Advanced Review: Harbinger #11

The Harbinger Wars is upon us and fans have been raving! The smashing debut issue not only helped to knit more pieces of the Valiant Universe together, but it also posed an insurmountable amount of questions! Not to worry though, Joshua Dysart begins to let things unfold further in this weeks Harbinger #11 and things will never be the same again!

Mixing flashback sequences with current story lines, Dysart lets the reader peek at the history of Toyo Harada and Project Rising Securities, better known as Project Rising Spirit. We see their first real interaction together and it is a terse one to say the least! Within these sequences Dysart also let’s us see a more optimistic Toyo Harada as opposed with the opportunistic one we are more prone to. This insight creates a richer depth to the character, making the lines between hero and villain blur, leaving the reader with a moral conundrum on how to perceive his choices.

Not only does Dysart make us question our “villain”, he makes us question our heroes as well. While Peter Stancheck has been having visions of the Bleeding Monk, his Renegades have been contemplating their new found place in the world. Powerful, young and lawless, these “heroes” find themselves in a moral dilemma all their own. Do those that have been beaten down emotionally and physically now have a moral obligation to help others just because they now have the power to? Do they have the right to live above the law since they can simply choose to do so? Do they even have a choice in the matter or do their powers automatically oblige them to do what’s right? The questions posed by Dysart make these characters extremely “real” to the reader and that is what makes this book so brilliant month after month. These characters are all of us, just on a grander scale! They bicker and fight, they have fears and dream of amazing things, they are scared and powerful and they need each other even though they won’t admit it. They are as “real’ as super heroes will ever become, which in my eyes, is truly amazing!

Take the next step into the Harbinger Wars in Harbinger #11 and always remember to: Be smart, be diligent, be — Valiant!