The Good
Continuing on with the origin of the Armor Hunters, X-O MANOWAR #27 offers readers a glimpse into how this team came together and why they came together. Writer Robert Venditti truly expands on this team and the X-O MANOWAR universe quite a bit here by showing the reader that there are many armors in the world and where the armor originates from is nothing but a wasteland.
Honestly, this isn't a story that needs to be told. The reader can probably just accept the fact the events of ARMOR HUNTERS are happening without questioning anything. However, because the story is being told, it makes this event so much more intriguing and really fleshes the Armor Hunter characters out more.
The issue is full of every little detail about who these hunters are, why they do what they do, and how they do it. At no point, does any of this feel like forced exposition onto the reader because Reebo is learning everything right along with them. So not only is this an issue full of good information for the overall story, it's just an awesome read. Seeing the Armor Hunters go through their training then onto their first hunt if pure fun.
The art team of Diego Bernard on pencils, Alisson Rodrigues on inks, and Brian Reber on colors creates a full-fledge work of art that is filled with an immense amount of detail that doesn't distract from the main story. Bernard does a great job with some character designs here, creating some really cool looking alien species.
The Bad
There are a couple things that aren't going to work for the average reader. First and foremost, this is part two to a story, and secondly, this story is all about the history of the Armor Hunters and has nothing to do with X-O Manowar at all. Those who are interested in the book, but never read an issue before will have a terrible time jumping on here because any issue could be someone's first issue.
The Verdict
The Armor Hunters aren't the real enemy, the armor is, at least that's what issue #27 of X-O MANOWAR tries to tell the reader. Regardless, this issue provides an action-packed adventure that really fleshes out the enemy of this event. Not only is everything about this story enjoyable, it's impressive. As it has been since the start, X-O MANOWAR is the top dog at Valiant when it comes to long-form story-telling in a shared universe. It's a top ten book.