Valiant Comics announces the Death of a Renegade

Harbinger is going to get a big shakeup this year as the team will be losing a member.

United by their unique abilities, five teenage misfits have come together under the leadership of troubled runaway Peter Stanchek – a psionically-powered “harbinger” with the potential to reshape the course of human history. Recruited into the Harbinger Foundation by wealthy business magnate and omega-powered harbinger Toyo Harada, Peter quickly discovered the true purpose of Harada’s secretive superhuman empire – subversion, conspiracy and control on a global scale. Now, with only the rejected recruits of the Renegades to aid him, the one boy to ever challenge Harada’s vise-grip on the future of humanity has been left with no choice to expose his former mentor to the world – then bring the fight to his front door.

Debuting back in 2012 in Valiant’s inaugural year back in publication, Harbinger has been one of the company’s most consistent titles. The monthly book even saw its first real crossover event in 2013 with Harbinger Wars, which saw Bloodshot enter the fray against main bad guy Toyo Harada and the intro of H.A.R.D. Corps.

Now Valiant is about to go one step further as a tragedy is going to hit the super-team here in 2014. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, or to whom, but the Renegades (the heroes of the book) are about to find themselves one member short- and Valiant says its going to be a major player.

“It’s not hyperbole to say that EVERYTHING will change after this,” Joshua Dysart told USA Today. “People say that, but in the past we’ve proven that we mean it. And this time I think people will be very surprised as to what’s going to happen in this book.”

“We’re losing one of our most important characters forever,” said Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons. “This isn’t a decision we take lightly – there was heated debate about this in all quarters – but it’s a necessary choice, even if it means breaking the hearts of our beloved Harbinger fans.”

Death in comics is always changing and it seems like characters (especially those form the big two) never really stay dead. Weather or not that’ll be the same here with Valiant is up for debate, but the company seems at least to be taking this story choice very seriously. If it is the big time character that they’re alluding to, and it’s kind of a short list, then that really will mean some very big changes for not only the Renegades, but also the Harbinger book on a larger scale. The team members, each ad every one, have been important cogs in the wheel that makes Harbinger go around. Without one of them in play, the mechanism itself will have to change- and that’s going to mean some very big things indeed for the team here in 2014.

Harbinger #22 kicks off ‘Death of a Renegade’ this April, with May’s #23 and June’s issue #24 rounding things out for the tale. All three issues will come to fans form the mind of series writer Joshua Dysart and penciler Clayton Henry.