The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #3
Valiant Entertainment
Writers: Joshua Dysart
Artists: Cafu, Adam Pollina, Andrew Dalhouse, and Kat Hudson
There’s nothing I love more than a fantastic villain. When you can understand a motive on an innate level and see how a person goes down the wrong path? Well, that just reels me in and keeps me coming back. The Life and Death of Toyo Harada is easily one of my favorite villain character studies.
What really grabs my attention about this series is that there’s no real hero. Rising Spirit, the corporation funding all anti-Harada campaigns both military and politic, are bad news bears. The Angela Vessel isn’t here for selfless reasons, only to further an agenda that may not end well for humans. Even Toyo’s teams aren’t filled with altruistic people, except for one person who doesn’t get much screen time this issue. This makes the story feel true as if the world better reflects the current state of world politics. What is the lesser of two evils? That’s where this story seems to be heading and I honestly enjoy it. Sure its bleak and pessimistic, but Toyo himself isn’t.
Toyo is a victim of Hiroshima who finds that he’s absurdly powerful. Seeing the horrors of World War II, and by extension the world, he takes Humanity’s trajectory into his own hands. He’s evil for all the right reasons, but his egotistic way of viewing the world drives him off the cliff. He thinks he alone can fix the world and refuses to work as an equal partner with anyone. Even the characters he speaks privately and clandestinely with are clearly seen as beneath him in some manner. This winds up being his downfall in the issue since he refuses to tell others his plans. He decides to run alone instead and winds up taking a major hit from Angela and Rising Spirit.
The issue drives home that he wants to do good but always goes about it wrong without learning from mistakes. While seeking advice from Albert Einstein, a man he admires and sees goodness in, Toyo ruins the man’s last moments. When discussing what comes next with his team individually, he refuses to clue them in on anything besides “trouble’s ahead.” He’s not a person you should sympathize with in any sense of the word, but you’ll see your own mistakes. That’s why I love this book and other villains like Toyo, you’ll see your harder parts reflected. It’s a breathtaking connection with a character when done right and Dysart nails it.
Each segment of the book is painstakingly drawn to be marvelous which is why my next words hurt to write. I enjoy both distinct art teams but not in the same book. It’s part of the series that the art switches in each issue to tell a different part of Toyo’s life. It’s awesome in the issues prior because the art styles fit well, they’re similar enough. In this issue, it’s a huge shift and feels jarring to turn a page and see such a drastic change. That being said, I truly do love each art style and believe they’d just work better apart from each other. There’s an Allred family feel to one while the other feels like Steve McNiven; this is a talented art team.
Valiant Entertainment doesn’t get enough love and I think this is the perfect opportunity to show others why they’re great. Jump into this series, it’s only six issues, and see the boldness of it. It’s really different than anything the big two are putting out right now; crafting a Shakespearean fall for a man you can’t help but hope gets better. It’s doing interesting story techniques with its art choices. There’s a lot to enjoy in this series; I’m hype to see what else it has to say.
The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #3
The Life and Death of Toyo Harada is a fantastic villain character study with interesting story techniques
-
Story
-
Characters
-
Art