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Review: ‘Harbinger Wars’ #1

Published

11 years ago

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We’ve been very vocal about professing our love for Valiant’s reboot of Harbinger. Writer Joshua Dysart has turned this band of misfits with latent abilities into the best damn team book on store shelves. Now after months of building the storyline to a slow boil, Dysart is ready to make this book explode in this “Harbinger Wars” story arc. This massive crossover event will see “Harbinger” and “Bloodshot” cross paths in their monthly books, as well as duel it out in this new four issue mini-series.

WRITTEN BY: Joshua Dysart
ART BY: Clayon Henry, Mico Suayan and Clayton Crain
PUBLISHER: Valiant
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: April 3rd, 2013

Dysart does a great job of pulling both books together and making it seem natural. The idea that Toyo Harada found a way to turn Bloodshot against Project Rising Spirit in order to further his own agenda was a brilliant twist. This is a pivotal plot point that creates a bridge for this story to happen between these books, and sets up a massive showdown between Bloodshot and Harada. This is the perfect way to leave fans salivating for more after reading the first issue.

The art in this first issue was split up between a couple of Valiant’s best artistic talents in Clayton Henry, Mico Suayan and Clayton Crain. The bulk of the issue was drawn by Clayton Henry who has a style that works perfectly for “Harbinger”. On top of that, his depiction of Bloodshot is one of the best renderings of the character that has been done since the mid ’90s. Henry is a master at conveying emotion within his artwork and in this issue, his work truly shines bright. Switching artists, Clayton Crain comes in to deliver a gorgeous flashback sequence that is done in a slick painted style that looks simply amazing. Then, Mico Suayan turns out a dark, hyper-detailed dream sequence between the Bleeding Monk and Peter Stanchek that rivals the work of Marvel superstar Steve McNiven. Somehow the three artists come together to make the issue work and deliver one of the best looking books Valiant has released yet.

Valiant’s first major crossover event looks like it will live up to the hype as “Harbinger Wars” escalates to its violent, bloody pay off. Writer Joshua Dysart is turning out career defining work on “Harbinger”. “Harbinger Wars” #1 is the culmination of a year’s worth of carefully planned plot threads that finally pay off at all once.

4.5/5 Skulls

Reviewed By – Big J

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Comics

‘The Toxic Avenger’ Returns with Cover Artwork for First Issue of New Comic Book Series [Exclusive]

Published

16 hours ago

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May 13, 2024

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With a remake on the way and a new 4K restoration of the original classic now streaming, it’s a good time to be a fan of Troma’s The Toxic Avenger. Additionally, Matt Bors — the founder of The Nib and a political cartoonist who has twice been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist —and acclaimed artist Fred Harper (Snelson) are collaborating on an all-new 5-issue comic book series starring the satirical superhero of the Troma Films cult classic films!

TOXIC AVENGER #1 will land in stores on October 9, 2024.

While you wait, you can exclusively check out the issue #1 cover art from Fred Harper below, along with a set of emojis designed by Harper for the extremely online teens of Tromaville.

“The Toxic Avenger delivers what Troma fans want,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “The series has violent action, gross mutations, bursting pustules, eye-popping visuals, and trenchant humor.” 

“If there was ever a superhuman hero for these toxic, miserable times, Toxie is the one!” said Lloyd Kaufman. “Only AHOY Comics and Bors & Harper could pull this off…er…mop this up! Toxie and the Troma Team can’t wait ‘til you read -no, experience – the art and stories that the Toxic Avenger Comic Book will explode in your brain, your soul, and your heart. Above all, remember – Toxie loves you and so do I.”

“This series will combine elements of the original films with the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and characters in familiar ways, updated to tell a story of environmental devastation, corporate control, and social media mutation,” said Bors. “The Toxic Avenger is first and foremost an environmental satire, one about a small town and its unremarkable people trapped and transformed by circumstances they don’t control. The story Fred Harper and I are telling is about people frustrated by authorities telling them not to worry about their life, that things are fine, even as their dog mutates in front of their eyes. And at its core it is about a powerless boy, Melvin, who finds out he can be incredibly strong, hideously mutated, well-admired, and incredibly heroic… but still ultimately powerless over human behavior.”

In The Toxic Avenger, teenager Melvin Junko helps run his parent’s junkyard in Tromaville, a small town in New Jersey where nothing much ever happens — until an ill-timed train derailment of toxic waste transforms Melvin into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength: the Toxic Avenger!

Under a media blackout imposed by Biohazard Solutions (BS) and their PR-spewing Chairwoman Lindsay Flick, Melvin emerges as a hero fighting against BS and the mutated threats that keep popping up around Tromaville.

Eventually Melvin uncovers a vast conspiracy more far-reaching than he could have ever imagined — but he knows if everyone is simply made aware of the crisis, they’ll act to stop it. Right?

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