Armorines (October 29,1993) This Day In Comics
The U.S. Government took X-O Manowar as a threat. The Armorines were created by Dr. Phillip Zahn to deal with this threat. They first appeared on the last page of X-O Manowar #24 (October 29,1993).
After they got the go ahead on the project from Senator Ackerman, Colonel Gardner recruited eight soldiers to function as the Armorines. Four would be trained as the field agents with the other four acting as their co-pilots from the base. Gunny Lewis, an aging war veteran, was chosen to be their field leader. The Armorines went on to face other threats, but their biggest adversaries were the Spider Aliens.
They first faced them underwater, and then in a huge battle in space. They were teamed with X-O Manowar and the H.A.R.D. Corps in the space battle. While they were in space fighting the aliens, the Chaos Effect broke out on Earth cutting off all communication with the military. Eventually the Chaos ended, the Spider Aliens were defeated, and the Armorines returned home.
The Armorines start as a response by the U.S. Government to the perceived threat of the powerful alien Manowar Class Armor controlled by Aric Dacia. Under the leadership of CIA agent Peter Garrett and U.S. Marine Colonel Gardner, the United States Government investigates the existence of aliens on Earth. After collecting and modifying a few examples of Spider Alien for their own use, and also monitoring Aric’s use of the X–O Manowar armor, the government determines that the armor is too powerful to be in anyone’s hands but their own.
To that end, the government develops Project: Deep Freeze, a plan to lure Aric to Antarctica, where he will be subdued and stripped of his armor, which will then be taken to Amundsen-Scott Station, a U.S. Government base that has been built into a massive crater.
Project: Deep Freeze fails, but using the alien weaponry the government has already collected, and data gathered by examining the X–O Manowar , brilliant weapons technology expert Dr. Phillip Zahn develops the Armorines’ battle suits. These advanced battle suits are worn by a group of specially trained Marines, and each Armorine in the field has a “co–pilot” back at the base that remotely controls certain aspects of the armor’s functions.
This set–up makes the Armorines the finest combat unit the world has ever seen.
