Bloodshot goes up against Peter Stanchek’s renegades as the HARBINGER WARS tear through Las Vegas! This insane event from 2013 pays off a year’s worth of stories in the Bloodshot and Harbinger titles. The Valiabt Universe doesn’t get enough love!

Featured Cover Art:

HARBINGER #14 (2013) by Clayton Crain

The first chunk of our VALIANT UNIVERSE READING ORDER is on its way!

For more on this event, see our

HARBINGER WARS (2013) READING ORDER

Showing up at work like

Stephen Reads Valiant: Part 4

Today we tackle the first crossover event on my long journey through the Valiant Universe: the Harbinger Wars! Valiant has certainly shown they’re capable of quality superhero content, but how will they fare with one of the stinkiest parts of the modern comic industry?

Accessibility: A pet peeve of mine with modern event comics is that they usually involve a lot of required reading from whatever ongoing series lead into them. And as the crux of Harbinger Wars’ plot is a crossover between the characters of Bloodshot and Harbinger, it is advisable that you have been reading those series going into it. However, they give you plenty of info pages that get you up to speed on the involved parties, and for reasons i’m going to go into later it isn’t absolutely necessary to know those facts going into the event miniseries.

The Event: While the plot boils down to a crossover between two books, each of those books has a few factions in play: Peter Stanchek’s Renegades, Toyo Harada’s Harbinger Foundation, Project Rising Spirit, Bloodshot and his troupe of escaped psiot children. When you throw in a few classic superhero comic misunderstandings and a Las Vegas hotel setting we’ve got ourselves an event! If you like either Harbinger or Bloodshot you’re sure to get something outve the event, but if you read both then you’re in for some incredibly fun moments and setpieces. Bloodshot vs Toyo Harada, the Renegades’ first mission together, the fate of the escaped psiots, all these and more unfold in an action packed conflict. Even beyond that, new plotlines begin to develop with the introduction of rogue PRS psiot unit Generation Zero and the wetwork super mercenary unit the H.A.R.D. Corps (God bless 90s comics) adding even more characters to the fray. It’s a fun time, but it also feels like a natural progression of things that were already happening. The event exists for all this cool crossover shit to happen, not the other way around.

The Tie-Ins: One massive compliment i can give this event is how it approaches tie-ins. For one it only affects the involved series, so no other Valiant comic is affected by a crossover that has little to do with them. Second, and this is critical, whether the tie-ins are required reading or not is completely up to the reader. See the way it’s structured is the event covers the general plot, with slight focus on Generation Zero and the H.A.R.D. Corps. Then Bloodshot tells the exact same events told from the perspective of the Bloodshot cast, and same for Harbinger. This means that, in theory, you could be an avid reader of either Bloodshot or Harbinger and be totally satisfied with its tie-in issues without having to worry about the other comics in the event. You’d be missing out on some good stuff mind you, but the beauty of events like this is you get introduced to a greater universe of characters you could potentially be interested in! And the fact that Harbinger Wars doesn’t FORCE you to do that is very refreshing!

Overall: Harbinger Wars was a great time. If this is how Valiant handles a small event like this i’m very excited to see how they do with something bigger. But i am NOT in a rush for another event, some normal comics will do me just fine. Next i’ll be going into more Bloodshot with some H.A.R.D. Corps thrown in, a much appreciared return to some laughs in Archer & Armstrong, and an introduction to a character ive been looking forward to: The Eternal Warrior!!!!

I never gave up on you, did I?

The space between Hunter and Crosshair that a certain spectacled soldier with an exceptional mind would’ve been filling oh help me I’m unwell.

“When have we ever followed orders”

“We’re not big on following orders”

Gif by @probadbatch

Into the confessionary a little spider walked

Mind not quite there

Quite lost

Memories scrambled around, confused

Pain flaring up, things that shouldn't have been said out

Siblings falling apart

Guilt over forgotten acts

Hunter Being Omega’s Dad -> The Harbinger (1/2)

Assaj Ventress and the Force

The Bad Batch 3.09 - The Harbinger

The Fatui assisting in disciplining children since… forever

Both Childe and Diluc were feral as kids and the only way to make them behave was to bring up the Fatui. Same thing different font.

I was half-expecting the Aasajj and Crosshair would be snarky best friends by the end of the episode. They share a certain kind of energy.

La Signora: ...I'm pretty sure that place is fire-proof, or something.

Arlecchino, grenade in hand: Alright, but is it explosion-proof?

You're an odd little clone.

let me put on a tin foil hat here for a minute. natlan is the nation of war and pyro and the quest for it is "incandescent ode of resurrection". this patch (4.6) has mentioned war (ei and yae talking about what if the "bigger war" happens) and resurrection through flames (clervie didn't come back to life but the spirit of her six year old self appeared due to arle's flames that killed her).

it kinda feels like they're alluding to someone possibly being resurrected or maybe even reincarnated...it could be what project stuzha is about?