Unlock Your Potential With Valiant's Harbinger Renegades #1

Anyone you know could become a psionically powered "harbinger" with the potential to reshape the course of human history. Your neighbor. Your boss. Your best friend. Your kids.

Six months ago, a secret team of renegade whistleblowers leaked the existence of these extraordinarily dangerous individuals to a stunned world. Today, all across the country, crude, DIY psiot activation attempts have left hundreds brain damaged...or worse. The emergence of a new psiot in a community often leads to riots and mass violence. Gun sales are through the roof.

America is terrified of what could happen next.

With this revolutionary upheaval now in motion, Kris Hathaway, John "Torque" Torkelson, Faith "Zephyr" Herbert, and Peter Stanchek are about to discover their calling. Together, the HARBINGER RENEGADES are moving from town to town, building their ranks, and subverting authority one mind at a time...and setting out to prove once and for all that behind their power, there has always been a purpose.

This November, the most fearless superteam in comics is going underground for AN ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES from Harvey Award nominated writer Rafer Roberts (A&A: THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHER & ARMSTRONG) and superstar artist Darick Robertson (Happy!,The Boys)!

Harbinger Renegades #1 (SEP162040) is in comic shops November 16th.

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PREVIEWSworld: What is the premise of Harbinger Renegades?

Rafer Roberts: Well, Harbinger Renegades is a book about heroes who tried to save the world and failed, and their willingness to get back up and rejoin the fight to make the world a better place. The Renegades are not naive, suffering from blind optimism where they think that punching a bad guy can save all the world’s problems. They are fully aware that the world can never be a perfect place, but they are willing to risk their lives to make it a little bit better.

PREVIEWSworld: Who are the main characters in the Renegades team?

Rafer Roberts: Kris Hathaway is the non-powered member of the group, and the de facto leader. Recently paroled after the events of the first Harbinger series landed her in prison, she's trying to put some sort of life together with her girlfriend, Tamara. She wants to stay far away from the hero game. When Faith first visits asking for help, Kris slams the door in her face. Kris’s journey back into heroism, as her relationship with Tamara, is one of my favorite parts of the comic.

Tamara, Kris’s girlfriend, had a not-so-pleasant upbringing, but has built up a decent enough life for herself. She’s got a crappy job and spends most nights either going to punk rock clubs (when she’s feeling low) or going to group therapy (when she’s feeling even lower). Tamara would prefer that Kris stay home and out of danger, but she also recognizes the sorry state of the world and the need for heroes.
 
Faith is the emotional center of the group. She can fly and use a “companion field” to carry others or perform simple acts of telekinesis. She is the best of us all, always optimistic and willing to see the good in everyone. She is the only Renegade who stayed in the superhero business, but she is tired and needs help from her old friends. 

Torque is a douche. He’s using his super powers to make himself a reality TV star, but his ratings are in decline and he’s becoming a bit of a joke. He’s an oddly complex character, beyond being a total douche and the embodiment of toxic masculinity on the surface. He once fought against a system that manipulated an obedient populace, but is now a part of that very system. He’s become a distraction for people to pay attention to instead of real problems. I feel like he’s becoming aware of the shallowness of his life, but he would never admit that. 

Peter is the most powerful superhero on Earth and a pill-popping guilt-ridden junkie. He's spent some time on the run from his own failures and responsibilities, hitting rock bottom pretty hard. He’s been spending the past few months trying to fix himself, to get himself clean through self-discipline and meditation. He can fly, has telekinesis and telepathy (including the power to control minds), and can activate other potential Psiots. His major problem is that of self-control, and he has issues turning off his telepathy. It’ll be fun exploring the actions of such a powerful person with such self-destructive tendencies

PREVIEWSworld: What antagonists or threats will rise to meet the Renegades, and how will they challenge the team in new and unique ways?

Rafer Roberts: The Renegades will first be going up against a radical anti-establishment group. They are recruiting and kidnapping potential Psiots in order to build a force strong enough to “tear down the system” so to speak. They believe that power and superpowers have been in the hands of a few elite for too long, and are seeking to democratize this power.

This group’s leader has the ability to calculate the probable outcome of any situation and use it to his advantage. He literally knows what you are going to do before you do it, thus making him a very difficult opponent to defeat. Not to mention, he also has artificial power-granting tech planted in his brain, so he’s just as much brawn as brain.


PREVIEWSworld: "Whistleblowers" is a term that is quite polarized today. All we have to do is see the furor surrounding what Edward Snowden did in leaking security details. Some say it was a good thing, others don't. Either way, now there's a movie about it. So did any of the current events today surrounding Snowden, or, say, Julian Assange have any bearing on the premise for Harbinger Renegades #1?

Rafer Roberts: The takedown of the Harbinger Foundation and the exposure of all of Harada’s dirty secrets was something already established in the first Harbinger series written by Joshua Dysart. (It’s an amazing book, by the way, and I highly recommend it.) What I’m more concerned with, and by extension what the characters are more concerned with, is dealing with the fallout that they caused by exposing these secrets.

It’s said that the best way to kill a fungus is to shine a light on it, but I’m not sure that such a viewpoint isn’t reckless. That’ll be an interesting part of this series, and a fun one for me, as I will many times be writing against my own personal politics.
 
PREVIEWSworld: In looking at the premise again, making something secret "public knowledge" can be a two-edge sword when it comes to public safety. It can prepare you for the worst, or it can incite "riots and mass violence." Does any of this point/counter-point rhetoric have a place in any of the discussions between characters Kris Hathaway, John Torkelson, Faith Herbert, and Peter Stanchek?

Rafer Roberts: These kids are a family, of sorts, and will be debating many things. In every incarnation of the Harbinger series, The Renegades have been made up of a bunch of conflicting personality types. From Faith’s optimism to Kris’s cynicism, to Torque’s overwhelming masculinity, to Peter’s infuriating complexity, these kids are a cross-section of the human condition. As a writer, it’s fun to bounce these different personalities off of each other as they come back together to fight for a common goal.

PREVIEWSworld: What should die-hard fans of Harbinger expect, and what should make them raise their eyebrows? How is this book more of the same, but also an inviting flavor of the month?

Rafer Roberts: Die-hard Harbinger fans should expect to see all of their favorite characters (except for the dead ones) return and resume fighting the good fight. They are wiser now, having damaged the world in their previous attempt to defeat a supervillain. But new readers will be able to pick up Harbinger Renegades #1 without any previous knowledge, and be able to enjoy the comic. This is a new chapter in these character’s lives, and we’re looking ahead.

Also, I’ve been describing the series as “Jack Kirby’s Trainspotting,” which is as good an elevator pitch as any. 

PREVIEWSworld: One of the key themes in this book is that behind the power there is a purpose. Will there be just as much purposeful rhetoric behind the physical power in this story? What kind of arguments will be put forth in trying to convince the masses that the revolution is for the greater good? Or is that argument irrelevant?

Rafer Roberts: We’re going to see many different characters with many different points of view. There’s the antagonist who wants to take down a corrupt system by raising an army of militarized psiots. Then you’ve got The Renegades, who just want to help the individuals most harmed by systematic injustices. The underlying question of “what is the best use of superpowers in an unfixable world” is ongoing, and we’ll see it explored it many ways.

PREVIEWSworld: Without spoiling the book — yet going a step further than its PREVIEWS solicitation text — what kind of sneak peek can you give us about the story's direction? Is there a particular scene or scenes that would make for a good movie trailer?

Rafer Roberts: The preview images that Valiant recently released of Peter meditating in Saturn’s rings, detailing his pharmaceutical detox while in space, is pretty indicative of the first arc at least. These characters carry a ton of emotional baggage, so we will be watching them overcome their own issues while figuring out how to help others. And they won’t always succeed.  

PREVIEWSworld: You're teaming with artist Darick Robertson on this series. What makes Darick the perfect artist for this series, and how will the story thrive under his visual style?

Rafer Roberts: Darick Robertson, who I've been a fan of for years, is kicking some serious ass on this book. He has this unique linework that captures a textured realworld feel without ever venturing too far into realism. All of this is under Richard Clark's inks, which (I feel) brings out the best in Darick's pencils. Inkers, good inkers, should bring something to the table, and I believe that Richard is doing that. We've also got Diego Rodriguez on colors, kicking some serious ass as well.

One of the things I’m most excited by is Darick’s ability to convey emotion and character body language. He can make conversations between two humans important and emotionally resonant without ever having it feel like a page of talking heads. That, to me, is just as critical to good comics as being able to draw a dude punching a monster in the face (which he will also be doing).

Harbinger Renegades is about Kris and Peter and Faith and Tamara and Torque. It is about the problems these people face and how they deal with each other. It is critically important that these characters feel as real to the reader as they do to us, otherwise it’s just a bunch of meaningless punching. Under Darick and the entire creative team’s skillful artistry, the Renegades are real. 

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Check out some Harbinger Renegades #1 preview pages below!










Harbinger Renegades #2 (OCT161966) is also available to preorder from the October PREVIEWS!