If a new Harbinger title were announced today...

[BloodOfHeroes]

Like I said, I don't know what Jim had in store, but I still think removing those characters so soon damaged the titles severely. It takes a special kind of writing magic to come up with characters that stand above the rest. Killing them off is not a wise move, IMO.

I think that Rai was killed off for the same reason a lot of funnybook characters are: low sales.

Anyone?

[X-O HoboJoe]

John Byrne, writing and drawing, would be my first choice.

Okay, I'll bite: WHY? He hates Shooter and deliberately destroys anything Jim creates. I mean, he seems to hate everyone, but he goes out of his way with Jim.

Maybe has to do with Shooter using him as croc-bait back when he hung out with Steve Irwin?

I used to think Byrne hung the moon but after reading some of what he posted on Byrne Robotics, I admit that I've never seen anyone get so really angry about absolute crap without missing some form of medication.

[dave]

Cry baby Rai! haha!

You nailed that one!

[sanman]

Well, I don't know what Jim had in store as replacements for those characters, but Valiant sure didn't come up anything close. Both Harby and Rai became a pale imitation of what they used to be.

"Cry baby" Rai was horrible and what came after him was a little better, but light years behind what we had in the beginning.

As far as Harby goes, the team lost it's heart after Torque was killed and they never successfully filled the void. After issue 25, there was nothing worth reading in the title anymore.


Like I said, I don't know what Jim had in store, but I still think removing those characters so soon damaged the titles severely. It takes a special kind of writing magic to come up with characters that stand above the rest. Killing them off is not a wise move, IMO.

Agreed, there is no way to determine if Rai or Harbinger would have been decent with the characters intact. However that’s not the point.

The point is that both titles were very good in the beginning—though Rai failed to catch on initially—but neither failed to be reestablished after a major character died.

Perhaps Torque and Rai really represent wishful thinking as opposed to plausibility. Nonetheless Tohru is one of my favorite VH1 characters and I simply can’t get past Harbinger 25. It’s nice to think that under different leadership both titles would have continued to successfully develop without either characters but they didn’t.

If VEI was to continue these runs where they ended I doubt that I would give either a shot. On the other hand, beginning a new run at an earlier point when the run had more going for it would be much more attractive.

[Daniel Jackson]

If VEI was to continue these runs where they ended I doubt that I would give either a shot. On the other hand, beginning a new run at an earlier point when the run had more going for it would be much more attractive.

I believe it would be a long shot for VEI to succeed if they choose to just pick up where Valiant left off, that's for sure. They have a unique opportunity to repair the damage that was done after Jim left. If it were me running the show, I would look very closely at what Valiant had going for it in the beginning that made it so special and focus on starting in that area.

I would also look to the Acclaim years to try to come up with the best way to incorporate the best of what they had to offer as well. Especially since there is a huge void that needs filling with the loss of the GK3.

[JCVaughn]

John Byrne, writing and drawing, would be my first choice.

Okay, I'll bite: WHY? He hates Shooter and deliberately destroys anything Jim creates. I mean, he seems to hate everyone, but he goes out of his way with Jim.

Maybe has to do with Shooter using him as croc-bait back when he hung out with Steve Irwin?

I used to think Byrne hung the moon but after reading some of what he posted on Byrne Robotics, I admit that I've never seen anyone get so really angry about absolute crap without missing some form of medication.

Man, I loved (still do) his great art, but having seen him in action with fans and had my interpretations validated many times over, I think he's just an angry guy.