The fans of Valiant Entertainment have been kept waiting long enough, with one of the company's flagship characters returning to the comic book page. The Harbinger #1 is coming this summer, and the new creative team is guaranteeing this relaunch will be worth the wait for both longtime fans and newcomers to the Valiant Universe.
Even aside from the movie adaptation in the works at Paramount, the hero called Harbinger has been one of the most central figures in Valiant's universe from the very start. And with top-tier talent already breathing new life into the unkillable Bloodshot, the techno-samurai Rai, and the barbarian spaceman X-O Manowar, it's finally time for Peter Stanchek to hit center stage. Fortunately, the team of Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly (Gotham City Garage), and Robbi Rodriguez (Spider-Gwen) are already looking well beyond living up to the past, and instead shaping a bold new future -- and it all begins with The Harbinger #1 this summer.
Screen Rant had the chance to speak with Lanzing and Kelly about their ambitions for the new series, their own history with Valiant and Harbinger, and the stories and movements inspiring them. With a hero who happens to be the most powerful and unpredictable psionic on the planet, there is no limit to what's possible when The Harbinger embraces his title. Since fans are sure to have questions, and new Valiant readers may have apprehensions about such a lengthy legacy, our entire interview with Lanzing and Kelly can be found below.
Screen Rant: Since a lot of comic book readers are going to know you all from work on Marvel and DC books, I know they'll be as curious as I am to hear about your own pasts with Valiant as a reader or fan, even before signing on with this series.
Jackson Lanzing: My history with Valiant goes back to reading the original HARBINGER books as a kid - I picked up that first issue from my local comic shop (Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz, CA). The Shooter cover just got me; the whole team of teenagers in that car, the explosion behind them - it grabbed you. You knew that this wasn’t just another book about superhero teenagers - it was punk, anti-authority, it was on a joyride and you got to come along. It was honestly probably more influential to me than I recognized until, uh, just now.
But in the modern context, we both came to be Valiant fans through the relaunch - I bought a humble bundle of nearly the entire line after the first couple years and binged X-O Manowar and Harbinger within days. Joshua Dysart’s smart, character-focused, and deeply troubled take on the clash between Peter Stanchek and Toyo Harada grabbed me and never let go. We immediately started pursuing work at Valiant - we’ve pitched them several times over the years but it was never the right time or the right project. But it was always on side characters, new ones, or little one-shots. I never dreamed our first shot at playing in the universe would be in our favorite corner.
Collin Kelly: I’m going to be the guy who tells you he didn’t actually read the comics growing up - but I played the hell out of the games. Turok and Shadowman on the N64 - I have no idea how they hold up, but when they first came out I was completely hooked. It wasn’t until later, a few years back at this point, that Valiant came back on my radar - like Jack says, with the relaunch. It was such an innovative, aggressive idea, but one that my friends and I - along with probably pretty much every comic lover who has ever argued about continuity - knew immediately to be genius. A small line of regular books, working together to tell cogent, large scale stories.
Of course, you don’t fall love with an idea - you fall in love with a character. Peter Stanchek is an amazing character that we are incredibly excited to unpack and explore … but if you’re me, back then, looking at a bunch of covers and wondering what to try? You pick up the one with the blond Visigoth barbarian in an exosuit ripping a spaceship in half.
SR: Following that same idea, Harbinger in particular has always lived in its own sphere of the larger Valiant Universe, is it one you all had explored prior to this new relaunch? And did that play a role in you signing on to create the next chapter?
Collin: So, let me tell you a story. A few years back, because we’d made some fans with our first books, Hacktivist and Joyride, we got the opportunity to meet with Valiant editorial, and maybe pitch them some ideas. This was - for obvious reasons - incredibly exciting. But where to start, with a universe that’s so rich? Well, if you’re Jackson, you start with a spreadsheet. He began a journey to read every Valiant book published since the relaunch. Which he did. And as he progressed through the line, he kept notes. Eventually, the notes were collated into what effectively became a document that tracked every character, every plot, every death and every emotional journey - effectively, a wiki for one. We made that document our bible, and even though we didn’t land the gig at the time, it gave us a deep foundation to build from. And we know for a fact that that document continued to make the rounds around Valiant HQ as a reference document, which is immensely gratifying.
That said, the real hero who finally brought us into the Valiant fold was the amazing Heather Antos - who we met at NYCC years before and who agreed to sit down with us last year. And the first thing she said?
“Let’s talk about Harbinger.”
Jackson: When we first started talking with her about this project, we realized that what we were looking at was the opportunity to re-frame Harbinger entirely and move it into the next phase. For years, we’ve been told that Peter Stanchek would rise from his troubled misspent youth and become a revolutionary, a leader, and a hero. It’s time we find out how that happens - especially in a time like ours, where we need to see stories of the hope and optimism that exist on the other side of the struggle for justice and peace.
SR: Valiant has a reputation for building stories out of unique, clearly drawn characters, and keeping that core identity even when it comes to relaunching a series for a new (potentially brand new) audience like you're doing here. When you sat down to create this, what about Harbinger were the non-negotiables? No matter what else came, what was the heart of your mission?
Jackson: Our mission was synced with Heather’s from the jump: force Peter Stanchek to look his past right in the eye so we could launch him into the future. THE HARBINGER is a story of recovery, redemption, and renewal - in that order. We can’t sweep Peter’s actions under the rug. We can’t pretend he didn’t psychically assault one of his only friends, or allow the deaths of dozens of children, or run away to Jupiter when things got hard. Peter has to reckon with his actions and find a new way to live on the other side of them. That core message - that taking responsibility for your actions and owning your privilege is the first step to utilizing your power wisely - has been our mission statement from the jump.
Collin: But we are also aware - as you point out - that there will be readers picking up this book who perhaps have no idea who Peter Stanchek even is - we’re writing this for them as well. This is a reintroduction of the character for the new readers, as much as it’s a continuation for those who have been with him from the start.
I’ll tell you what *was* negotiable though - that dirty damn hoodie. When Robbi Rodriguez came on board the project, we knew that Peter was going to need a new look, something that could really signify this new chapter of his life. And then Robbi’s looks started coming in… and they were everything we could have wanted. His art, and Rico Renzi’s colors, have helped turn Peter into the man he was always meant to be.
SR: Since this is a relaunch, can you give a sense of where this story will be starting? Even if it isn't picking up after a set point, like in the wake of the Harbinger Wars, what are you carrying forward from the Harbinger fans know, whether it's explicit, or just as inspiration?
Collin: We don’t need to tap dance around this, we can speak in absolutes. We are picking up less than a year after the death of Toyo Harada. The Harbinger Foundation has completely crumbled, and Harada’s remaining Eggbreakers - and all his potential psiot recruits - have been left out in the cold. Psiots have been left without anyone on their side, and in the city of Chicago, where our story starts, they have been forced into what is effectively a ghetto. A part of town that was once Harbinger employee housing has been turned into “the bad part of town”... a little place called Psiot City.
That might not be where Peter starts… but it’s where he’s meant to be.
Jackson: We’re also starting with a huge core mystery - something has happened to Peter’s mind. He does not know how or why, but someone has tampered with his memory and his consciousness. And they’ve left him a single instruction: “be better.”
Peter’s quest to discover what has happened to his mind will result in a discovery of the man he once was… and a chance to totally re-evaluate the man he wants to be.
SR: How much should people put into the title choice, specifically ‘The Harbinger’?
Jackson: Oh, it’s fully deliberate. Everything in this book is. We put THE HARBINGER at the top of our very first pitch on the character - not because it’s cool or separates it from what came before, but because it’s tied directly to our mission statement: focusing the story directly on Peter Stanchek. He’s the most powerful psiot on Earth and the key to the propagation of new superpowered beings… but he’s also a young man who’s lived a life of mistakes. How does he step from the shadows of his old life and take on a new mantle?
The world believes Toyo Harada is dead. A new world is coming. The future is now. And Peter is its Harbinger.
SR: The powers of these characters can prove to be somewhat limitless, in terms of both plotting around them and bringing them to life in the art. Is there a philosophy at work in telling that kind of story? Keeping it 'grounded' isn't the right word, but making it undeniably 'super' yet just as engaging outside of the action?
Collin: This is a great question that is right on the money. The challenge with superhero comics - and especially with someone as incredibly powerful as Peter - is to tell stories that utilize those powers to their fullest, while also staying focused on characters and their very real human struggles. And that struggle on the side of the creators is the same struggle as the character; when you have all of this power, how do you keep two feet on the ground?
Jackson: For us, it may sound rote, but we always return to the same formula - strip everything else away and tell the story as a black box drama. Articulate it as something that could be done in the theatre. Drop the lasers and super suits, the flights, and tights, and just put the characters in a room together. Let the drama happen. And then you can add back in all of the awesome explosions and psiot powers, because you know that the core of your story works.
SR: When you're tackling a series with so many cool and beloved characters--Peter Stanchek, Faith, Torque, and Flamingo--you know what you're in for from the fan community. So without getting into spoilers, what can you say to fans that are going to be desperate to know who they can look forward to seeing?
Jackson: First things first: we’re also fans. This story requires - in the short term - a re-focus of the story on Peter and his new world, plus the introduction of new friends, foils, allies, and villains. But Faith Herbert is one of the greatest characters in comics, and she has some opinions when it comes to superheroism, so be certain that when the time is right, you’ll be seeing some old favorites.
I can also say that in our first meeting with Heather, I asked her personally for one character that had been left on the table from Joshua’s run. We won’t be seeing Toyo Harada any time soon… but that doesn’t mean we won’t see the shadows of IMPERIUM in Peter’s new world.
Collin: ...and I don’t think anyone will suspect who is pulling the strings.
SR: What can readers expect from Robbi Rodriguez's work on this book? Do you bring that energy of the art into your own storytelling?
Collin: I mentioned it before, and I’ll say it again - from the first designs Robbi started sending in, we knew we had lightning in a bottle. His art for this is absolutely perfect - we describe it as “Punk Rock Akira” and I dare anyone to say we’re wrong. His art brings a kineticism to the story, and once we saw how that energy popped on the page, we absolutely started to twist our scripts to give him that room to shine. What none of us could have expected though was what Rico Renzi brought in the colors - I once asked a colorist for “the color of what pennies taste like”... and I think Rico is the first person on the planet to know exactly what that looks like.
Jackson: Collin and I have always approached our collaboration like being in a band - our collaboration isn’t just Thom Yorke or Johnny Greenwood, it’s Radiohead. For years, we thought about working under a joint pseudonym for that exact reason. But we’ve learned that each book is a chance to reform that band with new superstars and make something fresh. Turns out, Robbi sees the world the same way - this is a chance for us to learn from him and for him to learn from us. For Rico to inspire Robbi, who inspires us - or vice versa. We’re all pushing one another to our limits and when you’re writing Peter Stanchek, there’s no other way to go. We’re putting all our power into this series. We can’t wait for folks to see what this band’s putting together.
The Harbinger #1 arrives in Summer 2021.