Warehouse W - Valiant: X-O Manowar, Ken and Randy

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Davies
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Re: Warehouse W - Valiant: X-O Manowar, Ken and Randy

Post by Davies »

Casca was introduced in 1991, two years before Randy's first appearance -- but the story that revealed Randy's backstory also came out in 1993, a bit less than three years before Casca's fate was revealed. There's likely no connection, but I see where you're coming from.

And yeah, almost certainly named after him.
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Woodclaw
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Re: Warehouse W - Valiant: X-O Manowar, Ken and Randy

Post by Woodclaw »

Jabroniville wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:09 am Yeah, Randy's little side-story felt like an interesting addition to X-O Manowar judging by your story. Like the writers suddenly felt like there needed to be a female presence, and ramped her backstory up and up so that it was equal parts tragic, intense and sympathetic- a clear sign a writer is deeply invested in their new toy. Seems like they were almost gunning for it to be "Randy: The Series" after a point judging by her wearing the armor and going solo for a while.

And then suddenly her armor dies, she's a subplot character and then she's killed off-panel, which seems insane given how prominent she was only a year or two beforehand. I had to backtrack and see the timeline, and it looks like yeah... Ron Marz took over, went "WTF? Who is this?" and just ignominiously had her killed off.
My guess is that Randy was an easy way for Gonzales to indulge in his love for spy and military drama, which really exploded in Armorines.
Jabroniville wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:09 am Parts of her backstory and appearance kind of remind me of Casca, the main female in Berserk, who is also a brown-skinned, dark-haired woman with a tragic backstory, an uncomfortable relationship with the main hero (a bad-ass barbarian-type master warrior), and ends up getting tortured and raped. But I'm not sure how the exact timelines match up, here.

I wonder if her surname comes from Jacques Cartier, the French explorer who catalogued most of the St. Lawrence area in Canada.
As Davies observed, the connection is probably a random one. I've long suspected that Randy was introduced to break up the Aric/Ken dynamic and add a bit more panache to a story that was becoming a sausagefest.
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WareHouse W (main build thread for M&M)
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