X-O Manowar Vol. 3 Issue 2: The Sacred Garden

In X-O Manowar Volume 3 Issue 2, alien guards lead Aric and his fellow Visigoths into a garden. There the aliens order them to tend the plants. Any prisoners who shirk their duty are killed, and their bodies added to the compost that feed the plants.

Penciler Cary Nord and Inker Stefano Gaudiano do a terrific job in evoking this alien garden, and Colorist Moose Baumann makes the garden look incredibly vibrant.

Unlike interstellar gardener Freeman Lowell in the movie Silent Running, these 4th Century Visigoths do not realize they are on a spaceship. Nor do they understand how the machinery overhead can make it rain indoors. All they know is that the aliens have not fed them, and the plants they tend produce fruit. 

Unfortunately for them, the aliens, known as the Vine, regard these plants as sacred, and punish anyone who would commit sacrilege against their holy plants.

As Moses discovered when he interfered with an Egyptian punishing an Israelite slave, any prisoner who tries to stop a guard from disciplining his charge will, in turn, be punished. This Aric discovers to his regret, as the guards exact a heavy toll for his interference.

The notion of sacred gardens and holy plants has deep roots in fiction. This is especially true of orchids. The adventurer Allan Quartermain, best known for his adventures in King Soloman's Mines, led an expedition to Africa in search of a rare orchid in H. Rider Haggard's novel The Holy Flower. There, (as I recollect) he found it guarded by a tribe who worshiped the flower. 

In the movie Moonraker, billionaire Hugo Drax tells James Bond about a rare orchid recently found in a Brazilian jungle. The orchid eventually destroyed the tribe that cultivated it, as it induced sterility in Humans. The industrialist plans to wipe out all of Humanity with a deadly nerve gas produced by this orchid, and repopulate the Earth with a handpicked few. 

Most people think of plants as decorations, and use them in gardens and homes to evoke feelings and beauty. Many people in big cities feel dislocated, and out-of-sorts, unless they can grow a small garden, or even a few potted plants. A rare few become entranced by their love of plants, including rare and difficult-to-cultivate species such as orchids. These individuals place all else second in their lives, including relationships with family and friends, in order to procure and nurture their beloved plants. This obsession can lead to financial ruin, and even murder, such as in the Elementary episode "Seed Money."

Thankfully, murder never occurs from an obsessive love of comics. (Aside from the Elementary episode "You've Got Me, Who's Got You?" that is.) Whether this passion for collecting comics can lead to financial ruin is, of course, open to debate.

In this issue, Aric of Dacia joins the company of Allan Quartermain, James Bond, and Sherlock Holmes in opposing villains with an obsessive love of plants. Writer Robert Venditti thus taps a rich storytelling vein by portraying the Vine as interstellar gardeners, in X-O Manowar Volume 3 Issue 2.

Dragon Dave

Robert Venditti on Identity and Parenthood

While reading (and rereading) Dennis Hallum's new X-O Manowar #1, I'm looking back and reflecting on what Robert Venditti established with his foundational X-O Manowar #1. Hopefully, I'll be ready to talk about Dennis Hallum's new story soon.

Partly because Aric defied King Alaric, and continued the fighting, the Visigoths suffer heavy losses. Aric's father Rolf dies, and his mother and wife are taken prisoner by the Romans. Aric and his friend Gafti lead a party of surviving Visigoths to attack the prisoner transports. Amid the fighting, Aric pries the helmet from a fallen foe. Instead of a Roman, the face beneath the helmet resembles something out of a nightmare. 

Blades and ferocity prove insufficient to win the battle, due to the strange and powerful weapons their opponents wield. Aric, his friend Gafti, and the remaining Visigoths are taken aboard the transports. 

Meanwhile, disguised figures sneak into the Visigoth camp. They replace Human children with their own. They change the alien children's appearance to match those of the Human children they will replace.

Having never had children, I can only imagine how a parent would feel reading this story. This must surely strike at the core of a parent's fears. How often have we seen a parent separated from their children--for whatever reason--in a TV show? The loss traumatizes the parents, and makes them willing to do anything to get their children back.

How often have we read a story about children being swapped--either accidentally or intentionally--at birth? What happens to the relationship between parents and children when hospital records uncover that the child you raised is not your own? What happens to a family when a DNA test reveals a son or daughter's true parentage?

Robert Venditti is delving into a primal Human fear. The alien equipment may look high-tech and futuristic, but the theme he's playing with is very old. You can trace it back through the  centuries, to the earliest oral traditions that scribes wrote down.

Imagine raising a child, imbuing it with all your love, instructing him or her in all that you believe and find most precious. And, all the while, the child is not yours. He or she is not even Human.

Obviously, the aliens are playing a long game here. These are not adults the aliens have trained and indoctrinated to become subversive agents. These are children who will be influenced by everything and everyone around them. How can they trust the children to work toward their ends when they gave them away as children?

Oh, and by the way, what happens to all the Human children?

This is just a short moment in this long first issue. With so much going on, the casual reader may pay little attention to this interlude. But it's an element of Aric's journey that will grow important as Robert Venditti's series continues.

Dragon Dave

New to X-O Manowar? Follow Valiant Entertainment on Twitter. During these difficult times, when the company cannot print and deliver new comics to stores, these good people are giving away free issues of their digital comics. I repeat: free! Act quickly, and you can secure your own copy of not just Robert Venditti's X-O Manowar #1, but issues 2,3, and 4 as well.

Robert Venditti on Leadership

Recently, I've been absorbed by the new Manowar #1. Every few days, I return to Dennis Hallum's story, and as I read it again, more things become clear to me. I intend on covering this introductory installment in Valiant's new series soon, but the way Dennis Hallum has packed so much into it, I still need time to contemplate it. In the meantime, I'm taking the time to revisit Robert Venditti's foundational series, as a way to understand the entirety of Aric's journey.

In X-O Manowar Vol 3 Issue 1, the Romans attack Aric's people on Easter 402 AD. He fights with his friends and relatives against forces that are vastly superior to that of the Visigoths in every conceivable way. 

Visigoths charge the ordered ranks of Roman soldiers

The battle against the Romans does not go well, and the Visigoth King Alaric decides discretion is the better part of valor. His nephew Aric is full of the invincibility of youth, and doesn't understand his uncle's tactics. So he ignores his king's order to pull back, and rallies his fellow Visigoths for another attack. 

One of the best military leaders in US history was George Washington. As Commander In Chief of the American colonies, he lost more battles against the better organized and supplied British Empire than he won. Yet, like Aric's uncle King Alaric, Washington knew when to fight, and when to withdraw. 

Most importantly, he never gave in to despair, never gave up his beliefs, and fought on. Eventually, this approach of harrying the British forces--vastly superior to Washington's in every conceivable way--resulted in overall victory for the colonial forces. 

Winning a battle is different from winning a war. That's something King Alaric understands, but Aric has yet to learn.

It's nice to see Aric like this in his youth, before he's discovered the possibility of failure. He's so full of life. He could be a motivational speaker: "If you believe in something, and work hard to make it a reality, then reality will match up to your dreams." 

Persistence. Determination. Dedication to his people. These are some of the qualities we love in Aric. His beliefs aren't wrong. Aric just wants too much, too soon. But then, don't we all? 

Dragon Dave

New to Valiant? Interested in learning more about X-O Manowar? Follow Valiant on Twitter. Search through their posts. You may still find the first four issues of Venditti's series available, free, for download. Seek, and ye may find...  

Mini X-O and the Perfect Read

By Lugh, this trip taketh too long. 

I require a diversion!

Peter F. Hamilton is an imaginative writer, but this novel will take forever to finish.

I require a story with his level of inventiveness and entertainment, only shorter.

No, by Lugh, I demand it!

 

If only the new series by Dennis "Hopeless" Hallum and Emilio Laiso could be as awesome as Robert Venditti's run.

 Wouldn't that be awesome?