X-O MANOLUGE- Valiant Comics to sponsor US luge team

As far as crossovers this one’s pretty unique. Valiant Comics will be sponsoring the US luge team- and dressing them as superhero X-O MANOWAR.

Both the practice race suits and the competition uniforms for the US luge team will bear the design of the superhero’s metallic suit through 2014. It’ll look a little something like this:

And these suits will be up to snuff too, as they’ll be made of the best possible materials and will be tailored to each member of the team ensuring “the most aerodynamically efficient race suit for competition use”.

X-O MANOWAR might seem like a strange choice for the licensing at first but consider this: the character has over 8 million books sold and his title is one of the marquee comics in Valiant’s successful relaunch of it’s universe from this past Summer. X-O actually once starred in a crossover videogame with Iron Man too. There’s a piece of trivia for you.

“This partnership between Valiant and USA Luge is an incredibly exciting and unique opportunity.  As entertainment marketing becomes more challenging and the marketplace more global, we see this as a fantastic way to marry many elements.  Olympic sports are a worldwide pastime enjoyed by millions, while Valiant comics and their characters seek to embody the same superhuman traits so often found in these special athletes.  And just as X-O Manowar is enhanced by his armor, it is our hope that the athletes of USA Luge are similarly emboldened by their X-O Manowar designed race suits. Luge is not just any sport — it is a thrilling endeavor of high speed, challenge and edge, which makes its athletes a perfect fit for our Valiant superheroes,” said Jason Kothari, CEO of Valiant Entertainment.

“We are honored to be working with the world-class team at Valiant. This is a tremendous opportunity for USA Luge to reach out to a new group of fans and grow with a company on the fast track, just like our athletes. Our organization has always taken pride in working with our family of sponsors to create unique marketing opportunities surrounding our sport and the Valiant partnership is no exception. We look forward to the build-up to 2014 with Valiant in our corner,” said Gordy Sheer, USA Luge Marketing Director and 1998 Olympic silver medalist.

The new look for the team will be shown off at the first races of the World Cup on the 24th and 25th of this month in Innsbruck, Austria.