Review: Harbinger #10
Published by Valiant Entertainment
Written by Joshua Dysart
Art by Matthew Clark, Alvaro Martinez, Dimi Macheras, and Brian Thies
Coloured by Ian Hannah
The Plot
This issue begins with Peter struggling to regain a foothold as Faith has just rescued him. Then we see the other members of the team and how they are reacting to being held in captivity. Despite being powerless, Kris does the best job of holding it together. A plan is devised to escape and Faith goes on to rescue the others. The plan is put into action and all hell breaks loose. At the same time, Peter is remembering his friendship with Joe and how important it was to him. Torque goes absolutely nuts on his captors and they are all forced to bail as the plane they are on is about to blow. Everyone manages to find their own way to safety. They find a motel room to recuperate and get their bearings and Peter makes a decision on his course of action (in a selfless way). However, he finds that the rest of the team have their own plan. Next up, Harbinger Wars.
The Breakdown
Another brilliant issue. This issue we get more insight into Peter and indeed he is a flawed, but heroic individual. His history with Joe was great to see as well as his continued struggle with addictions. It made Joe’s death way back when seem even more tragic. Even though Peter has been at the forefront of recent issues he’s still been overshadowed by the other characters. However, we finally get back to learning more about his character. We get to see what his thoughts are and even though he has his faults, he is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his teammates. This issue had it all with lots of action while still being a character-driven story overall. I also like how Faith knows her value to the team. I’m really curious to see what the limitations of Torque’s power are. Another bonus was seeing everyone in their outfits at the end of the issue. I’ve been saying how much I like the look of them and they now symbolize what the Renegades stand for. Every issue lately has been dedicated to providing each character with a voice. The end result is that I feel I have a better grasp on this team in just a few issues than I have with some other teams that have had much longer to tell their story. The art duties were good and I honestly didn’t mind so many artists being in on it this week. I thought that it would annoy me when I first saw how many were involved. What a great title.
BUT…
Even though I have faith that it’ll all work out fine, I do hope that the Harbinger Wars doesn’t take away any steam from this title. I have complete trust in Valiant and I’m only hesitant because of how other companies allow events to override the core titles.
Buy It, Borrow It, Shelf Read It, or Ignore It?
Buy It. For the past few months I’ve been calling Harbinger possibly the best comic on the stands right now…and I’m continuing to stick to this. Dysart has taken a team of rejects and misfits and turned them into something special. In fact they don’t seem like broken or loser characters, they read more like real people. This is just simply a great title.
Final Note: Valiant released this teaser image this week.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
