X-O Manowar #28 (Armor Hunters)

By Robert Venditti, Diego Bernard, Alisson Rodrigues and Romulo Fajardo

Robert Venditti is weaving a masterpiece with not only Armor Hunters, but X-O Manowar as well. When you first get a glimpse of these Hunters, you’re not sure what to make of them. Are they just blood thirsty murderers killing to settle some debt with the armors or is it something more? Every time Venditti and Valiant release a new issue, it becomes clearer.

The power of Venditti to show these killers, for lack of a better term, in a new light and make you start to care about them can be a difficult task. Venditti, luckily for us, is showing he’s more than capable of it as the lines between good and evil blur. These side stories about the Hunters have arguably been some of the best additions to the Armor Hunters event and that speaks for itself, considering just how well this even and its tie-ins have been.

Inkers are a big deal to the comic world; a lot of the times they go completely unnoticed and unappreciated. But in this instance, Alisson Rodrigues inks for Diego Bernard and in this instance it’s more than noticeable. It seems to add an extra layer to Bernard’s already fantastic work. The inks are bolder, the shading is more detailed and it truly elevates the work. Particularly the reveal of the new armor that the hunters end up facing, which, for lack of a better term, kinda looks like a badass Robo-crab.

For his part, colorist Romulo Fajardo does a stellar job with not only this new inker, but of course with Bernard’s initial pencil work. The reveal of the crab-like Armor most certainly steals the show with its design and the fabulous blacks from Rodrigues, but also with the amazing color job. Fajardo’s fire looks fantastic, the lighting is perfect and the subtle back ground really helps to outline this new threat. An absolute master class in comic art in one splash page.

Once again Valiant, Venditti, Bernard and crew impress. X-O Manowar has been the crown jewel of Valiant since it burst back on the scene and this is just another example of why. Stellar back story for some really interesting characters that, in all honesty, I hope get to stick around after this event is all said and done. Bravo.