Posts Tagged ‘Nan’s Games & Comics Too’

Let me make one thing clear from the get-go: I am a comic nerd. Have been for over 20 years. I bought X-O Manowar #1 in 1992 from Nan’s Games & Comics in Houston, TX the day it came out, and had every Valiant comic published in my pull box until 1997.

20 years of nerdiness

Valiant Comics went under, and throughout the years there were numerous rumors about them getting back into business. In the fullness of time, a reconstituted company emerged and is now publishing comics again.

The first of these is X-O Manowar, and it delivers. As someone who has been in and out of the hobby for a long time, the first thing that I noticed was the paper stock the comic is printed on. Man, what a change from the shitty paper of the past. The colors really pop and it seems like they really wanted to put out a great product.

I must admit, I opened the book and started reading it with some trepidation. Back in 1992, I was a mad, hostile little fuck and the only thing that I looked forward to was going to the arcade to rape some losers in Street Fighter or reading comics. As I dug into it, I noticed the differences between the original story and this one, and I didn’t care. The artwork, story, and badassery of my old friend Aric took me back to a simpler time, a time when Bill Clinton played the saxophone, Eddie Murphy was still funny, drug deals were conducted via pager, and a little loser like myself could one day grow up to be something.

We all know how things turned out, but I want to thank the guys at Valiant Entertainment for bringing back one of my all-time favorite characters. The times may change, but being a comic book nerd is eternal.