THE HARBINGER #7 – Review

THE HARBINGER #7, from Valiant Entertainment on April 27th, 2022, finds the Harbinger dying on the pavement from an assassin’s bullet. Can Faith and the Harbinger’s friends stop Renegade’s declaration of war?

The Details

• Written By: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
• Art By: Robbi Rodriguez
• Colors By: Rico Renzi
• Letters By: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
• Cover Art By: Robbi Rodriguez (cover A)
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: April 27, 2022

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Was It Good?

THE HARBINGER #7 is a solid entry in the series, possibly one of its best.

We’ve been critical of the writing and the art (more on the art in a bit) because the series up to this point lacked emotion. The main character and his colleagues never manage to express any feeling beyond neutral or mildly annoyed. Things happen… magical things. But when the characters seem to have little emotional reaction to the miraculous things happening around them, good or bad, there’s nothing in the story to hook a reader. If the characters don’t feel anything, why should we?

That said, this issue does what the previous ones haven’t – show some emotion. Faith goes after Blam with anger and urgency. Cici and Ago try to help the dying Peter Stanchek in a scene filled with desperation and shocked sadness. Even Blam gets in on the act with a weird misogynist rant right before Faith puts him in his place.

This issue likely works because there is an emotional expression of the characters that show they care about what’s happening around them. You could argue this expression should have been happening right from the beginning, and you’d be right, so that’s something to consider IF the series continues after the next issue.

Regarding the art, it’s fairly good. There are a few spots where the art team used a rotoscope technique for the backgrounds, and the backgrounds don’t match the aesthetic of the characters. The backgrounds don’t look bad, they look out of place. The other point of criticism is in the coloring. We’ve made this point in every review for this series, but all we can do is continue to point it out – Renzi’s palette choices are terrible. The egregious overuse of purples and pinks saps the energy out of every page, and the last thing you want in a comic lacking emotional punch is to have even more energy taken away. If you focus on the character shapes and ignore everything else, the art is fine.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

If you don’t recall how Peter Stanchek wound up dying on the pavement, first read our THE HARBINGER #6 review.

We begin with Peter Stanchek falling out of the sky after getting hit in the head with a sniper shot from Blam. Cici and Ago race to his aid while Faith goes after Blam. Meanwhile, Renegade arrives via a portal and sends all his activated Pssiot into the streets to commit chaos and mayhem. the goal is to force the city’s government to enact a failsafe protocol against Psiot uprisings by bombing the city.

Faith manages to figure out the limitations of Blam’s power and knocks him out. Cici begs Ago to amplify encouraging statements into Peter’s dying mind to heal himself.

We conclude the issue with a hard decision an old memory, a friend’s request, and a resurgence.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.

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