Valiant is proud to announce that celebrated cartoonist and musician Andy Friedman has contributed a stunning variant cover for December’s Harbinger #19 – the final installment of the acclaimed “Perfect Day” story arc from New York Times best-selling writer Joshua Dysart and legendary artist Barry Kitson!

As a noted contributor to The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic and many more, Friedman’s gag cartoons and portraits of cultural icons have appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines across the world. Friedman is also a prolific singer-songwriter with three acclaimed albums to his credit – 2007’s Taken Man, 2009’s Weary Things and 2011’s Laserbeams and Dreams – and for over a decade has enjoyed performing in the nation’s premier music venues.

Harbinger #19 will mark his first foray into monthly comics.

“The opportunity to present the human side of Peter Stanchek was interesting to me. The [Harbinger Renegades] are a group of outcasts, which makes them instantly relatable, because I would venture to guess that feeling like an outcast is something that we all feel at times, some perhaps more than others,” said Friedman. “When we come to terms with the positive aspects of what might set us apart from the rest of the people, we begin to celebrate our unique existence in the world, and only then do we tend to discover and put to good use our true powers and purpose. Harbinger reinforces this truth and it’s a healthy metaphor, the way I see it.”

“Andy is a singular artistic talent. He’s delivered an incredible new vision of the world that Joshua Dysart and Barry Kitson have been building with this series. His inimitable depiction of Peter Stanchek – who he’s captured here not as a superhero, or a Renegade, or an omega-level Harbinger, but as an everyday teenager – is the perfect way to cap off the end of our tensest, most mind-bending story arc yet,” added Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons.

Join the series that Comic Book Resources calls “one of the best superhero comics currently available” here as Peter Stanchek prepares for the mental battle of his life, with the fate and freedom of his fellow Renegades hanging in the balance. It all happens when “Perfect Day” reaches its unforgettable conclusion in Harbinger #19 – in stores December 11th! And look for the Harbinger #19 Order All Friedman Variant on shelves at your local comics retailer.

HARBINGER #19
Written by JOSHUA DYSART
Art by BARRY KITSON
Cover by KHARI EVANS
Variant Cover by ANDY FRIEDMAN
$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE IN DECEMBER!

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More with ANDY FRIEDMAN on HARBINGER #19 and Beyond:

This is the first time you’ve ever worked in the monthly comic book format. What brought you to comics at this stage in your career?

AF: Comics brought me to comics – I’ve been interested in them as a visual medium for as long as I could remember. I was never quite the collector or scholar with them the way I was with, say, baseball cards, but it was the graphic design over the content of both of these forums that initially reeled me in. Same with music. I had visual relationships with album covers long before I heard any of the music that they contained. With comic books, I would absorb the relationship between ink and color in each frame and that, for the most part, was the story, as far as I was concerned. I clamored for the comic books that were drawn well — that was the prerequisite. It was less about the characters for me. I still always have a stack of comic books in my studio that I pore through for visual inspiration, and I take them as seriously as plates of paintings by Diego Velazquez.

Out of all of Valiant’s titles, what was it about Harbinger that appealed to you in particular?

AF: The opportunity to present the human side of Peter Stanchek was interesting to me. The [Harbinger Renegades] are a group of outcasts, which makes them instantly relatable, because I would venture to guess that feeling like an outcast is something that we all feel at times, some perhaps more than others. When we come to terms with the positive aspects of what might set us apart from the rest of the people we begin to celebrate our unique existence in the world, and only then do we tend to discover and put to good use our true powers and purpose. Harbinger reinforces this truth and its a healthy metaphor, the way I see it.

Your work as a cartoonist has appeared primarily in magazines. How is working for the monthly comics medium different? Was it a challenge?

AF: It makes no difference to me whether I’m presenting a piece of art to a magazine, a comic book, a book, or any other medium. My job and my passion is to get to the inner truth of the subject and tell the story in the way I’ve got to tell it, and that’s what I do. It’s always a challenge to be truthful, confident, and economical with the language that one uses in the telling of a story, at least in my experience, but its no more of a challenge than getting up in the morning and having a great day. Its all about relying on what it is you’ve got to say with the means available to express it, however limited or expansive those means may be. It’s the code of blues, poetry, and meditation. To me, part of being an artist is about finding that place where you can do no wrong. I aspire to do what I’m naturally inclined to do, and therein lies the challenge with every aspect of my work, regardless of the medium or forum in which its presented.