The Good
Peter Stanchek's story has taken center stage in the first five issues, but now it's time to dive into the lives of the people impacted by his selfish and dark adventure. This chapter revolves around Kris Hathaway and Faith Herbert. In case you need to play a game of catch up, they're polar opposites when it comes to their feelings about Peter. Faith is so lovable and it's clear she'll do anything for Peter, the man who gave her the ability to fly. Kris, on the other hand, was a victim of Peter abusing his powers. Without any say in the matter, she was forced to fall in love with him and is now free of that mental grip.
Naturally, she loathes him and just wants to move on with her life and that's the very entertaining and excellent key focus in this issue. She's been through an emotional roller coaster and diving into her life post-brainwash is every bit as powerful and moving as it should be.
While Faith has mostly been used to deliver laughs and represent one of us if tossed into this situation (she's a complete fangirl), she serves as the voice of reason here (somehow pulls that off while wearing a tinfoil hat) and observing the stark contrast between the two is an incredibly engaging experience. HARBINGER is a character driven book and this issue shows firsthand just how well writer Joshua Dysart can breathe life into the characters that populate this fictional world.
The Bad
Nada.
The Verdict
Odds are by now you've heard nothing but praise for HARBINGER. For whatever reason, you're probably still not reading it. Maybe it's the $3.99 price tag. Maybe it's the fact you're 4 issues behind. Now is the perfect time to jump on-board Obviously reading everything up until now is preferable (TPB for #1-5 will be released in January), but Dysart's latest comic does a stellar job of making this an easily accessible read for anyone. This is the start of something truly special and you're not gonna want to miss out on it. Like Faith so bluntly puts it, "This is gonna be awesome."