X-O Manowar vs. The Eternal Warrior...?

Yes. It Happened.

Towards the end of the original Valiant Universe, you could feel things unwind. You saw storylines come to closure, you saw persistent enemies finally vanquished and you saw some lingering questions finally being answered.

Then in Birthquake 8 titles were condensed. Now you had Magnus AND Rai in an issue. Then it all ended. I remember towards the end the flood of questions that loyal readers thought would go unanswered. What happens in Rai #0? Did Bloodshot or Shadowman die? When it ended, the loyal readers stuck around to still ask these questions, knowing there would never be an answer. Then the new Valiant Universe came and this one was swept under the carpet. But it still lingers on in people's minds- you reading this article written well after the original Valiant Universe ended is proof of that.

This is one story I am happy Valiant published. It is a great story. The book is X-O Manowar Yearbook #1, a severely underordered book. And it has an all out X-O vs. Gilad fight in it. And you probably missed it. Written by Jorge Gonzalez and Art by Stefano Raffaele, April 1995.

Well, let me back it up. Unity #0, which came out a full 3 years ago, had a strange panel on page 12. This panel shows (as far as I can tell) the first continuity meeting of Gilad and Aric. Geoff used Solar's hand to transport them all to the phone booth instantly. Aric, somewhat disoriented, tells Geoff "Raise a hand against the boy and I'll cut you in half". That just struck me as odd for Aric to say to him. What was going on? We had to wait 3 years to find out.

To make it as concise as possible, back in 408 ad, Aric and his men ambush some Roman guards and in the process free the Roman prisoner Gilad. Gilad stays with the Visigoths only to leave several days later mysteriously. Turns out Gilad went off to the Romans and  gave away their location and the Romans ambushed Aric's people killing many of them, and in the process Aric's woman Deidre loses her son. Aric wasn't too happy about that. Aric knew it was Gilad who betrayed him and swears revenge against Gilad.

Aric catches up with Gilad some days later and they fight with blades to the death. Under the Geomancer's instructions, Gilad was told to let Aric win, to let Aric get on with his life. So apparently Aric kills Gilad.

We catch up with Aric and Gilad some 1600 years later at a private Vatican auction. The next item is an unimpressive sword from the fourth century which Aric knows is his own sword! The bidding starts at $20,000. Aric immediately bids $50,000. Then in the back a voice bidding $75,000. The crowd is stunned. All for this ancient sword of no great importance. And who is this stranger? Finally, Aric bids $100,000 for the sword. The stranger is silent. SOLD!

  Aric catches up with the stranger, who is Gilad. Aric wanted the sword because it was once his. Gilad wanted the sword because [the Geomancer told him] it was the same sword that "killed" him 1600 years ago. It was that moment that they both realized: Gilad realized the crazed Visigoth from all those years ago was Aric, and Aric realize d the person responsible for killing many of his people and betraying him to the Romans is Gilad. A fight immediately breaks out as Aric goes after Gilad. Gilad holds him off and tells him to pick a neutral place to meet and they'll talk-or fight- it out. Aric picks the Coliseum at Midnight.

11:58 pm. Gilad is waiting. In lands the X-O Manowar. Gilad is surprised that Aric brought the X-O, and Aric responds "I have a blood oath to fulfil- so defend yourself!" and fires. Gilad is helplessly outclassed. Gilad uses rocks and Aric just grabs him and throws him against a wall, winding him. Then Aric beats the living hell out of Gilad.

Finally, with Gilad on the floor bleeding badly, he barely spits out "Not exactly a fair fight...is it? Are you afraid to take me on man-to-man? Where's your code of honor now?..." So off comes the X-O armor. Now it's just fists. They beat the living crap out of each other, but Gilad just keeps coming. "What manner of demonspawn are you? You should be dead...yet you still have the strength of a hundred men!". Then they both lunge at each other with bare fists. Several brutal punches later, Aric is on the ground, beaten. He's just a man after all.

Then Gilad finally explains it. Gilad was under guidance of the Geomancer to reveal the Visigoth location to start a chain of events that would spell out 2 years later the fall of the Roman Empire. Gilad tells Aric that although it was unfortunate, that event lead to a new era for his people. Aric's only reply is "Go warrior. You confuse me with your devil's tongue. Consider this a stalemate. Just stay out of my life."

Man, what a great story! You just know it will be a great story when the article for a 1 issue story is longer than the story itself! Aric and Gilad are my 2 favorite characters. And they're both good guys. So it was very intriguing to see such intensity between 2 guys that basically "were on the same team" all along- good guys.

And best of all- the book promised you a fight and it delivered. Not like other "Thing vs. Hulk" 24 pages-to-a-standstill fights that started because someone overheard something and misconstrued it. This was real battle. To the death. And in the end, they were not the best of friends. Gilad left, somewhat sad and Aric sat there and wept.

Aric and Gilad's meeting from that day on were few and far between. And when they did meet, they both had nothing nice to say about each other. There were no easy answers or happy endings here. This one book promised you something and delivered: it promised you a piece of the Valiant Universe, an important story on betrayal and misunderstanding. And it hurt, and the feelings ran deep. And best of all, it was a great story.