“..I am Royal. A Builder. A Philosopher-Skeptic. I am Aric of Dacia, A Visigoth warrior from earth who wants nothing more than to give his people a homeland.”
Continuing right of the last issue as the Armies of Earth, the Vine and Visigoth face off against the newest enemy The Torment, Visigoths very own king, our protagonist Aric AKA X-O Manowar was believed to be killed by The Torment. But it appears that that is not the case within this milestone issue. As Aric floats in a limbo-like current or dimension in which he reflects and sees his life unfold before him, seeing all the battles, all of the loves and allies of his life that he has encountered and befriended. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, the battle against the Torment is heating up as the armies are doing their best to defend earth from The Torment and their unforgiving wrath. Believing that Aric is dead, the heroes of earth stampede on and attack with full force to avenge their fallen friend and ally. Within the Torment he was consumed by, Aric sees the universe, continuing his reflective journey until he is able to collect and find himself again. The conclusion of this issue is surprisingly satisfying,
This was surprisingly a good issue. I was expecting this arc to go on a little while longer with some knock down dragged out fighting that would span upon issue, upon issue but surprisingly, that was not the case. This issue was very much a new direction focusing more on the road to peace rather than a road to ongoing war. The conclusion marks a possibly new direction between the Visigoth and the Vine, making one wonder how relations between the two societies will progress going forward in this series.
Robert Venditti has done a fine a job at concluding this arc that he’s started, and one cannot help but wonder what kind of real world current events may have inspired such a conclusion. He wraps things up pretty quickly without really making the reader feel disappointed. The art by Joe Bennet is action packed and awesome to look at. Bennet does a great job at drawing all of the characters and sequentially drawing the narrative. The colors by Ulises Arreola does a good job as well (Funny since I just realized that he is also doing the colors for the current Action Comics series written by Dan Jurgens). There is a backup story written by Fred Van Lente, Matt Kindt, and illustrated by Clayton Henry , Tomas Giorello, that detail and set up the things to come for Aric. One story focusing on Aric’s ability of restraint for revenge, and then fast forward to a possible future where Aric is probably. Not as forgiving…But you won’t see that until 2017 when more of this plot is revealed.
This was an awesome issue and I enjoyed it. Definitely, check this book out, it’s a fun and entertaining read.
Brian Isaacs - Executive Editor / Publisher 
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