Harbinger #25 review

Last week saw the release of Harbinger #25 and what an issue it was! Without further ado, our (slightly late) review of the anniversary spectacular.

The story

After reading Harbinger #24 I wondered what could happen after the final showdown between Peter and Harada, and issue #25 did not disappoint. The main story by Joshua Dysart focuses very heavily on Harada and his plans now that he has been outed as a super-powered being. He can no longer concentrate on finding and training psiots in secret, and he can no longer continue playing the role of philanthropist the world has come to know him as. So what does Harada do? Wage full on war on the world’s governments, of course. Dysart does a phenomenal job with this final story and sets up Harbinger: Omegas beautifully.

This issue makes it clear that Harada has completely lost his mind and that all his efforts were meant to serve only himself and his organization and had nothing to do with the betterment of mankind. I find it hard to believe this series will not be coming back with issue #26.

The backup stories are quite good as well, and dive deeper into Peter and Joe’s relationship. Vivek Tiwary’s “Into Memory” is a beautiful look at their relationship and is quite touching, while “Cold Brains” showcases a different angle from the events we saw in the main Harbinger book and fills in some gaps as well.

The art

There isn’t much to say about Khari Evans on pencils. While I know he will not be on this book for the rest of his career, it will be odd to see another artist ever drawing these characters. Evans does a terrific job bringing Dysart’s story to life and showing just how powerful Harada truly is. The panels where Harada uses his powers to mentally destroy a group of government representatives is amazing and gripping.

Lewis Larosa lends his artistic talents to the best backup story in this book, “Into Memory.” The pencils are clean, beautiful, and crisp and offer so much detail I read this particular story multiple times to see all the detail.

Brian Reber continues his outstanding color work for Valiant with his work in the “Wake,” the main story, and “Into Memory.” Reber always knows exactly what colors to pick for each panel and it shows that he truly cares about the quality of work he puts out.

Overall

This issue is a great end point to the series. Not only does the latest arc up nicely, but sets the book up for the upcoming Omegas miniseries quite well. It’s obvious from this issue that Harbinger has a very bright future ahead of it and no shortage of stories from Joshua Dysart. The backup stories are great as well and much stronger than what we got in X-O Manowar #25 which is great to see.

There is a so much to like in this issue, I highly recommend you pick it up. While new readers may be confused by some what is happening here, this book is a great setup for the upcoming Harbinger miniseries.

Rating