Brandon This was another solid issue in what can only be described as the best event this year! At this point no other event comic has done what Harbinger Wars has done. This event established new characters, new relationships and overall changed the playing field for my two favorite Valiant titles, Harbinger and Bloodshot. Some threads were left dangling but I assume they will be wrapped up in the following Harbinger and Bloodshot issues so I have no problem with that. I felt the issue really delivered as it murderized some of the newly minted characters and really further established Harada as a threat. This issue was awesome from top to bottom. I LOVED Harbinger Wars!
What about you sir? Did it hit the same or similar marks for you?
David: Not quite. While there was a lot of awesome in it – the action sequences were pretty great – ultimately, it didn’t really have any conclusion that was satisfying. If you look at what happened in the four issues, basically the only change is Bloodshot is now alone, the Renegades team is exactly the same (except Peter’s jaw is broken), Harada has a few more psiots to replace his lost ones that became the Renegades and Project Rising Spirit has some more money to invest in getting HARD C.O.R.P.S.
So really, basically nothing happened of any substance.
Was it a really fun read? Sure, it was. But the fourth and final issue was slight and anti-climactic enough that I don’t really feel it even opens up any new status quos, which is what two issues from now for Harbinger and Bloodshot are supposed to be at. In the words of Teddy KGB, I’m feeling…unsatisfied.
Brandon: I don’t feel the same way. I think the story worked well. They battled and then spread out amongst the Valiant world. I think the even did a good job of introducing new pieces and evolving the main characters through the course of the event. I think the last issue just wrapped the event. I think a lot of the character development and thing happened earlier and this issue just moved the pieces around the board to where they can be picked up in their series. I don’t feel it was much different than a Marvel of DC event in that regard. It was just done better than most of their recent events.
David: While I would agree with you that, in particular, issues #2 and #3 were doing great things with characters, this issue didn’t really have much going as far as character was concerned, save for the other psiot kids having some nice moments. It was an action sequence finale with no emotional payoff to me.
I did really enjoy the action though, and it helped a ton that Clayton Henry crushed the living hell out of the issue (I really wish they hadn’t thrown in Mico Suayan on the LAST PAGE though). His work on this issue showed that he is great at not just character work, but incredibly awesome action as well. I particularly loved the way he brought the Bloodshot and Peter fight to life – Peter throwing Bloodshot all the way to the Paris was badass, and perfectly visualized by Henry.
What did you think of the art for this issue?
Brandon: I really enjoyed the art. I thought the artists involved really nailed it. There were some scenes that just wouldn’t have had the same impact had the art not been as good as it was. I especially loved the scene where shit is about to fall on Bloodshot and he is looking up with a fantastic “oh fuck” face. That was a great scene.
Sometimes there being a number of artist involved can be a problem. Was that a problem for you here? Also, any scenes stick out for you?
Continued belowDavid: Well, besides my mention of Mico Suayan at the very end, not really. Suayan is just so different stylistically than Henry and Perez that it was jarring. Besides that, Henry and Perez fit perfectly.
For me, the main scenes that stuck out was everything involving the Hard C.O.R.P.S. (that was so intense when their powers went down! Poor guys couldn’t kill children any more!), except for the fact that they were written like they were rejects from 80’s action movies to a certain degree, and I really loved it when the little girl psiot turned into a pterodactyl to take out the jets. That was so freaking great. I really enjoyed that. What about you?
Brandon: I really enjoyed the stuff with Bloodshot and Peter. All of that was fantastic. Peter’s jaw getting pummeled was pretty awesome. I also really enjoyed the pages where Harada comes to the Psiots and brings them into the fold. I love that he has some new psiots who are willing to potentially kill in his name. I also enjoyed the idea that Peter was being lied to by the mystical old dude and Harada. It adds some mystery as to what is really going on there.
David: See, I don’t think the psiots are down with Harada. That Cronus guy is totally not cool with him at least. I think they’re going to be part of a team that tries to tear Harada apart from the inside. I think in their eyes, they look at Harada as same shit, different day, and one way or another they end up in psiot handcuffs. And you know those are the worst kind of handcuffs!
Just curious, where do you think this leads to for Harbinger and Bloodshot respectively? What does this set up for those books?
Brandon: For Bloodshot I am not really sure how this leads into him joining H.A.R.D.corps or whatever is going on there. I imagine that is something that the next issue of Bloodshot will handle, which I think makes sense. I like an event to have the overarching beats and the individual titles to handle the details and the fallout. It gets the readers to follow the event into the main title and allows the creative teams the drive the main titles to do the heavy lifting.
As far as Harbinger I think the cat obviously continues to be on the run but now has to deal with Harada and his new psiots. While not an Earth shattering change it does allow for some familiar faces to trouble our heroes. These psiots under Harada could not be the the Renegades Brootherhood of Evil Psiots if you will. It gives them potential villains who have a nicely laid backstory and that the audience of Harbinger Wars can now connect with.
David: My take for the Harbinger side stands! I think the new psiots in there will take down the evil brotherhood from the inside with the help of Peter and the Renegades (band name!), but it will take a long time.
I’ll give this issue a 7.0. As much as I wish it did more, it was an enjoyable enough issue. I just wish it had more of a wrap up then the wham, bam, thank you ma’am nature of this one. What will you give it?
Brandon: I’d give the issue an 8! I thought it was well done but not the best issue of the event. I was very pleased with the event overall though. The event itself i’d give a 9! What would you give the overall event?
David: I’ll give it an 8. I gave the first and fourth issues decent grades and the second and third ones great grades. It was a sandwich with delicious meats and cheeses but crusty, hard bread with just enough flavor.
Brandon: Per usual I felt this was a fun issue. I will admit though when we first saw the humans who greeted our Armstrong and Archer’s sister and we started to learn about the U.F.O.’s I couldn’t help but think of the Dane Cook joke about the huge native Americans coming down from the spaceships. There was something about the way they left the line about what the U.F.O.’s really were and how it led into the natives holding the heroes up with lasers. It had me cracking up at the potential of that.
Continued belowWhat about you?
David: My name is David Harper and I love Archer & Armstrong. I love this book, and this issue was awesome. I loved the writer character who found Archer, and I loved Hearst, his Dodo pet who sniffed out Archer. He SNIFFED OUT ARCHER. My Dodo knowledge base is getting blown up right now! Anyways, it was just fun as hell. That’s all I want from this book, and I love everything about the characters and the interactions and what’s going on. General REDACTED is awesome, and his elective anal probers are disgusting and hilarious.
Pere Perez, meanwhile, sticks the landing on every single joke Fred Van Lente brings to the table, as his highly expressive style is perfect for this book. BRANDON. I am so entertained by this book!
I’m curious: you always seem pretty vanilla on it even though you say it’s fun. Why doesn’t it get more of a rise from you even with te admission of it being fun?
Brandon: Well, it is fun there is no doubt about it. As I have said before though it just never really connects with me in a way that I feel for the characters. I just don’t have a strong connection to them at all. It isn’t like a Shadowman type of disconnect but it is a disconnect. I think there are some fun ideas but there isn’t anything that really ever blows me away as the best thing ever or even something that is incredibly different. Oddly enough that is how most Van Lente books feel to me for some reason or another. I understand he is a good writer and clearly isa funny guy but his work never sticks with me past reading the issue. I think it honestly just boils down to taste.
David: Yeah, I suppose. I think they’re all very well drawn characters. Actually, I’d say this is the most well-crafted book Valiant has by a mile in terms of character, but that’s me. I LOVE the relationship between Archer & Armstrong and how it has grown. I also just love that we absolutely know who these guys are at this point. They are who they are, and I dig that (even if apparently there are like…10 more Obies).
Traditionally, you like Pere Perez’s art on this book. Did you dig it again here?
Brandon: Yeah, I felt his work was strong here. I really enjoy how expressive his characters come across. I also really dig that there is only one artist on this issue! Not only is there only one artist but he is able to keep his work consistently good through the issue without a fill-in artist to help! Hooray for consistently awesome artists who can do it themselves!
What about you? I know you like Luppachino for the book but does Perez at least get close to her greatness on the book in your mind?
David: Oh yeah, I really dig Perez. I like the rotation they have here, even though Emanuela is moving over to Bloodshot and the H.A.R.D. Corps (or whatever the acronym is). I think Clayton Henry is going to come over and rotate on the book, or at least I hope he is, and I like that they mesh the styles here stylistically when it comes to who rotates.
I also want to point out this book has multiple artists far less often than the other books! Shadowman always has a million artists! Harbinger often has multiple. A&A is way more consistent, even if it is guilty of it on occasion.
Anyways, let’s not mess around on this bad boy. What do you give this issue?
Brandon: I’d give them book a 7. I thought it was fun but didn’t really mesmerize me.
I’m guessing this is between an 8.5 and 9.5 for you?
David: Dial down the center! 9.0 right here baby! I love me some Archer & Armstrong, and ultimately, I just want to enjoy my comics. I enjoy the hell out of this comic each and every month, and I thought this was particularly fun. HEARST!
We’ll see you all next week with reviews for the last two sort of chapters of Harbinger Wars in Harbinger and Bloodshot. See you then!
