Harbinger #24 does a lot of what the last half of Harbinger #23 should have done. And while it’s still quite bothersome that the last issue of Harbinger didn’t deal with the fallout of the big events that have occurred in Harbinger of late, I can’t hold the faults of the last issue against this one. And aside from a few slip ups, the fallout from the Death of a Renegade story arc is handled quite well in this issue, which is, for all intents and purposes, the end of the Renegades’ story. With this issue, Joshua Dysart wraps up Peter Stanchek’s character arc, and the character arcs of the remaining Renegades as well.
In addition to ending the Renegades’ arc, this issue also re-introduces the Bleeding Monk, who, aside from a one shot detailing his origin, has been absent from the book for quite some time. Considering how integral he has been to the series in the past, it seems kind of odd that he went missing for a while, but his return is great, especially since it happens right in the middle of Harada and Peter’s final showdown, which bleeds over from the last issue. On one hand, that kind of sucks, since it takes up page space that could have been used better for more character moments, but on the other, it’s awesome, because seeing the two go at each other is downright entertaining. It also makes the issue feel a little bit more fast paced at times, preventing it from falling into the trap of losing steam midway through the issue.
Regardless, seeing the two fight one another, and then dealing with the Bleeding Monk, makes for some great reading, especially once it’s revealed what Peter is actually doing while Harada is in a state of rage, going back and forth with the Bleeding Monk. Anyways, once this is wrapped up, the best parts of the issue begin to fall into place, with the Renegades reconciling with one another. This is where some of the issues greatest moments happen, as each of the Renegades get moments alone with one another. Often, these moments bring entire character arcs to a close, most notably, it’s here that Peter’s long road comes to an end, with an astounding end to his character arc. It’s stunning to see how much Peter has grown as a character over the course of the series run so far. The same is true of everyone else, though Peter and Kris are the two best examples of this.
The great thing is, most of these moments are quiet ones, just smaller moments that are driven entirely by the characters involved in them. Whether the setting be Torquehalla, space, or a simple warehouse, all of these moments are character focused. None of them are exactly “happy” moments, but, even in the wake of a victory, the Renegades don’t get to be happy. That’s just who they are, and that was established some time ago in this series. As great as these moments are, however, they are marred by the fact that there is a little bit of cheating going on on the part of Dysart here.
There is one massive fake out in this issue, something that he’s really gotten used to doing in this book. In past issues, that has often worked to the issue’s advantage, but not here. Here, the fake outs detract from the impact of the story, and the impact that this issue could have had. They verge, at times, on deus ex machina, and the big one in this issue isn’t even properly explained. It left me feeling a little bit cheated by the book as a whole. The last page also gave me the feeling being cheated, because it sets up the next story arc for Harbinger. Again, this detracts from the impact of the issue, and the story as a whole, ruining the ending from the previous page. The second to last page of this issue provided a great way to wrap up this issue, but instead, we see set up for the next story, which is slightly problematic.
Furthermore, if it weren’t for the writing, the story telling in this book would have taken a huge hit, because the art is rough at certain parts. The proportions of characters seem to be off at times, and its hard not to laugh at it. Granted, this actually works really well in a couple panels, but for the most part, it just looks odd and detracts from the experience as a whole, which is a bummer, since the rest of this book is so good.
All in all, Harbinger #24 is a stellar issue. It does a great job dealing with the fallout of the Death of a Renegade story, and brining the surviving Renegades to the end of their respective stories. Even though it has some flaws, the book gets almost everything right, providing a solid installment in the series.
