#toyo harada

[evilhorse]

The Valiant Era Cards 59

[co-mixed]

Tropes and Visions

Taking a long look at the nature of fictional villains

Just the other day I asked myself why did I suddenly fall for the vision Toyo Harada planted in the minds of his followers at the beginning of Imperium. It seemed so perfect: peace and prosperity. Pretty much the same world we envision when we hear the word “future”. Neo-futurism, if you may. A world without borders and with mutual respect. It seems so easy and so achievable, at the same time it’s the one thing we repeatedly fail to achieve.

What is evil?

When we were kids, things in fiction were simple. A hero never killed, a villain - did. But any villain had to be obviously almost grotesquely evil. Whether they were guided by their own selfish goals or enjoyed chaos for the sake of chaos. Then we graduated to multi-layered villains. Still, the most favorite ones were driven insane. Sometimes with merely a spark of humanity left deep inside. There’s always a point to either make a villain absolutely inexcusable or keep them redeemable preferably by death. Your Docs. Ocks and Anakins were all allowed to keep their dignity if they exited the story in a body bag.

But today’s villains have to be much more. Otherwise, they’re deemed unbelievably simple (even despite the fact that we see absolute, unforgivable evil done on a regular basis). We want to dig deeper, to be able to understand what drives them. Maybe that’s what second-wave villains have taught us. But maybe it’s something else. 

Does it take a villain 

The best villains in movies or comics have one thing in common — their good intentions. We often find ourselves siding with them, at least for a short while before they go off on a killing spree. And that’s something they inevitably do. 

On the other side, before they do, they get to show you how much better the world could be if they’re just allowed to execute their vision (along with some people but who’s counting). The point is, they are ready to get their hands dirty to achieve their goal. 

Let’s take Magneto as the best possible example. His goal was not peace between the mutants and the humans. He wanted to ensure the survival of his kind. He himself survived the holocaust and was prepared to do anything to save fellow mutants from the same fate. Yes, he went back and forth (a lot), he’s been called a terrorist and he didn’t shy away from killing. He never abandoned his views yet only with his help mutants finally got their utopia on Krakoa. And I might not be the biggest fan of this arc, but that doesn’t make it any less prophetic. Xavier’s peaceful methods were never enough. Magneto made their “last attempt” a success. 

But that’s just one example, and we’re not here to gush about Magneto. This whole thing was inspired by Harada and it’s his path that I want to review. 

Toyo Harada is a more complex example of the same trope. A child of war, a powerful individual, a visionary (all of them are), and a hero to his kind. 

His actions may be more brutal than Magneto’s but his goal is closer to home. It’s Xavier's dream with Magneto’s approach. It’s the whole world becoming an ideal and non-secluded version of Krakoa. And maybe the most devastating part is that it’s achievable with or without psiots. To drive the point further, Harada makes a special point of condemning war profiteering. In fact, if you read Imperium, you’re likely to start wondering who and where is making money on wars. 

Toyo Harada is trying to help the most disenfranchised and neglected. He isn’t great at it. But he still gets closer to that goal than anyone with peaceful measures.

That may be because Harada is prepared to remove anyone who stands in his way. Sometimes it’s a government, sometimes it’s terrorists, sometimes it’s regular people. To him, there is no difference and that makes his way the wrong way.

Why can’t they just be nice 

We call the ones who kill antiheroes. Your Punishers, Wolverines, (possibly) Bloodshots, they get the job done with a body count longer than your phone number. If there is a line and it’s not at killing, then how come antiheroes manage to longe behind it while visionaries inevitably end up crossing it? They rush towards their goal with such ferocity, they step on seemingly irrelevant people that they’re hoping to help. 

Antiheroes always have a strong moral code, it’s their shield against crossing the line that even we, readers, don’t always see. Even anti they’re still heroes. If the code isn’t enough, there’s always a failsafe that they’re aware of. Something or someone that can end them. Punisher is just a man, Toyo Harada is just short of omnipotent. 

This is a bold statement but if you’re a human or humanoid, tropes strongly suggest that you aren’t capable of handling the weight of enormous power. There is something religious about it that circles back to idolizing another human being. Gods can be flawed but have to be adored. Powerful humans can’t.

This isn’t a writers’ collusion. This is just a trope that gives your villain depth. It makes you feel compassion and it makes you as a reader, mentally define that proverbial no-crossing line. 

Does peace mean no change 

Here’s the billion-dollar question. Are we supposed to believe that the noblest goals are always a lie? Because this is what’s being repeated in the form of these villains. Krakoa is deeply flawed, Harada’s paradise is thousands of starving people, Killmonger just wants chaos, Namor drowns a nation. The list could go on and somehow it always comes back to this one statement - a most beautiful promise has to be a lie. We are rotating around the same idea that Utopia is always a trick. There is a healthy bit of logic behind this too, and a thick tome of world history to support this bit. There are always going to be rebels and they will always be punished. Are we supposed to protect the status quo? Not really, just look around – it’s no good. But if we challenge it, we have to vow to be squeaky clean and keep in mind our own limits.

All that is impossible for a villain. Even with the best intentions. You might get emotionally involved yet you will have to realize that the status quo is still better than an unpredictable power-hungry madman. Note that “powerful” doesn’t mean “satisfied”. 

They all end up power-hungry. Why? Again, history and experience. Great power is required for great achievement. And power corrupts. 

Oh, great power, you say…

You guessed it. A powerful person becomes a villain when they stop feeling responsible for their actions. When there’s no one to hold them accountable. This means that all the aforementioned villains had one problem in common — no one to challenge them. That’s when their moral compass went to hell. Yes, all these stories are cautionary tales warning us to not let one person grab and grab and grab power. It does take a villain to build a paradise but it does take a hero to step down. In his fantasy Toyo Harada did just that, he built a paradise and left it as a legacy. 

It was easy to fall for this vision. The world we live in is so broken, many of us would deal with the devil to fix it.

The vision was a lie, everyone saw what they yearned to see. And Harada himself didn’t really care about the people. He was a visionary, he cared about his vision. 

[radroller]

Toyo Harada’s 60s drip is making me laugh so hard im going to throw up

[jarhara]

Incoming Valiant ramble

I am currently re-reading Rai (Valiant Entertainment edition) and I've noticed something....

I've always given Izak and Lord Vine 99 from Imperium and Life and death of Toyo Harada the same voice in my head and they act kinda similar in a lot of things.

Izak's backstory says that his people were created on New Japan using the genetic base of a creature that was caught floating in space. There's only one panel showing this ancestor but it kinda looks like a Vine to me.

Now, your average Vine isn't normally filled with rage and as bloodthirsty as Izak and they also have their telepathy. But if you look at LV99, he was especially designed to be a killer who can't stop until his target is no more, and he didn't have access to the Vine telepathy anymore.

And finally... Where was LV99 last seen in L&DoTH? He was climbing up the wire of the space elevator and then floating free above earth.

What are the chances he floated around earth in hybernation for hundreds of years before Father eventually caught him?

Wouldn't it be possible that Izak's ancestor is Lord Vine 99?

[omniversecomicsguide]

AT WAR WITH UNITY (2013-2014) READING ORDER

It’s X-O Manowar vs Unity when Aric of Dacia claims a chunk of land for the Visigoths! Can Toyo Harada, Livewire, Ninjak and the Eternal Warrior convince Aric to leave or even simply survive a confrontation with him?

AT WAR WITH UNITY (2013-2014) introduces the Vanliant Universe’s all-star super-team and dramatically changes the direction of the X-O Manowar saga!

And its’ all on the OmniverseComics.Guide site, including key covers, an issue-by-issue synopses and major fallout to let you know what to read next!

READING ORDER : AT WAR WITH UNITY (2013-2014)

Artist: Clayton Crain

[geekcavepodcast]

Valiant Entertainment and Blackstone Publishing Partner on Valiant Novels

Valiant Entertainment’s cast of comic book characters are getting to feature in prose novels from Valiant and Blackstone Publishing. The first titles in the Valiant imprint are Bloodshot: Awakening, Shadowman: The Abyss Stares Back, Livewire: Circuit Breaker, and The Eternal Warrior: Servants of the Dead.

Bloodshot: Awakening hails from Fred Van Lente. The young adult novel depicts Bloodshot as an 18-year-old who awakens in a lab with no memory of who he is or why he has powers. “Breaking out of his imprisonment with nanite-powered blood, Angelo finds himself on the run, trying to piece together his memories and fight back against the sinister forces chasing him.” (Valiant Entertainment)

Shadowman: The Abyss Stares Back hails from Shola Adedeji. Upon the death of his father, Jack Boniface returns to New Orleans after years of being away. “Jack tries to reacclimate himself to his hometown, but things have changed so much. There seem to be dark forces at work. And then Jack finds out that his father was The Shadowman, a supernatural warrior. Jack now finds himself pulled into a much larger, terrifying world, and must assume his father’s mantle.” (Valiant Entertainment)

Livewire: Circuit Breaker hails from Sarah Raughley. The young adult novel follows a teen who has been in foster care for most of her life. “She becomes the ward of the incredibly wealthy Toyo Harada, only to discover that he has nefarious plans for her technopathic powers (and the world).” (Valiant Entertainment)

The Eternal Warrior: Servants of the Dead hails from Ari Marmell. The novel will span “hundreds of years, culminating with a battle in the streets of modern-day New York City, Gilad Anni-Padda finds that the mistakes made generations earlier continue to haunt him, and must battle to save his soul and the entire world itself." (Valiant Entertainment)

(Images via Valiant Entertainment - Covers of  Bloodshot: Awakening, Shadowman: The Abyss Stares Back, Livewire: Circuit Breaker, and The Eternal Warrior: Servants of the Dead)

[wednesdaytoast]

#BlackHistoryMonth 2/28 The statuesque Amanda McKee, who was trained in the ways of the samurai by Harbinger founder Toyo Harada, can manipulate all machines and cyber technology. ———————————————————————— ———————————————————————— Comment your favorite character to get a fact about him or her! ———————————————————————— ———————————————————————— Turn on post notifications! Double tap and tag your friends! Follow us (@wednesdaypull) if you like what you see! ———————————————————————— ———————————————————————— #comicfacts #comicbook #igcomicfamily #comicbooks #igcomicfam #comicbookpage #comicfan #comicbookpodcast (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoLQffnv_jv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thefailurecult]

[evilhorse]

The Valiant Era Cards 46

[graphicpolicy]

Review: The Life And Death Of Toyo Harada #3

The Life And Death Of Toyo Harada is a series that highlights what comics are capable of. We've got a review of the third issue. Hint, it's awesome #comics #comicbooks #ncbd @valiantcomics

Wait, did we kill Toyo Harada in the middle of his own series? It is called THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TOYO HARADA, after all… A young Toyo spends some quality time with one of the most brilliant men in history: Albert Einstein. Yes, really. And things get veeeeery violent with Toyo’s savage alien friend, LV-99…

I won’t lie, reading the above preview text before the comic kind of gives away…

[radroller]

Stephen Reads Valiant: Part 4

Today we tackle the first crossover event on my long journey through the Valiant Universe: the Harbinger Wars! Valiant has certainly shown they’re capable of quality superhero content, but how will they fare with one of the stinkiest parts of the modern comic industry?

Accessibility: A pet peeve of mine with modern event comics is that they usually involve a lot of required reading from whatever ongoing series lead into them. And as the crux of Harbinger Wars’ plot is a crossover between the characters of Bloodshot and Harbinger, it is advisable that you have been reading those series going into it. However, they give you plenty of info pages that get you up to speed on the involved parties, and for reasons i’m going to go into later it isn’t absolutely necessary to know those facts going into the event miniseries.

The Event: While the plot boils down to a crossover between two books, each of those books has a few factions in play: Peter Stanchek’s Renegades, Toyo Harada’s Harbinger Foundation, Project Rising Spirit, Bloodshot and his troupe of escaped psiot children. When you throw in a few classic superhero comic misunderstandings and a Las Vegas hotel setting we’ve got ourselves an event! If you like either Harbinger or Bloodshot you’re sure to get something outve the event, but if you read both then you’re in for some incredibly fun moments and setpieces. Bloodshot vs Toyo Harada, the Renegades’ first mission together, the fate of the escaped psiots, all these and more unfold in an action packed conflict. Even beyond that, new plotlines begin to develop with the introduction of rogue PRS psiot unit Generation Zero and the wetwork super mercenary unit the H.A.R.D. Corps (God bless 90s comics) adding even more characters to the fray. It’s a fun time, but it also feels like a natural progression of things that were already happening. The event exists for all this cool crossover shit to happen, not the other way around.

The Tie-Ins: One massive compliment i can give this event is how it approaches tie-ins. For one it only affects the involved series, so no other Valiant comic is affected by a crossover that has little to do with them. Second, and this is critical, whether the tie-ins are required reading or not is completely up to the reader. See the way it’s structured is the event covers the general plot, with slight focus on Generation Zero and the H.A.R.D. Corps. Then Bloodshot tells the exact same events told from the perspective of the Bloodshot cast, and same for Harbinger. This means that, in theory, you could be an avid reader of either Bloodshot or Harbinger and be totally satisfied with its tie-in issues without having to worry about the other comics in the event. You’d be missing out on some good stuff mind you, but the beauty of events like this is you get introduced to a greater universe of characters you could potentially be interested in! And the fact that Harbinger Wars doesn’t FORCE you to do that is very refreshing!

Overall: Harbinger Wars was a great time. If this is how Valiant handles a small event like this i’m very excited to see how they do with something bigger. But i am NOT in a rush for another event, some normal comics will do me just fine. Next i’ll be going into more Bloodshot with some H.A.R.D. Corps thrown in, a much appreciared return to some laughs in Archer & Armstrong, and an introduction to a character ive been looking forward to: The Eternal Warrior!!!!

[jarhara]

I thought about my Fancasts for a Valiant Cinematic Universe again and realized, that I had more characters thought out then I thought.

so, here is a current list of my VCU Fancast

the first one is not really a fancast, since I believe Dinesh Shamdasani himself said in an interview regarding the Bloodshot movie, that he wanted to do a MCU-style post-credit scene with Ken Watanabe as Toyo Harada.

I’ve already talked about this before, and while I really liked Ciera Foster as Livewire/Amanda McKee in the series, my dream casting for a big screen version would be Freema Agyeman.

My first choice for Armstrong/Aram Anni-Padda, would have been Bud Spencer, but then I’d need a time machine to make this cast happen and I wanted to keep it realistic.

I’ve recently watched Russel Crowe’s “Unhinged” and while I didn’t care too much for the movie, it showed him in a very different light that made me realize that he could pull of Aram pretty well.

Onto the next of the Immortal Brothers, Timewalker/Ivar Anni-Padda. While reading “Timewalker” Ivar reminded me a lot of a blend between David Tennant as the 10th Doctor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Having Tennant play another time traveler would feel pretty lazy and i feel like he’s too “distinctly British” for Ivar. So I went for Hiddleston, because we’ve already seen him pull of pretty much everything that is needed to bring the Timewalker to life.

the youngest brother, The Eternal Warrior/Gilad Anni-Padda, took me some time to figure out but then it hit me. As much as I dislike casting another MCU actor for a main role in the VCU, I went for Sebastian Stan because he’s just got the right look and could bring the action as well as the emotion.

(also, the official casting for Gilad, according to IMDB, is Dave Bautista, who played Drax im the MCU, so.....)

Lastly, a bit of an odd one..... I am a big fan of Doug Jones and would really love to see him get more roles that allow him to show his face. The extremely sickly looking and almost zombie-like Doctor Silk is not really the typ of monster he usually plays but I am sure he would be able to get Silk’s frail yet menacing nature across and there is even a somewhat romantic-tragic backstory that would give Doug Jones the chance to make Silk a little more sympathetic.

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of the Indies: Week of March 20th, 2019

Best of this Week: The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #1 - Joshua Dysart, CAFU, Mico Suayan, Andrew Dalhouse and Dave Sharpe

Toyo Harada was always a name I'd heard whispers of, even before I actually started reading Valiant comics. People would mention his amazing feats of mass mind control, telekinesis and just being one of the more underrated geniuses in comics in general and when I started reading, around the time of early 2016, I could confirm that holy crap, Harada is cool.

This book ramps that up to a new level, giving us a heart wrenching origin story and where he is now in terms of power and influence in the greater world of Valiant Comics.

The Omega Level Psiot, Valiant's term for people with special abilities, was born in Japan in 1936 and grew up with a loving mother and father up until the Second World War where his father was sent to fight and died in 1943. Harada, as we know him, was truly born in 1945 as the bomb that hit Hiroshima incinerated his mother and forged him in fire as a shield protected him being killed too. Since then Harada has dedicated himself to ensuring that humanity doesn't destroy itself in senseless wars and battle by controlling everything himself.

Jumping back to the Modern Day, China launches an attack on Harada as he and team of Harbinger members and assorted Psiots try to make a space elevator to the ring of alien debris around the Earth from various events and battles throughout the Valiant relaunch. Harada shows his genius by coordinating a team that counters everything that's thrown at them.

What makes this great is that, Harada is so sure of his plans that once he reaches the debris with his robotic companion, Mech Major, he takes a few more moments to gaze at the Earth from above. This shows a hubris that will likely be his downfall as he fails to consider the wants and needs of his underlings. It’s also made apparent that he’s slowly becoming less caring of their advices.

The Life and Death of Toyo Harada was a stunning beginning to showcase a villain who has been at the center of the Valiant Universe since its early years and has only become more compelling as time has gone on. Whether he’s hated or respected, he must be feared and if this book is anything, it’s a confirmation of that. High recommend.

[robertiamlegendneville]

[thefailurecult]

[nonecosiimportante]

Toyo Harada by Paulina Ganucheau.