April 22, 2008, New York, NY – Valiant Entertainment is giving fans and retailers a treat by releasing the X-O Manowar: Birth hardcover edition one week earlier than originally planned. The new edition was originally scheduled for release on April 30, but Valiant has decided to make it available one week early.



“The books came back early from the printer and they looked so good we didn’t want to wait the extra week to get them out to fans,” said Walter J. Black, Senior VP & Publisher of Valiant Entertainment. “Putting together this hardcover edition has been a labor of love for us, and we figured our diehard fans would appreciate getting their hands on it a little bit earlier than expected.”



X-O Manowar: Birth collects issues #0-6 of the landmark series that sold over 8 million copies and was originally published in 1992. The material is being collected for the first time in this hardcover edition and has been digitally recolored. The book also features a brand new story by Bob Layton, a look at Joe Quesada’s original layouts for X-O Manowar #0 and a new cover by Sean Chen. The complete solicitation copy can be seen below.



X-O MANOWAR BIRTH HC

By Bob Layton, Jim Shooter, Joe Quesada & Barry Windsor-Smith
This digitally recolored and remastered Valiant special edition collects the full X-O Manowar origin story from issues #0-6 for the first time ever, and includes an all-new "The Rise of Lydia" story by Bob Layton and a new cover by Sean Chen! Aric Dacia is a Visigoth barbarian captured by spider aliens and enslaved aboard their starship until he steals their ultimate weapon - the X-O Manowar armor. Aric returns to Earth only to find that 1600 years have passed. Now, the most primitive man on the planet wields the most technologically advanced weapon in existence! Features explosive artwork by Barry Windsor-Smith and Marvel EIC Joe Quesada and a story by legendary creators Bob Layton and Jim Shooter!



X-O Manowar: Birth is still available to order by using Diamond Order Number: FEB084088.



To read a 33-page preview of X-O Manowar: Birth, follow this link: http://www.valiantentertainment.com/features.php.



For more information on X-O Manowar: Birth and other Valiant Entertainment titles, please log on to their website at www.valiantentertainment.com.



About Valiant Entertainment:



Valiant Entertainment is a character-based entertainment company that owns and manages some of the most popular comic characters ever created across all media, including feature films, television, video

games, new media, publishing, and consumer products. Since their creation in 1990, Valiant characters have sold over 80 million comic books, 8 million video games, and Valiant became one of the three

leading comic character-based companies globally. In addition, the "Valiant characters are often called the most important characters created since the Marvel revolution of the 1960s" (Sequart, 2006).

VALIANTTM characters include X-O MANOWAR®, BLOODSHOT®, HARBINGERTM, ETERNAL WARRIORTM, DOCTOR MIRAGETM, NINJAKTM, SHADOWMAN®, RAITM, and

QUANTUM & WOODYTM, among many others. Visit www.ValiantEntertainment.com for more information.