VALIANT BEYOND: ALL-NEW HARBINGER #2 – New Comic Review

Valiant Beyond: All-New Harbinger #2, by Valiant Comics on 10/22/25, explodes with action, attitude, and a heavy helping of ideological preaching.

Credits:

• Writer: Fred Van Lente
• Artist: Erik Tamayo
• Colorist: Exequiel F. Roel, Ludwig Olimba
• Letterer: Ezequiel Inverni
• Cover Artist: Filippo Curzi (cover A)
• Publisher: Alien Books/Valiant Entertainment
• Release Date: October 22, 2025
• Comic Rating: Teen
• Cover Price: $4.99
• Page Count: 26
• Format: Single Issue

Covers:

Analysis of VALIANT BEYOND: ALL-NEW HARBINGER #2:

First Impressions:

The pacing is razor-sharp, every panel bursting with energy and clarity. The action scenes hit hard, and the humor between characters keeps things from getting too heavy. Unfortunately, the story’s loud moral lecturing about who deserves power and who doesn’t drowns out the fun.

Recap:

In the previous issue, the psiot leader Peter Stanchek commemorated the end of the Psiot Wars before extremists called the Human League, led by the wild Black Sheep, crashed the event. Armed with Risen tech, she forced the Harbinger team into action under Livewire’s leadership. Meanwhile, Cadet Chung-Cha Kwan was pulled into her first mission straight from Academy Zero, joining the team as chaos erupted across Foundation City. The issue ended with hostages, a plasma bomb, and the villains grinning at the looming disaster.

Plot Analysis:

The second issue opens with Chung-Cha Kwan making her grand arrival for active duty, except she’s late and finds the fight apparently already lost. Black Sheep has taken down the All-New Harbinger team in under thirty seconds, leaving Kwan to stumble through the rubble and confusion. Her overeager desire to prove herself meets the sardonic detachment of Alloy, a shape-shifting veteran who greets her with dry humor and impatience. Together, they discover the crisis still unfolding and the high stakes of the team’s failure.

Outside the city’s protective dome, chaos reigns. Civilians known as “Steppers” try to break into Foundation City, demanding entry after being excluded for lacking citizenship. Flamingo, still smoldering from battle, faces off with them, only to get an earful about elitism and “super-privilege.” The exchange underlines Valiant’s not-so-subtle commentary about belonging and fairness, offering fiery dialogue that barely disguises a lecture beneath its action banter.

Meanwhile, Crane and Prodigal slug it out with Black Sheep and her followers as Foundation City’s dome heals itself, locking out rescue and locking in disaster. The returning emotional thread between Crane and his partner Alfia adds fleeting human drama before he’s pulled back into the chaos of duty. The issue culminates in a furious showdown as Prodigal rejects Kwan’s earnest desire to help, calling her “fresh meat” before both are caught in a collapsing siege.

As the dust settles, Alloy regains contact with Livewire, who identifies a dangerous incendiary device at the heart of the hostage zone. While Alloy and Kwan scramble to disarm it, Black Sheep gloats over her apparent upper hand. The timer ticks. The plasma vortex hums. The final panels erupt as tension mounts toward next month’s cliffhanger, with irony and frustration hanging in the air.

Story

Fred Van Lente keeps the dialogue snappy and the pacing tight, making the 22 pages fly by. Unfortunately, every explosive beat seems to be trailed by a speech about class or privilege, sometimes mid-battle. The allegory is about as subtle as a billboard, trying too hard to frame psiots as metaphors for marginalized communities while forgetting readers came for superpowered intrigue, not a sociology seminar.

Art

Erik Tamayo’s linework and Exequiel Fernández Roel’s colors are the stars of the issue. Each scene pulses with motion—characters leap, crash, and fight through bold layouts that feel alive. The warmth of the color palette and the clarity of the action keep the story accessible even when the script gets preachy.

Characters

Chung-Cha “Cici” Kwan steals the spotlight as the overeager rookie who just can’t catch a break. Alloy’s sardonic mentorship adds humor, and Flamingo and Crane each get short but memorable showings. Black Sheep remains a chaotic powerhouse, but her dialogue slips between menace and Facebook commentary a little too easily.

Positives

The comic looks phenomenal. Panels have a rhythm that never stalls, and kinetic energy courses through every sequence. The chemistry between Alloy and Kwan brings some welcome levity. Even when the dialogue leans too hard into message-making, the pace and punchy artwork keep the tension gripping.

Negatives

Every other page seems to stop for a rant about privilege or social systems, making the satire feel more like a sermon. The overexposure of ideological subtext dilutes the heroics. Humor and heart are present, but they suffocate under the story’s insistence on making sure readers “get” its message.

Art Samples:

Final Thoughts:

(Click this link 👇 to order this comic)

VALIANT BEYOND: ALL-NEW HARBINGER #2 is a firecracker wrapped in a soapbox: gorgeous, fast, and frustrating in equal measure. The pacing roars, the art soars, but the story’s social commentary never stops talking long enough to let the characters breathe. Tighten the satire, turn down the preaching, and this series could really fly.

---

---

---

As an Amazon Associate, we earn revenue from qualifying purchases to help fund this site. Links to Blu-Rays, DVDs, Books, Movies, and more contained in this article are affiliate links. Please consider purchasing if you find something interesting, and thank you for your support.