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| The Harbinger #8 Pre-Order Cover by Caspar Wijngaard |
The Harbinger #8 opens with a montage of images. It can be hard to parse them out. But basically, they signal that all our Psiot City Harbingers have their hands full.
In writer Joshua Dysart's Harbinger series, Peter reached into Kris Hathaway's mind, and made her love him. Her love gave him a moment of completeness and peace in his short, tormented life. But as that wasn't her authentic choice--to become his lover--it didn't last.
We must choose our roles in lives. Our identities.
Now, as the Harbinger and the Renegade face off one final time, each must test their own--their recently discovered--identities. Is that who they truly are?
As the first page montage suggests, there's more than the Harbinger's identity at stake in The Harbinger #8. Peter activated Cici's latent abilities in the previous issue. Ago has all-too-often used his power--as a living loudspeaker--to impose his views on others. Now each must test their own identities too.
Letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou helps this process along with his careful shaping, staging, and coloring of dialogue balloons. Colorist Rico Renzi reminds us of how dramatically a colorist can elevate comic art. If penciler and inker Robbi Rodriguez couldn't show us everything he was capable of in the previous issues of this second story arc, he's certainly in top form for this final installment.
Writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly leaven big sweeping events with welcome injections of humor.
While bringing back characters Peter Stanchek and Faith Herbert, The Harbinger series ushered in plenty of new ones. Some of these have incredible powers.
Sadly, some we never really got to know all that well. Perhaps characters like the Renegade's friend Thrall, and the members of the Warning, will return in future series.
Personally, I'm wondering if Faith and Blam will return for their own series. They seem to have formed an odd hero/villain relationship.
Most people love Faith for her soft, hug-able side. In The Harbinger, Faith demonstrates she can also be the badass superhero.
Ultimately, The Harbinger #8 leaves us loving all our heroes a little more. While we wait for future series involving Valiant's psiot community, it suggests what their individual futures might hold.
The satisfying end to this series leaves us wondering if psiots will gain more acceptance from mainstream society. As for now...
Farewell Ago, Baxter, and Cici, and Faith. Farewell, Peter Stanchek.
Farewell, The Harbinger.
Come back soon.
Dragon Dave
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