Heads up! Light spoilers ahead for X-O Manowar #3. Proceed with caution if you have yet to read this month’s issue!
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With his back against the wall, Aric of Dacia was on the brink of certain death — until an unsuspecting ally stepped in in a major way. Introduced in the last issue, Aric is now working alongside entrepreneur Troy Whitaker, the mogul behind Whittech. In layman’s terms, think of him as the Valiant Universe’s Tony Stark — especially after it’s revealed he has a bunch of murderous bots at his disposal.
Fast forward a month and one book later, and Whitaker has already made his mark on the Valiant world, largely thanks in part to saving Aric’s life by hacking Shanhara and upgrading the sentient alien suit. Despite being mauled down by a massive blob of angry nanites, Whitaker’s upgrades gave Shanhara to power to bust Aric free, and Shanhara even got a little be of a makeover out of the whole ordeal as well.
Though Shanhara is typically blue and orange, Whitaker’s upgrades added red accents and somewhat of a bulkier appearance. X-O writer Dennis Hallum tells us the upgrades are exactly what was needed to push this particular story arc along.
“Aric and Shanhara have been trying to change the world and with Troy Whitaker’s PR help, they’ve begun to make some headway,” Hallum says. “People are falling in love with X-O Manowar and this super hero thing is starting to work. But sometimes the world changes in ways that even Shanhara couldn’t predict. Sometimes the bad guys jump up to a challenge. And sometimes your God Mode power suit needs a little extra juice.”
“Things are heating up for Aric and Shanhara, in this issue — and quite literally!” Valiant editor Heather Antos adds. “In this issue, we see Aric’s frustrations with modern society continue to grow, while his sights focus narrowly on stopping Yakiov from hurting more innocent victims. Continuing his journey of learning to negotiate right versus wrong versus what society views as right and wrong is a never-ending task for the Visigoth superhero. But what at first seemed like your regular ol’ mustache twirling supervillain, X-O Manowar learns quickly that his enemy has quite literally… levelled up.”
X-O Manowar #3 is now on sale at your local comic shop.
