Harbinger #22

By Joshua Dysart, Clayton Henry & Brian Reber

Here we are, Harbinger #22 kicks off its final arc, which is titled Death of a Renegade. In the initial Valiant run, Torque didn’t last very long, but with this new take on the team and Joshua Dysart at the helm, everyone is a target and anyone can die.

This re-launch of the Valiant Universe has been a roaring success, and Joshua Dysart is by all means the architect that made this possible. Harbinger has been a wonderful read since its first issue and now the final arc is upon us. Dysart does a nice job this issue of showing the calm before the storm. Faith and Torque spend some time alone, while Kris tries to trust Peter again. Another likable quality about this issue is that Dysart doesn’t dumb things down to fit the story. He is able to make the Renegades and Harada both seem intelligent in their respective plans. As the issue nears the end, you start to feel the tension as many of the Renegades are in tough situations, another kudos to Mr. Dysart.

This was another wonderfully detailed issue from the marvelous Clayton Henry. One of the things that is most impressive are the little touches Henry puts on his work; the look on Kris’ face as she is filling in the team on the plan, or the genuine smile Faith gives Torque as they spend their last night underground. Clayton’s style is very clean and detailed, which also makes this a better read, but Brian Reber needs to get some credit for his amazing colors too. This duo have been killing the past couple of issues and the readers are the ones who benefit the most.

This was a very good introductory issue to the final arc. Dysart is definitely keeping readers guessing as to which Renegade is going to get it and it could be a fan favorite. The tandem of Clayton Henry and Brian Reber come through again as well with a knock out issue. If the rest of this arc is comparable to this issue, the series will go out with a nice bang.