Harbinger Wars 2: Deluxe Edition

by Eric Heisserer, Matt Kindt, Raúl Allén (Artist)

The most powerful Valiant event attempted strikes full force with an oversized deluxe edition hardcover of the complete blockbuster saga!

The paths of the world's most formidable heroes – X-O Manowar, Livewire, Bloodshot, Ninjak, the Secret Weapons, H.A.R.D. Corps, and more – collide right here in a coast-to-coast clash of comics icons that will leave no hero unscathed. Academy Award nominated writer Eric Heisserer (SECRET WEAPONS) and New York Times bestselling writer Matt Kindt (DIVINITY) come together with superstar artists Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín (WRATH OF THE ETERNAL WARRIOR), Tomás Giorello (X-O MANOWAR), and more, for a prestige-sized volume bringing together the entire HARBINGER WARS 2 event for the very first time.

Collecting SECRET WEAPONS #1–4, SECRET WEAPONS #0, SECRET OWEN'S STORY #0, HARBINGER WARS 2: PRELUDE #1, HARBINGER WARS 2 #1–4, HARBINGER WARS 2: AFTERMATH #1, along with the never before collected HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 and more than 20 pages of rarely seen art and extras.

Genres: Comics

352 pages, Hardcover

Published January 26, 2021

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This deluxe edition compiles the two miniseries, Secret Weapons and Harbinger Wars 2, (including one-shots that previously were uncollected) into one book presenting the full story. I reviewed those two books in full on Goodreads here:

Secret Weapons
Harbinger Wars 2

You still need to be very familiar with the psiot storylines of Valiant Entertainment to really appreciate it. And as a whole, although fun on the surface and a great showcase for Livewire, it's a bit narratively disappointing.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secret Weapons (#1-4). Livewire's recruitment of a series of spot-on-the-wall psiots becomes increasingly charming over time because of the great characterization, especially the new psiots, but also Livewire's relation to them. Unfortunately, it's tied to a fairly dull battle with an insane Harada "insurance policy" [3+/5].

The Zeroes (Nikki, Owen). When Heisserer focuses exclusively on characters in these one-offs abouts two of the Secret Weapons, he knocks it out of the part, with Nikki's story being a phenomenal use of the medium, and Owen's being fun too. It's also great to see the careful attention to overlapping backstory chronologies. Overall, a tour d'force [5/5].

Harbinger Wars II. It's great to see the psiots get another big event piece, because they just haven't been getting enough attention in the latter days of VH-E. But, this volume just doesn't have the nuance that I'd like. Livewire gets a nice central spotlight, but other than that this event is mainly about the biggies of the VH-E universe fighting each other head on. The conclusion is good, and it puts characters on interesting new trajectories, but in between seems like a lot of sound and fury. [3+/5].