X-O Manowar #6 Review Part 2

X-O Manowar #6 Pre-Order Cover by Jeff Dekal

 

In X-O Manowar #6, writer Dennis Hopeless Hallum, penciler Emilio Laiso, inker Raffaele Forte, colorist Ruth Redmond, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou explore the relationship between Aric of Dacia, the sentient armor named Shanhara, and the other people who have become part of their extended family. This includes billionaire Troy Whitaker, Desmond and his mom, and a local homeless woman.

 

Interaction with the nanite swarms, as well as Whitaker's continual programming and upgrading attempts, have certainly changed Shanhara. Desmond adored the way Shanhara allowed him to play the latest video games. Still, he's always seen her as a person and a friend. 

Now, like Aric, he's not quite sure what to think of her.

 

 

We also get to see Desmond's mom again. She's mainly there as a support for Desmond in this issue. Given the way she decided to share her home with Aric in X-O Manowar #1, I had expected her to play a more active role in Aric's life. 

After living with Troy Whitaker while Shanhara healed and their building got rebuilt, she's starting to look real comfortable with Troy. 

 

We caught a brief glimpse of their homeless friend in the last issue. I get the sense Whitaker is supplying her with all the parts she needs to repair the family car. She's not present in X-O Manowar #6, so presumably, she's still working on that. 

Hopefully, she's now got a roof over her head, and eating three meals a day.

 

We also get another look at these blue balls in X-O Manowar #6. When Shanhara communicated with Troy on his yacht through one in an earlier issue, I wondered if the genius inventor had somehow extruded part of the X-O Manowar armor to make it, much as Aric broke off part of Shanhara in the previous series. 

Now, I'm thinking if Desmond has one, then these blue balls are probably just something Troy made. He did make his billions as a technological innovator, after all.

 

Ultimately, Shanhara dominates this issue. Despite Troy Whitaker's insistence to Aric that Shanhara is just a machine, he constantly interacts with her. He even refers to her as "the ol' girl" in this issue. After a glance into his past in the last issue, I wonder if, despite Troy's facade, he's always seen her as a real person. 

Could all these upgrades--supposedly for Aric's benefit--really be about his desire to control the living, growing, and sentient Shanhara?

I'll leave you to make your own decision on that, when you read X-O Manowar #6. 

Dragon Dave