Valiant’s fl agship hero, X-O Manowar, the This journey is not Aric’s alone, but one that future has arrived. belongs to all of us who join him. It is in these very pages that a bold, new universe begins; As you begin reading the tale related on and X-O Manowar — a man out of time, trapped the next few pages, you might fi nd yourself in a strange new world — is our guide to a becoming any one of a few things. Immersed. place where warring alien factions, telekinetic Amazed. Astounded. Why, you may ask, had teenagers, and immortal adventurers all walk no one done X-O Manowar like this before? among us. Here, history is rewritten in a new Why not sooner? Behind the scenes, a great and exciting way. Count yourself lucky that many men and women have worked to make now you can join us from the very fi rst page. this book a reality, but the true thanks belongs to a character that should never Because X-O Manowar is more than just a have disappeared from the printed page. comic book. X-O Manowar is more than just another story. X-O Manowar is an epic. In just the fi rst few issues of their new series, Rob and Cary pinpointed exactly what And sometimes history is worth waiting for. makes X-O Manowar such a resonant and beloved hero. In their hands, he is not just a Ryan McLelland barbarian in a suit of armor. Here, the most Writer/entertainment reporter who has primitive of men wields the universe’s most written for Ain’t It Cool News, Newsarama, powerful weapon. It’s a concept rooted in the Latino Review, and Comic Shop News. 6.