Harbinger Wars 2 #4 review: Rushed endings and forced conclusions

Harbinger Wars 2 #4 brings to a close an “event” for Valiant, which never actually felt like a real event. This issue is told from a present perspective after the HW2 has already ended. So any tension or sense of wonder as to what may happen next is instantly sucked out in the perspective.

If you have been following my reviews on this “event” then you know that I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by it so far. From Livewire doing things I just don’t think she would do, to the mass murder of innocent bystanders just doing their jobs, things just never felt right here. This issue takes into account some of this. Yes, Livewire has gone too far, and for all intents and purposes, she is now viewed as the villain. I guess her coming standalone series could see her going back to Harada (the man who trained her and the Magneto of the Valiant Universe for an easy descriptor). Either way, her standing by this “event” has been severely tarnished.

Peter Stanchek (psiot leader of The Renegades) with guidance from Tama (The Geomancer) actually saves the remaining innocent bystanders on the Loveboat (the main command ship that Livewire is bringing down). She makes it a point to highlight that they are only doing their job. Thanks for the call out to the innocent IT folks who just want to get home to do the nerdy things we like to do! I do have to say that Peter Stanchek doesn’t look like Peter Stanchek in this book. He looks more like Chris Evans as Captain America. It’s just a weird artistic decision to make him that way. I don’t get it.

The finale happens in space just above the planet Earth, in a confrontation between X-O Manowar and Livewire. The solution… You’ll have to read the book. I will say that if you just cut the power to the United States, went to war with the US military, and fought against other super-powered beings, then you probably wouldn’t just set everything right with a handshake and be on your way…or would you? The ending is anticlimactic and felt super rushed. Sure, next month we get the book on the aftermath and the fallout from this “event,” but honestly… Harbinger Wars 2 just didn’t move me in the way that I was hoping for. There was so much hype for this “event” and it just didn’t live up to how high that hype had propped it up.

I really feel like the original idea for this had to have changed and Matt Kindt had to clean it up as best as he could in the writing, just to make it a passable plot. It’s either that, or like I have said before, Kindt is just stretched too thin with all of the projects he is on. The art by Tomás Giorello looks great, with the exception of Peter’s appearance, so no huge missteps there. The talent was there to make this book a real event, it just didn’t come off that way.

Wrap up

I really wanted to like this event but in the end, it just felt flat the whole way through. You can pick up this issue starting August 29th.