X-O Manowar To Get New Creative Team in May? [UPDATE: Nope!]

Along with a just-released teaser for X-O Manowar #23, due out in March, Valiant Entertainment [...]

By Russ Burlingame

XO_023_VARIANT_RANEY

Along with a just-released teaser for X-O Manowar #23, due out in March, Valiant Entertainment have released some solicitation information for X-O Manowar #25--which, it appears, will be the first issue of the series not written by Robert Venditti, who launched not only the title but the relaunch of the publisher in 2012. "It isn't often that you get the chance to not only relaunch a character, but help shape an entire universe," Venditti told ComicBook.com at the time. "I had to pitch my way into the job, though, so I spent some time researching Valiant's characters. X-O Manowar leapt out at me as a character with a compelling core concept...." Since then, Venditti has been a busy guy, working on Green Lantern titles and quickly rising to the tops of names of guys that the Big Two and other major publishers would like to see on some of their signature books. There hasn't ever been any clue that he might be leaving X-O Manowar, though, until now. Here's the solicitation for #25, due out in May: X-O MANOWAR #25 Written by CLASSIFIED Art by CLASSIFIED Cover by CLASSIFIED COMING IN MAY! That isn't to say he's leaving the character, or the publisher...or even that leaving the book will necessarily be a permanent arrangement. After all, the Armor Hunters crossover he's working on will kick off officially in June and bring him together with Doug Braithwaite, the launch artist for Valiant's super-team book Unity. That said, check out this cryptic response to a fan asking him to "never leave" the book...

When we tweeted at him to ask whether he planned on taking time off from the  monthly title to write the upcoming summer event series Armor Hunters (not unlike what Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund did on Booster Gold when they were working on the Time Masters: Vanishing Point miniseries), we didn't get a response. That's a likelihood that's just as strong as Venditti actually being off the book...but certainly all of this is raising some interesting questions. Who could follow Venditti in X-O? It's hard to say--especially since he's been a guiding voice in the room as it regards how the character has been written in Unity and other Valiant titles since the relaunch. Would Valiant put together something really special to try and keep fans' attention focused on the book rather than the creative change? Probably another month or less and we'll know... UPDATE, 2/1/14, 1:53 a.m. EST: In response to this article, the official Valiant Twitter feed said...

Immediately after we went live with this story, it occurred to us that we should have at least raised the possibility of a (probably oversized) jam issue with "special guests," a la what Marvel has been doing for all the big anniversary issues lately. That seemed immediately likely when it occurred to this writer, and doubly so, seeing Valiant's response. That's probably for the better; check out some of the reader responses to Valiant calming down our speculation:

...and one suggestion as to who might be involved with any potential fill-in/jam issue/special event...

0comments
Start the Conversation

of