Valiant Entertainment 2019
Written by Joshua Dysart
Illustrated by Cafu & Mico Suayan
Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse
Lettered by Dave Sharpe
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TOYO HARADA will place the planet's most powerful man in the spotlight as he strives to control the course of history. But with the menacing mastermind's resources dwindling after the downfall of the Harbinger Foundation and a target on his head, will the formidable psiot re-emerge as humanity's greatest hero...or its most dangerous villain?
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. This is how I think of Harada, as he was in Hiroshima on that fateful day where he lost his mother and had is psiot abilities emerge at such a young age. It is easy that while knowing this makes what he intended to be a great thing, though along the way he lost sight of who he was and what he was doing. In the immortal words of Ian Malcolm, You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could that you didn’t stop to think if you should. We could throw all the old adages to him about power corrupting and all that but in the end none of this would have mattered, Toyo Harada was too far over the edge to see himself as anything but the world’s saviour.
What I love about what Joshua is doing here and how he has been able to condense so much valuable information into a single issue without making it feel cramped, or missing some pivotal piece of information. The entire ebb & flow of what we see here is amazingly well done and the way we as readers’ have the opportunity to get to know him by how information is revealed whether it’s through his own actions or of the actions of those around him. And by extension of course the characterisation that is revealed throughout is done equally well. This whole thing makes the story and the way it comes across to us that which I expect from Joshua.
The interiors here are beautiful to see. Regardless of who is doing what segment, past and present, the tone, mood and feel of what we see is perfectly suited to the story at hand. So much so that it’s very easy to see just how impactful it is to the characters as well as the reader. The linework here is exemplary and when wee such things as Hiroshima years later and the buildings with their various stages of destruction or rebuilding it stays with you. To see this asteroid belt surrounding Earth made up of alien technology debris its beautifully rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show off two extremely talented eyes for storytelling. Also the way backgrounds are utilised to enhance the moments and bring us this size and scope to the book is spectacularly well achieved. The colour work too by Andrew whether it’s the past or present inherently knows how to make the most impact he can. He is one of today’s premiere colourists and there’s a reason for that.
The creativity and imagination that runs through these pages regardless if it’s words or visuals shines like the beacon it is supposed to. I think the story & plot development here is utterly amazing and as things keep moving forward and Harada is so hellbent on achieving his goal he ignores what effect that is having on those who are supposed to be his loyal dare we say servants. It is not whether our goal is noble or not it is how we treat those who follow along the path with us that shows the true measure of a man and Joshua depicts that supremely well.
Valiant continues to bring some of the finest talent around today to bring their stories to life. While many of us know Harada’s life to some degree to see it here like an abridged version opens up different avenues of the man we haven’t had the opportunity to see before now.