DF Interview: Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing relaunch ‘The Harbinger’ into the Valiant Universe

By Byron Brewer

Can you make the world better if you can't be better? A telepath with no memory. A city of super-powered teenagers suppressed. Redemption. Destruction. Rebirth. A new era begins here.

From writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and artist Robbi Rodriguez comes The Harbinger! I sat down and chatted with scribes Kelly and Lanzing about this new iteration of a Valiant Universe icon.

Byron Brewer: Collin and Jackson, what brings you to the relaunch of this fan-favorite Valiant U hero? After a looong covid delay, how does it feel to finally see it coming out?

Jackson Lanzing: It feels incredible. What brought us to this moment is quite literally years of effort – from a pitch on the floor at New York Comic-Con 2019, to months of development alongside editor and Harbinger architect Heather Antos, to Robbi Rodriguez’s entry to the book in early 2020. Hell, this book was supposed to be released over a year ago, before COVID changed everything – and when it was first delayed, we had no idea if it would ever see the light of day.

Collin Kelly: But now it comes in a landscape that is all the more ready for the kinds of stories we’re looking to tell with Peter Stanchek. It’s time to turn a self-critical eye to one of the most powerful men in the Valiant Universe and see if he truly can “be better.”

Byron: When we join Peter Stanchek in The Harbinger #1, in what situation do we – and does he – find him in? Do new readers need to know any story info from past iterations to climb aboard this ride?

Collin Kelly: At the start of our story, Peter’s memory has been stolen, which effectively puts him in the same position as new readers, asking the question “... who *is* Peter Stanchek?” As he discovers the world around him – present day Chicago, and the small marginalized population of psiots called Psiot City – he’ll also discover his past, in all of its occasionally glorious but often tragic detail.

Jackson Lanzing: That said, for long-time fans of the series, this world should be immediately recognizable. It’s the world post-Imperium, a place where psiots are feared and marginalized so they don’t once again challenge the political landscape of our planet. It’s a dark time for psiots. And Peter is going to learn that he can be a beacon of light.

Byron: What can you tell readers about the world Peter inhabits, the one you are building with artist Robbi Rodriguez?

Jackson Lanzing: The Valiant Universe has always been the world outside your window – that grounded element is what drew me to these characters in the first place. But Peter Stanchek’s world has gone from street-level teenage survival to full-bore super-heroics. He’s survived two different Harbinger Wars, his rival Toyo Harada just nearly succeeded in taking over the world, there are more superheroes in the Valiant Universe every day. Peter can’t pretend to live a normal life – especially when he barely understands how to truly control his near-infinite power set. So his world is gonna change, it has to. And that begins with Psiot City – a neighborhood in Chicago where, for the very first time, psiots can live among their own kind. This isn’t a utopia – it’s a slum held together by hope and duct-tape – but it’s also a place to indulge in what’s so incredible about Robbi’s work: creative, iconic design and a street-art edge.

Truthfully, we just wanted to give Robbi as much room to draw amazing psiots, heroes, and villains as possible. The world has started wearing masks – and even Peter is going to have to step into a new role.

Collin Kelly: Jack touches on it there, but let’s also take a moment to unpack what Robbi has done with our new villains, a group of Chicago’s newest “heroes” who call themselves The Warning. The Warning each represent a different way to look at the corrupting influences of privilege and power – but visually, they are all products of Robbi’s insane imagination. After Peter’s new uniform, the Warning’s couture was something that Robbi absolutely crushed, bringing to life some of the most incredibly stylish villains the Valiant Universe has ever seen. They are undoubtedly bad people, no question… but Robbi makes them look damn good doing it.

Byron: Tell us about the suppressed teen superheroes Peter encounters? Can you spotlight some of the more important ones here?

Collin Kelly: Absolutely, but let me pick at the question for a minute - the psiots of Psiot City represent people from all walks of life. Activated psiots, yes, but also those who the Harbinger Foundation merely identified as having psiot-potential. Just being on a list in this city gets you effectively banished from society, to live in a corner, forgotten by the world. But honestly, that’s how most of our psiots like it. Two of our key supporting characters in the city are named Cici and Young Ago. Cici is one of our ‘potentials’ – she doesn’t really want or need powers, because she’s embraced the culture. She’s a stylist, an artist, a fashionista… and though Peter will have her to thank for his new threads, he’ll also have her to thank for being… to start, the only person who doesn’t run away from him screaming.

Jackson Lanzing: Young Ago does have an activated power – he was one of the last psiots activated by the Harada Foundation. When he speaks, everyone has to listen – Ago’s a young black man with a voice like a human loudspeaker. The truly fun thing with these characters is that – unlike Peter himself – they all have preconceived notions of what Peter Stanchek is supposed to be. They all absolutely think they know who he is. Cici sees him as a kind of infamous celebrity… whereas Ago sees him as the ultimate revolutionary, the only person brave enough to stand up for Psiots the world over. An icon and a renegade. While Peter has been both, this is the story of how he moves beyond that… and becomes who he was meant to be.

Byron: Any clues as to the big-bad of this piece?

Jackson Lanzing: To say anything at all about the big-bad is to spoil aspects of our first four issues, so I’ll say only this: look to the captions. The Harbinger is told with blue and red captions, in conversation with one another. We know Peter Stanchek is the blue. Who is the red? And why is he speaking in the past tense?

Byron: Big themes always surround Harbinger books. What might you be exploring in the background this time around, and how through the character(s)?

Collin Kelly: When we first started this journey with Peter, we had a mandate: Peter couldn’t move into the future without first confronting his past. And that past is ugly – tragedy is his literal origin story, and bringing that pain into other people’s lives has been his legacy. Facing that past became the core of what we wanted to talk about, not because we want to vacation in his tragedy, but because hand waving his toxic choices undercuts the potential of who he can be. 

Peter is the ultimate product of privilege. Yes, his life has been hard, but at the end of the day he was born with the ability to truly change the world… and that’s a responsibility that is bigger than one man’s trauma. Making mistakes, but owning them – taking responsibility for your actions, and doing right by the people you’ve wronged – these are the core tenets of our story.

Jackson Lanzing: Harbinger has always been a story about how far you can battle the power structures before you become the very thing you were fighting against. It’s time for Peter to reconcile his distrust for power with the power he’s been born to wield.

Byron: Talk about the wondrous works of Robbi Rodriguez.

Jackson Lanzing: Robbi’s style defines the new era of the Harbinger. Peter Stanchek’s life has always been rendered in this grounded, realistic way – to really emphasize how forgotten Peter is in the grand scheme of things, how small he is even with his enormous power set. But in the aftermath of Harada’s Imperium, the game has changed – and with more and more people stepping forward with masks and codenames and superpowers, Peter’s going to need to become more of an icon as well. What Robbi brings to the table is a constantly imaginative and surprising take – from quiet character scenes to enormously psychedelic mind-battles. This is a book that never rests on what came before. We’re forging into brand new territory and truthfully, Robbi’s vision of Psiot City, The Warning, and the Harbinger himself is the fulfillment of that promise.

Byron: Jackson and Collin, what can you tell readers about coming projects in which you are involved?

Collin Kelly: We can talk about a few things, absolutely! Right now we’re in the middle of our first crowd funding campaign for an OGN we’ve put together with newcomer super-star Dailen Ogden called WIFWULF. It’s the story of how one young woman faces the cage of society, and what she’ll do to run with her pack. To support and find more information check the project out at bit.ly/wifwulf!

Jackson Lanzing: We’re also fulfilling more of our superhero dreams over at Marvel and DC. Kang the Conqueror just passed issue #3 over at Marvel, with amazing work on every page by Carlos Magno. We have a one-shot tied into the Devil’s Reign event coming this January featuring an incredibly destructive meeting between Bucky Barnes and Wilson Fisk – and Nico Leon is absolutely killing that book. Meanwhile, spinning up over at DC we’ll have Batman Beyond: Neo Year in April 2022.

Collin Kelly: Oh, and we also wrote an interactive audio murder mystery game called Savage Hall, tickets for which are available now!

Jackson Lanzing: We also sleep.

Collin Kelly: But not often.

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer our questions. The Harbinger #1 from Valiant Comics is in stores now!

For more news and up-to-date announcements, join us here at Dynamic Forces, www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/, “LIKE” us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/dynamicforcesinc, and follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/dynamicforces.

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