Harbinger Wars

I’ve kept up with a lot of the Valiant titles since the modern relaunch, although I generally collect them when Comixology runs sales. I hadn’t been following Bloodshot or Harbinger, but I wanted to check out the new Hard Corps series, and that story supposedly started here, so I picked up Harbinger Wars to see what was going on.

Joshua Dysart and Duane Swierczynski do a pretty solid job explaining a sort of complicated story. Basically, Project Rising Spirit is an evil company with super-powered child soldiers. They aren’t nice guys, because the kids are certainly the sympathetic characters when they are freed by Bloodshot. Bloodshot is a rogue PRS agent out to hurt his old company for wiping his memories and turning him into a killing machine. PRS also employs the Hard Corps team, made up of Gunslinger, Hammerhead, Shakespeare, and Maniac. Fans of the old series will remember these names, but surprisingly, these core characters don’t last anywhere near as long as I’d expected. Not that they are tremendously recognizable in their rebooted incarnations, but still…

On the other side of the conflict are Toyo Harada and his Eggbreakers. Still acting as a morally challenged messiah, Harada wants to save the world, his way. He sends his troops to rescue the PRS children so that he can mold them in his own image as new Eggbreakers. So basically, the kids are going to be used one way or another, it is just a question of which is worse.

The last faction is the Harbinger team, the Renegades. This is Pete Stanchek; Renegade, Flamingo, Zephyr, Torque and the gang from the Harbinger title. They are out for the kids’ welfare, but they find themselves sort of outranked by the self-elected leaders amongst the escapees.

Confusing, huh? Factor in the hatred that most of the characters have for their own bosses and things get complicated quickly. Spaced out over four issues, it does make sense, but man, I’ll be sort of glad when I’m only following one faction after this story arc.

Most importantly, the Hard Corps concept has been updated nicely, and the whole “calling for your next superpower” idea works just as well now as it did in the 90’s. I’ll definitely be transitioning over to the main Bloodshot title (where Hard Corps will live after this).

Clayton Henry has a clean, crisp style that works well both for acting and action. The kids are sort of hard to tell apart, but I really enjoyed his take on the Renegades and Bloodshot. Pretty much every character is sporting a modernized take on their original costume, so I didn’t have a hard time figuring out the players.

As an aside, how interesting is it that so many of Marvel and DC’s B-level talent are working for Valiant now? (I don’t mean that as an insult, most of my favorite artists are “B-level.”) Guys like Henry are solid, entertaining storytellers, and they’d be of great value on books from the big two, yet here they are delivering great work for an independent. It’s just interesting.

This is a FAIR comic, just because I feel like I walked in at the end of a film. But I’m excited to see the quality Valiant is putting out across the line. 

X-0 Manowar: Planet Death TPB

I think it is time we had a talk about Valiant Entertainment.

I was a HUGE fan of the original Valiant back in the day. So I’m the target audience for this modern day relaunch. I have to say, overall, I’m very impressed. I’m collecting these new Valiant books digitally. Comixology has regular sales of just about the entire universe, so I find myself buying almost every book in the line when the appropriate sales kick off.

The creative teams on these books are fascinating, generally consisting of what I consider B-level Marvel and DC talent. Since those tend to be my favorite types of creators, the quality of these books is remarkably solid. You’ve heard of these writers, you’ve heard of the artists. This is good stuff.

Planet Death wraps up the initial “spider-alien” storyline that dominated the original X-0’s attention for so long. Aric is a Visigoth, captured by cruel aliens and forced into slavery until he discovers the holy armor of Shanhara. The aliens, known as the Vine, are furious with Aric for escaping and making off with their holy artifact. After repeated attempts on his life (including a pretty sweet fight with Ninjak!), Aric gets tired of it and heads to the Vine’s homeworld. He is a total maniac, killing dozens or hundreds of spider-aliens as he brings the planet to heel. Hence the title, Planet Death.

Robert Venditti does a remarkable job actually putting some moral conflict into this black and white story. He actually has some spider-aliens we can root for! I’m not sure if they are good, but they are definitely not as bloodthirsty and cruel as most of their kind. It is a neat trip seeing Aric very slowly come around to the idea that he doesn’t have to slaughter the entire Vine race. It is also a delight seeing the human slaves of different eras and locations come together to throw off their captors (along with some interesting alien allies too).

Cary Nord and Trevor Hairsine handle the art, and it is wonderful. The X-O Manowar looks just like I remember it (even if it has been modernized, it FEELs right, an important distinction from the soulless new 52 costumes). One of the neater aspects of the art is the absolute lethality of the Shanhara armor. I mean, the laser beams practically burn off the page due to the strong coloring.

These Valiant books are darn good. And when you can get them for 99 cents each in a digital sale? That’s a STEAL! GOOD!