Matt Kindt Guides New X-O Manowar Title Into Valiant's 2017

It's official - X-O Manowar returns in 2017 with an all-new title, and an all-new direction.

Teased last week, Valiant Entertainment has now officially announced that its flagship character's new series debuts in March, as Eisner-nominated writer Matt Kindt and artist Tomas Giorello team to launch a year-long storyline that will once again establish Aric of Dacia as the heart and soul of the Valiant Universe. Lewis Larosa, Kenneth Rocafort, Mico Suayan, J.G. Jones and Monica Palosz will provide covers for the series.

"X-O Manowar" #1 arrives March 22, kicking off the three-issue "Soldier" story arc that will "push Aric of Dacia beyond the farthest limits of our galaxyâ€¦and into the brutal opening salvo of the ultimate X-O Manowar tale ever told."

Born under the oppressive thumb of the Roman Empire, Aric of Dacia learned warfare at an early age. It was amid such violence that he was abducted by an alien race. Forced into slavery, he survived where others perished. His escape would come from bonding with a weapon of immeasurable power: the X-O Manowar armor. With it, he returned to Earth...only to find himself stranded in the modern day.

But that was a lifetime ago.

Now, far from home on a strange and primitive new world, Aric has begun a new life. Liberated from his past, he tends to his crops. Free from war. Free from violence. Free from the armor.

But the machinery of death marches his way once again. Conscripted into an alien army and thrown into an unforgiving conflict, the fury inside him finds voice as he is forced to embrace the armor once more. With it, he will decimate armies, topple empires and incite interplanetary warfare as he rises from SOLDIER to GENERAL to EMPEROR to VISIGOTH. They wanted a weapon. He will give them war!

x-o-manowar-1-cover — Lewis Larosa's cover for "X-O Manowar" #1

"X-O MANOWAR #1 is not just the biggest book Valiant will be publishing in 2017; it might just be the biggest book weâ€™ve ever published, period,â€ Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani said in a statement. â€œWith five sets of creators working concurrently across more than a yearâ€™s worth of the series, weâ€™re building what will be the bedrock for Valiantâ€™s next phase. But weâ€™re not content to rest there. Over the coming weeks, weâ€™ll be unveiling a simply massive slate of surprises that are going to add extra fuel to X-O MANOWARâ€™s fire in comics, video games, and even film. 2017 will be the year of X-O MANOWAR not just for Valiant, but for the entire comics industry.â€

â€œMatt Kindt is a genius-level creator and, with X-O MANOWAR, heâ€™s tapping into the essential core of our most iconic character to deliver something more ambitious, more far-reaching, and more fantastic than anything Valiant has ever attempted before,â€ Valiant Editor-in-Chief Warren Simons says. â€œThis year marks X-O Manowarâ€™s 25th anniversary, but, instead of falling back into nostalgia, weâ€™re taking Aric into uncharted territory â€“ with five of comicsâ€™ greatest artistic talents at the helm, no less. This is a premier team that has some truly stunning turns in store â€“ and, when X-O Manowar emerges on the other side, he will be looking at a very different and much larger Valiant Universe.â€