Valiant Entertainment 2016
Written by Rafer Roberts
Penciled by Darick Robertson
Inked by Richard Clark
Coloured by Diego Rodriguez & Brian Reber
Prologue Art by Juan Jose Ryp
Lettered by Dave Lanphear
After a series of violent confrontations, the Renegades infiltrated the Harbinger Foundation, hacked Harada’s secret files, and leaked the information to the public. The files included the names of seemingly every known potential psiot on Earth and how to build the incredibly complex technology to activate them. The Renegades — fractured after suffering a devastating loss on their final mission — went their separate ways. Today, all across the country, crude, DIY psiot activation attempts have left many brain-damaged...or worse. The emergence of a new psiot in a community often leads to violence. The world needs the Renegades now more than ever.
I really am such a fan of what Rafer is doing with this. The opening as a flashback to give us a look into Solomon and his relationship with Harada that ultimately shaped the man he’s become. Granted I think it’s a case of him trying to be an Alpha Male alongside Harada and we all know how well that was going to work. He has ideas and is a numbers man so he is overly confident in his ideology and that in itself is incredibly dangerous when coupled with the access to technology to create his own army.
I find myself fascinated by the way this story is structured. Solomon is activating psiots for his own personal use thanks to the list of potentials that the kids leaked. Okay that’s something that had to be dealt with after it happened and seeing the kids reactions to the current state of those who have been attempted to be activated and failed well that’s half the story. The other half is that Solomon is crazy and his actions this issue prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I mean seriously this man is coocoo for cocoa puffs in ways that would make the cereal jealous.
No one can bring this to life like Darick and Ryp can. The young man in the opening hoping to be activated and that result is amazing well portrayed to evoke emotions from nervous hope to abject horror. The use of page layouts through angles, perspective and the utilisation of backgrounds makes the flow of the book a sheer delight. The attention to detail is phenomenal and just so riveting to see. Darick can do facial expressions and body language in such powerful ways to enhance the story.
With a new basis for seeing the kids coming together again and fix what it is they see as having caused is a natural way to bring them back together. Torque’s dismissal of getting the band back together is understandable and as a result is targeted by Solomon to send the rest a message. Well it works and now we’ll see if the kids can stay together after all this and if their new mission to fix past mistakes will once again make them major players in the Valiant Universe.
Strong, powerful and full of emotions the Renegades are back and better than ever!