Issue #10 of Valiant Entertainment’s X-O Manowar hit stores yesterday, and with issue #11 writer Robert Venditti will be taking the fight back to The Vine with the upcoming Planet Death arc of the series. Venditti was kind enough to take time to discuss the event with Comicosity, as well as the capabilities of the X-O Manowar armour and what Aric will be up against going forward.

Aaron Long: With X-O Manowar #11 you are kicking off the Planet Death event. Is Planet Death something you have been planning since the beginning of the series, or something that has organically grown from the first issues of the book?

Robert Venditti: A lot of the conflict and mythology-building at the core of the story has been planned from the outset, but the way we ended up telling the stories developed organically. The nice benefit about writing a monthly book is you don’t have to script the entire story at once. You look at things month to month and bring in new elements as they present themselves. Had X-O Manowar been an original graphic novel, it would’ve been a far different story.

AL: The Vine are coming for the armor with great fervor in the past few issues, can you discuss what Aric will be up against during Planet Death?

RV: He’ll be up against everything. This is the Vine’s homeworld, so he’s really going into the center of the hornet’s nest. There are plenty of surprises in store for him, though, so maybe he won’t be as alone as he thinks…

AL: Aric has recently used the armor in ways the Vine didn’t know a human could. Have we seen the scope of what the armor can do, or is there more to come?

RV: There’s much more to come. Issue 10 will reveal the armor at its most destructive so far. It’ll be pushed beyond the bounds of what anyone—including Aric—imagined possible. The powers and secrets the armor holds will always be a focus of the series.

AL: Aric has recently been working with Ninjak and Alexander Dorian. During Planet Death will he be calling on these allies, or will he be on his own?

RV: Ninjak won’t be going into space with him, if that’s what you’re asking. Aric is going where only he can go, but that doesn’t mean the allies he has made won’t be playing important roles in the series going forward. Things will only keep getting bigger after Planet Death.

AL: If you had to boil the Planet Death event down to six words what would they be?

RV: Big action. Bigger changes. Huge reveals.