Big. Things. In. Here. X-O Manowar #50 was a great one way to end a series! But enough of my gushing, let’s start with the real review.
It’s easy to say that I’m pretty surprised with X-O Manowar #50 as a whole. It has a solid start with a general overview of what we’ve seen in the entire series. All the adventures and fights our protagonist has gone through, and despite me not knowing all of them, it was wonderful to see it. You’ll be impressed with it and newer fans will want to go back and dig up these older stories.
The story presented in issue 50 combines the best of slow and fast bits to give us some really great pacing. Things flow well from highs to lows and back again. There is no dead space, no fillers or filler acts, it’s just one thing after the other and the other and the other. You’ll easily find yourself immersed in the plot.
Some people may say that the ending is a little bittersweet, but I believe in a certain set of morals and think the team here tried to make a point in this final chapter of X-O Manowar. They wanted to say that there are different ways to end a war and that sometimes humans fear and attack because they don’t know or understand. I won’t deny it was strange, there’s still that mainstream vein in me that wanted to see more action and blood, but it was a good end to what have have come to see from past issues.
On the additional chapters, they were strange, except maybe for the one written by Matt Kindt. I didn’t really understand what I was reading in the second and third story. If that was Aric’s new life or different adventures, and I would have liked them to have given me a better sense of what I was reading. Kindt’s story was a good one and decorated with lots of great images. No dialogues to be seen, but it still was a provocative tale.
The art in X-O Manowar #50 was great. Looking at so many double page panels was a great option. These pages divide things up and let us follow along seperatly with the characters they have created.
This time, my favorite bit in the book was the last page. You forget about the single bit dialogue on the left as the art is so striking. Some bad news is that we’ll have to wait until next year to see what happens now, but good things take their time, don’t they?
The big problem here is the art of the second short story. Man, I felt I was looking at a newbie working on their first webcomic (not that I have anything against them). It may be a certain style, but it just came off as a bit amateurish in my opinion.
However, it was completely compensated with the last short story that we were presented. It felt like a movie teaser to a new film, and the art was much better than what we’ve had on the whole series. The art has been good, so this is high praise indeed, and I’d love to see more done in this style.
There are a few small problems that I can’t quite overlook in this massive issue, but it was overall still an amazing read and great way to end. I hope this is not the last time we see X-O Manowar as another must rise as the new savior and king of worlds!
4.5/5
‘Great’
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