Since 2012, Robert Venditti has helmed Valiant Comics’ flagship book that set the tone for their rebooted universe, “X-O Manowar”. Aric of Dacia’s journey from hot headed Vigoth and his bio-organic armor to a wise and noble hero has been one full of ups and downs and it concludes today with “X-O Manowar #50”. We had a chat with Venditti, talking about how it started, some of his favorite parts, watching Valiant grow (along with the friends made) and his own creative process.
We are at 50 issues, you’ve done several specials, and an event mini-series; X-O is one of the few superhero comic book series lately that has had such a quanity under one writer. How does it feel to reach such a conclusion?
Robert Venditti: I feel super fortunate. I never thought I would be able to stay on a book that long. This was the first monthly comic book series I ever wrote, so I hoped I would make it to 12 issues, I really hoped I would make it to 24, but we’re at 56 issues all told. The marketplace being what it is, that’s not common anymore. I feel lucky to do that with “X-O Manowar”.
The protagonist Aric he’s changed quite a great deal since his imprisonment so long ago. How do you keep your story grounded in the character while juggling so many of the more sci-fi and fantastical elements?
RV: For me, with characters in general, you have to find that one thing you can anchor them to that the readers will be able to relate to, no matter what era the character comes from or who they are. With X-O Manowar, it was his desire to have a place; he’s of a culture that is extinct in our world, without a homeland, without a language, and not much in the way of historical record on the era he lived in as a Visigoth. For him, just wanting to find a place to call his own, and a people that he could be with, was really what drove him throughout the series. Once he found that, he protected those elements and kept them safe. I think that’s something any reader can relate to regardless of who they are or where they live.
Reading it from beginning to end, when I read the first arc he felt a little you and a bit brash, but he’s grown into the maturity of a king.
RV: Yeah, a lot of the subtext below the surface is the concept of a hero and how it evolves over time. Aric was a great hero in the 4th century, but that entailed him hacking the heads off of Romans; being brutal and brash. But in the modern day, those aren’t necessarily the same qualities of a hero. He went from one point in history to the present, and didn’t get to experience that evolution that cultures experience over time with their concept of heroism. That is the journey he walks: Becoming the punch-first-ask-later type of warrior to someone who’s more of a peace maker by the end of the series.
What aspects of the series ended up being the most different in the end from the initial pitch?
RV: That is a good question. I would say Aric having the kingdom in Nebraska and having all the Visigoths come back after Planet Death. Aric having his own nation and marrying a queen wasn’t something I really planned for in the beginning. I think as you read the series, that became much more of a “Year Three” kind of story. I was very happy to do all of it, and in a more universe-wide aspect, the way in which X-O Manowar became a lynch pin character for the Valiant Universe as a whole. I never would’ve presumed to have my character be that when it was my first monthly series. But he ended up becoming a character that Valiant launched “Unity” out of. They also did “Armor Hunters” through “X-O Manowar”, and Aric ended up having a much larger role in the universe. That was great to see and I was happy to take part in that.
Continued belowSpeaking of Armor Hunters, up until Unity and Armor Hunters X-O Manowar was very self-contained in itself. What was the coordination process like with a story like Armor Hunters? You have the parallel stories running in main mini-series, as well as, the origin of the Armor Hunters in the X-O book itself and the other books tying in.
RV: Warren Simons, Valiant’s editor-in-chief, came to me and said they wanted to do an X-O Manowar-centered event with three tie-in series. Basically, the idea was that somebody is coming to Earth to get the armor. I built the event out from that with Warren, with lots of outlines and lots of discussions on the phone that we brought to the writer’s retreat. Then we presented the outlines to all the writers present, and let them each discover their own way to plug into that with their own storylines. I would give them my “Armor Hunters” scripts, they would give me their tie-in scripts, and we would read them all together to make sure the continuity was in place. I didn’t build out those other storylines, I built out the main core storyline and each writer brought their own sensibilities to their own tie-ins.
You’ve had many antagonists over the run, the Vine, the Armor Hunters, the Armorines, and now the Torment. I’ve always had a fascination with antagonists, so I have to ask. Which one of them was your favorite to write?
RV: Probably Commander Trill, because I liked writing him a lot. I liked the Armor Hunters as well, and I really had a lot of fun with GIN-GR. I think you get a sense of that, when we actually made her a hero so she could stick around.
Since X-O Manowar was the first and the longest of the Valiant reboot and you’ve been here, creator-wise, the longest what has it been like watching the universe regrow and branch out again?
RV: It’s hard to explain. It’s been an enormous amount of fun, and I look back and think of the first writer’s retreat we were at. I don’t even think any of our books were on the stands, but the first writer’s retreat had Joshua Dysart, Duane Swierczynski, Fred Van Lente, and myself. We were sitting around a table in this small conference room with Warren and the editors, just talking about these characters and how we could link them together. Looking back now, five years later, I seen how big it’s grown. To be in that writer’s room with Joshua and Fred, and to now be joined by Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, Jody Houser, Rafer Roberts, and all kinds of writers.
Valiant has 10 series going right now, and they just did their fourth universe-wise event. Knowing you were there literally from the very first day, that’s not an opportunity that comes along often, if ever, in this business. You don’t really know what you’re experiencing as it’s happening, but when you look back on it you feel incredibly fortunate to have been in that room and see something evolve. The wealth of experience and the amount that you learn from that kind of work is immeasurable. I couldn’t be prouder with how the whole thing turned out. I came out with a lot of friends, people I didn’t know before that I now call friends. There are a lot of writers that I’ve gotten to know personally, that I’ve come to admire. I wouldn’t change any of it.
Over the last decade you have had quite a spread. You’ve worked with Valiant, you have taken on the “Green Lantern” franchise into DC Rebirth, creator owned like “Surrogates”, and adaptations like the Percy Jackson graphic novels. How do you keep it all straight in your head?
RV: There are certainly people out there doing a lot more than I am. I do one thing a week, or at least I try to. It doesn’t always work out like that, and sometimes demand dictates differences. As a general rule, on Monday I open a script and I’m going to write an issue of “X-O Manowar”. By Friday, I turn that script in, and then I have my weekend. On the next Monday, I’m going to write an issue of “Green Lantern” that week and by Friday turn that script in. I’m really only working on one thing at a time. I could be writing an issue of “X-O Manowar” this week while I’m sending an issue of “Wrath of the Eternal Warrior” to the printer. I’m still working on other books, but as for actual scripts, I just do one at a time. I’ve never been the kind of writer that could work on one thing before lunch and another after lunch. I just can’t grind the gears that way. I try to do one thing at a time, and not try to take on a volume of work that would mandate me having to do multiple things at a time on a regular basis.
Continued belowAfter all of this time, is there any last words you’d like to say to the readers of Multiversity and to the X-O Manowar and Valiant fandom?
RV: Thanks for sticking with us. Five years is such a long time, and there are a lot of fans I remember meeting at C2E2 in 2012, where we were handing out free samplers of “X-O Manowar” #1. I met Valiant fans for the first time and those fans are still around now. They’ve stuck with the book and have been so supportive of it. They really proselytized not just for “X-O Manowar” but the whole Valiant line. The company wouldn’t be there without the readers that support the titles and the enthusiasm of the fans. I can’t tell them all how much I appreciate them. I think they’re going to be excited about what Valiant continues to do, and I hope they continue to follow me as I work on other things, as well.
“X-O Manowar #50” is on sale today.
