Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 22, 2014 17:38:30 GMT -6
Death came calling in Valiant Comics' original Harbinger series in the 1990s, and the Grim Reaper's back and swinging his scythe again in the modern reboot.
The three-part "Death of a Renegade" story arc kicks off in April's Harbinger No. 22, and one of the teenage Harbinger Renegades will die courtesy of the evil head of the Harbinger Foundation — and one of the Valiant Universe's biggest baddies — Toyo Harada. It'll also mark the first major casualty since the Valiant's relaunch in 2012.
"To be honest, I don't want any of them to die, but that's just the way it's going down," says series writer Joshua Dysart. "The choice had little to do with the future story potential of the characters and more to do with what felt the most natural to the book in the moment."
Out now and illustrated by Clayton Henry, Harbinger No. 20 had a whistleblower named Ax out Harada, whom the world thinks is a billionaire philanthropist, as a powerful telekinetic superhuman.
That was "a horrific mistake," says Valiant executive editor Warren Simons, as Harada's now Public Enemy No. 1 and he faces everything from mass murder to treason charges. "He's unhinged now. There's no facade he needs to maintain. It was two-dimensional thinking, and it'll wreak havoc for the Valiant U."
Harada needed the guise of legitimacy for many reasons, according to Dysart. For one, capitalism bankrolled him and his tech-fueled empire, but it was also essential to keeping himself in check.
"We will see the most dictatorial aspects of his nature take charge," the writer says. "This is something he never wanted, to become the bad man — even though he really has been the bad man all along. So not only is he revealed to the reader for what he really is, he's revealed to himself."
The Renegades, including Harada's former protégé Peter Stancheck (aka Sting), want to take the fight back to Harada, bringing Ax into the fold of "psiots" that includes flyer Zephyr, strong man Torque, fire-powered Flamingo and team strategist Kris. However, they also find themselves on the run from not only the Harbinger Foundation but also another villainous organization, Project Rising Spirit.
The decision to go on the offensive will ultimately lead to somebody dying. At one point, everyone was on the chopping block, Dysart says, "and then it was down to two people until the day I simply had to decide to move forward with major creative decisions."
Simons admits he discussed the death with Dysart more than any other story beat he's had with a writer, and it caused some arguments. Plus, a lot of folks at Valiant told Simons it's not the way to go and it's not the right character.
However, he feels Dysart's made the best decision possible. In the editor's mind, even though he loves the character, a group with kids with unstable powers way out of their depth shouldn't end well and there should be lasting consequences.
"We tried to look at all the angles, and realize we're walking into a potential firestorm" among fans, Simons says. "But if we're going to be true to our word and honor the DNA of the book, I think it's the right call. The original Valiant had a lot of grit and took chances, and I don't want to get shy here."
The first six issues of writer Jim Shooter and artist David Lapham's 1992 Harbinger run had "some ballsy stuff," Simons says, and killing the Torque of that series in issue 6 "lent a real sense of permanence to the series."
It started a "dead means dead" policy then, and the current Valiant folks are keeping with tradition.
Dysart figures that the negatives of that are twofold: As a creator, he can never play with that character again except in flashbacks and prequels, and no one else can either, limiting a roster of people to use in their comics.
However, the positive is that "you actually mean it — or you better mean it," Dysart says. "Regardless of whether you're doing it to juice numbers or because it's right for the story, it's final. You're not going to have that character return in some bloated event that was built during an editorial meeting."
Death is done often in comics, it's a trope of the genre and serialized fiction, yet in many instances people come back sooner or later. "It's done to varying degrees of success these days," Simons says. "But we're going to stick to this death, so let me apologize ahead of time."
Dysart adds that it's going to be a "huge blow" to Harbinger. "It's not hyperbole to say that everything will change after this. People say that, but in the past we've proven that we mean it."
The three-part "Death of a Renegade" story arc kicks off in April's Harbinger No. 22, and one of the teenage Harbinger Renegades will die courtesy of the evil head of the Harbinger Foundation — and one of the Valiant Universe's biggest baddies — Toyo Harada. It'll also mark the first major casualty since the Valiant's relaunch in 2012.
"To be honest, I don't want any of them to die, but that's just the way it's going down," says series writer Joshua Dysart. "The choice had little to do with the future story potential of the characters and more to do with what felt the most natural to the book in the moment."
Out now and illustrated by Clayton Henry, Harbinger No. 20 had a whistleblower named Ax out Harada, whom the world thinks is a billionaire philanthropist, as a powerful telekinetic superhuman.
That was "a horrific mistake," says Valiant executive editor Warren Simons, as Harada's now Public Enemy No. 1 and he faces everything from mass murder to treason charges. "He's unhinged now. There's no facade he needs to maintain. It was two-dimensional thinking, and it'll wreak havoc for the Valiant U."
Harada needed the guise of legitimacy for many reasons, according to Dysart. For one, capitalism bankrolled him and his tech-fueled empire, but it was also essential to keeping himself in check.
"We will see the most dictatorial aspects of his nature take charge," the writer says. "This is something he never wanted, to become the bad man — even though he really has been the bad man all along. So not only is he revealed to the reader for what he really is, he's revealed to himself."
The Renegades, including Harada's former protégé Peter Stancheck (aka Sting), want to take the fight back to Harada, bringing Ax into the fold of "psiots" that includes flyer Zephyr, strong man Torque, fire-powered Flamingo and team strategist Kris. However, they also find themselves on the run from not only the Harbinger Foundation but also another villainous organization, Project Rising Spirit.
The decision to go on the offensive will ultimately lead to somebody dying. At one point, everyone was on the chopping block, Dysart says, "and then it was down to two people until the day I simply had to decide to move forward with major creative decisions."
Simons admits he discussed the death with Dysart more than any other story beat he's had with a writer, and it caused some arguments. Plus, a lot of folks at Valiant told Simons it's not the way to go and it's not the right character.
However, he feels Dysart's made the best decision possible. In the editor's mind, even though he loves the character, a group with kids with unstable powers way out of their depth shouldn't end well and there should be lasting consequences.
"We tried to look at all the angles, and realize we're walking into a potential firestorm" among fans, Simons says. "But if we're going to be true to our word and honor the DNA of the book, I think it's the right call. The original Valiant had a lot of grit and took chances, and I don't want to get shy here."
The first six issues of writer Jim Shooter and artist David Lapham's 1992 Harbinger run had "some ballsy stuff," Simons says, and killing the Torque of that series in issue 6 "lent a real sense of permanence to the series."
It started a "dead means dead" policy then, and the current Valiant folks are keeping with tradition.
Dysart figures that the negatives of that are twofold: As a creator, he can never play with that character again except in flashbacks and prequels, and no one else can either, limiting a roster of people to use in their comics.
However, the positive is that "you actually mean it — or you better mean it," Dysart says. "Regardless of whether you're doing it to juice numbers or because it's right for the story, it's final. You're not going to have that character return in some bloated event that was built during an editorial meeting."
Death is done often in comics, it's a trope of the genre and serialized fiction, yet in many instances people come back sooner or later. "It's done to varying degrees of success these days," Simons says. "But we're going to stick to this death, so let me apologize ahead of time."
Dysart adds that it's going to be a "huge blow" to Harbinger. "It's not hyperbole to say that everything will change after this. People say that, but in the past we've proven that we mean it."