Free Comic Book Day 2016: Where You Should Go and What You Should Read

So, I've done this every year, and I'm going to again this year. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, the annual day when you can go to your local comic book shop and pick up any number of 40 special free comics. This year, as most other years, I will be working up at my old stomping grounds, Dewey's Comic City, where there will be an artists alley, a cosplay contest, drawings, and reps from Valiant Comics. If you're in the South Jersey or Philadelphia area, I also want to recommend heading over to my current store, Stormwatch Comics, for an artist, a sale, and more surprises. No matter where you go, it's gonna be a great time, but I can tell you for a fact these stores do it up right.

Now, as I do every year, here's my little PSA. While these comics are free to you, they aren't free for retailers. They are sold to retailers at a steep discount compared to normal comics, but at the volume they're buying, it's still a lot of money, and that's not counting anything they're paying for advertising and their events. So, it might be nice for you to buy a little something. And while you're at it and getting the free stuff, try something that you normally wouldn't. If you read Marvel and/or DC mostly, try something from Fantagraphics. If Manga is your thing, maybe it's time to sample a superhero comic. The price is right to give something different a shot. I've discovered a couple of my favorite comics, Atomic Robo and The Sixth Gun, thanks to their Free Comic Book Day offerings.

Now, as I also have done each yeah, here are a handful of comics that I think are worth your attention tomorrow.

Legend of Korra/How to Train Your Dragon/Plants Vs. Zombies

One of Dark Horse Comics two offerings this year, this issue features three popular all ages properties, two of which are new to Dark Horse's stable (pun intended). While Avatar: The Last Airbender has been a fixture of Dark Horse's FCBD offerings, this is the first year featuring its spin-off/sequel. The Legend of Korra. The story is set before the time of the series, and is the story of how Korra, the avatar, met her animal guide, Naga, the polar bear dog. It's a short, sweet story, and good for readers not familiar with the world of Korra. While I'm not familiar with the Plants Vs. Zombies games, its story is also accessible. But the highlight of this issue is the How to Train Your Dragon story. The story starts in media res, with the young dragon trainers trapped inside a makeshift shelter with wild dragons attacking them. The story is actually a series of shorts, as each person tells a story of the late chief of the tribe, Stoic the Vast, many of them effecting. What really makes the story is the art by Doug Wheatley, best known for his work on Star Wars comics, whose hyper-detailed characters and especially dragons are a visual treat. This is an all ages book.

Love and Rockets

Love and Rockets is the legendary, long running series from the Hernandez Brothers. Each issue features two unrelated stories, one by each brother. Gilbert Hernandez's stories follow a woman named Luba and her family, from their time in Central America to their time in California. Jaime Hernandez chronicles the lives of Hopey, a former punk rocker, her sometimes girlfriend Maggie, and their extended circle of friends. Love and Rockets is one of those epic pieces of continuing graphic literature that I have always found daunting to dig into, but this issue gives you a good sampling of what the series is like and a good way to judge if it's something you would appreciate and enjoy. This comic is appropriate fro readers seventeen and up.

March

There are few comics being published that I can say are unquestioningly important, but one of them is definitely March, the graphic memoir of Congressman John Lewis and his time with the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Two of the three volumes have been released, with the third due out this August. The FCBD issue from Top Shelf/IDW features brief excerpts from each of the three, and they are astounding, with beautiful art and important historical context that feels important in the times we live in. This is appropriate for any age, but I would suggest anyone under a teen read it with parents to answer questions.

Serenity/Hellboy/Aliens

Yes, both of Dark Horse's FCBD issues made this list. Of the three stories, the Aliens one is the one I was least invested in, and was fine for what it is, a bunch of people fighting aliens, which is about what I expect. The Hellboy story is a Mike Mignola written, Richard Corben tale of a younger Hellboy investigating a magic mirror that is said to have demons trapped in it. Mignola knows exactly how to write into Corben's wheelhouse, giving some true, cringe inducing horror. But it's the Serenity story that's an A-plus here. There's still little enough in the ways of stories from the Serenity 'verse that each one is something to be treasured, and this one is a real emotional roller coaster. Left to babysit Zoe and Wash's baby, River tells a story of how the crew gathered and their travails as a fairy tale to the baby; picture a Firefly version of the classic "Kitty's Fairy Tale" issue of Uncanny X-Men and you'll get the idea. Told from River's point of view, the story is as telling of what River thinks about the others on the crew and herself as it is of the story itself. If you've heard how great Firefly/Serenity is and you've wanted to dip your toe in, this isn't a bad place to start. This book is good for teens on up.

Valiant: 4001 A.D. Special

Valiant put together a sampler of many of their recent high profile releases for FCBD this year, along with a prequel to their new event series, 4001 A.D., which launched this week. This issue is strong because of the sum of its parts; no one story really carries the books, but if you've been curious about trying Valiant's output, or expanding what you're reading, this is a good place to start. The 4001 A.D. story does a good job of setting up the stakes of the new event, and the four previews include three books that have been well reviewed on this very blog: Archer & Armstrong, Divinity II, Faith, as well as a fourth preivew for an upcoming arc from Bloodshot Reborn. I am constantly impressed at how well Valiant holds together a coherent universe while not making it feel like you have to read any more than the titles you want, and the samples here stand on their own and are all of slightly different flavors, so you should be able to find something for anyone in here. This is a book I'd recommend for teens and up.

Special Advance Review: Faith #1

Faith #1
Story: Jody Houser
Art: Francis Portela, Marguerite Sauvage, & Andrew Dalhouse

Valiant's new launch, Faith, has been getting a lot of advance buzz, and all that buzz is earned. It's a delightful comic, with a warm, hilarious hero, a solid supporting cast, and a mystery at its core that will keep readers wanting more.

I've read a fair amount of Valiant comics, but most of them center around the brother Anni-Padda, better known as Ivar the Timewalker, Armstrong of Archer & Armstrong, and Gilad the Eternal Warrior, so Faith, who was a cast member of Harbinger, is a character I'm not too familiar with, mostly having seen her in event comics as part of her former team, the Renegades. But the opening page has a brief background, and that's all you really need going into the issue, and even that is just to fill in some terminology. Jody Houser is pretty much giving you a Faith 101 here, giving her a new home base, a new supporting cast, but the same superheroic mission.

Faith Herbert, also known as the superheroic psiot (that's Valiant term for mutant or metahuman) Zephyr, and currently with the new civilian identity of Summer Smith is an optimist. Just from one issue I can tell she's irrepressibly cheerful. And she's also a fangirl. And she wants to be a superhero because it's the right thing to do, and because she's watched a lot of sci-fi movies and read a lot of comics. So she's pretty much how I'd like to think I'd be if I suddenly could fly and had limited telekinesis, and I think a lot of other readers would have the same feeling,

The first issue spends most of its time establishing Faith's status quo. She wants to have the traditional superhero secret identity, that of the reporter so she can be informed of all crises the minute they happen. But, well, journalism isn't as easy to crack into as all that, but since shes be an on-line fangirl for years, she is able to get a job writing listicles for Ziplne, which is nothing like Buzzfeed at all. Out of the gate, her supporting cast seems to be her coworkers, who aren't fleshed out much this issue beyond their seemingly standard templates of passive aggressive boss, whiny Millenial, and snarky Gen-Xers, but what can you expect from one scene? There's plenty to work with from those tropes to build the characters over the course of the series.

There are definite ties to the rest of the Valiant Universe, but none of them hinder the enjoyment of the comic; I like that they're there so you know Faith is a character with history in the world around her. There are references to her former team, which included her ex-boyfriend, Torque, and big bad Toyo Harada, but in both cases what little you need to know is explained right there. The best connection to the rest of Valiant's heroes, though, is Faith's webchat with Obadiah Archer, the naive assassin half of my favorite Valiant duo, Archer & Armstrong. Archer was raised in a religious cult, so he has no frame of reference for pop culture, something Faith has in spades, and she's a better mentor for it than Armstrong, whose idea of pop culture is beat poetry and a good microbrew. Their dynamic is cute, and it's funny to watch Faith tease poor Archer, who, for being as powerful as he is, has little experience when talking to women.

While I said this first issue does a lot of set up, there are also a couple of very solid action scenes, one of Faith dealing with a ring of puppynappers, and a couple that deal with the mystery that seems to be the driving plot of the mini-series. We see people fleeing a mysterious group of identical men in suits, and Faith finds out that psiots are disappearing. And since my exposure to writer Houser is mostly from her wok on the tie-in comic to the best conspiracy show currently on TV, Orphan Black, I'm excited to see where she takes this conspiracy.

I also want to briefly address something. A lot of the advance press in the mainstream media about Faith has been focused on the character's body type, which is not what you usually get in comic books for a female superhero. And I'm all for that, and I think it's great she's getting a spotlight. But what I really like? It's not mentioned once in the comic. Not once. Faith goes about her business, she never thinks about losing weight or about her body, and no one brings it up. When she's facing down a group of thugs, I braced myself for one of the bad guys to make a body-shaming comment, and... nothing. Faith is written as if no one notices her body because it's nothing out of the ordinary, and I think that was a wise choice.

This first issue features two artists, one on the scenes in the real world, and one for Faith's daydreams. Francis Portela, who draws the main story, is an artist I'm familiar from his work on Ivar, Timewalker, one of my favorite Valiant series, and he has a solid style for superhero storytelling. He not only draws great action, but distinct characters and excellent faces. Marguerite Sauvage is a name I was most familiar with as a writer, as she is co-writing the DC Comics Bombshells series right now, but as it turns out she 's a great artist with a style that is a little less realistic than Portels'a without being too cartoony, and suits Faith's heroic, and romantic, dreams.

Faith #1 is a fun superhero comic with a hero who you can easily root for. I like that she is a hero through and through, without any of the anti-hero tendancies of so many comic book characters. If you've been enjoying any of Marvel's female led titles like Ms. Marvel, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, or Patsy Walker, a.k.a Hellcat, and have  been looking to try a super hero series from outside the Marvel Universe, I can't think of a better place to start than Faith.

Faith #1 comes out this coming Wednesday, January 27th, wherever comic books are sold.

Recommended Reading for 8/7: Quantum & Woody

There are many intentionally bad super hero teams, including The Legion of Substitute Heroes, The Justice League Antarctica, and the Great Lakes Avengers (there are also the unintentionally awful, like the Champions and Extreme Justice, but we won't go there), but there's only one that actively bills itself as the world's worst superhero team, and that's Quantum and Woody! Part of the Valiant renaissance (I'm talking about the current series, from writer James Asmus and various excellent artists, not the original Chris Priest/MD Bright version, although I might get to that some day too), Quantum and Woody features two brothers Eric and Woody Henderson, one of whom at the series' beginning is an uptight security guard and the other is a con man who's not as slick as he thinks he is, who through an accident of super science gain super powers but must touch the bracelets they both wear together every twenty-four hours (with a great sound effect of KLANG) or their molecules will dis-corporate, and so they decide to become heroes for hire. And they have a pet goat who's the Poyo ungulate world. And things just get crazier from there.

The events of the series are set off by the murder of Eric Henderson and his adoptive brother Woody's father, a scientist working at Quantum Laboratories. Eric and Woody haven't seen each other in years, since Woody ran away when they were teenagers. But as they begin to investigate their father's murder separately (after getting into a fist fight over his coffin), they are drawn together, both figuratively and literally as one of their father's experiments explodes, granting Woody the ability to fire energy blasts, and Eric, who dons a mask and starts calling himself Quantum,the power to create force fields. Their investigation leads them to a cabal of scientists Edison's Radical Acquisitions (ERA for short), who are all bizarre, freaks of science, including The Crone, who is seeking immortality through harvesting organs from her clones, Beta-Max, a cyborg from the 80s, and a bunch of equally creepy others.

Quantum and Woody are a classic odd couple pairing. Eric is type A personality who has everything in his life scheduled and to a pattern. Woody is constantly on the move since he does whatever he can to not work an honest day in his life, usually by committing some sort of con. Also, just to make it clear that the differences are both skin deep and deeper. Eric is black and Woody is white. The interaction between the two of them, this strange love/hate relationship that you can really only truly understand if you have a frustrating brother, is the cornerstone of the series, and the engine that drives the emotional core of the title.

So I've talked about super science, murdered dads, and feuding brothers, none of which makes clear something that's also really important here: this comic is hilarious! Like completely fall out of your seat, squirt tears out of your eyes funny. The banter between Quantum and Woody, the bizarre rogues gallery, the Goat (more on him later), and just the situations they wind up in, and all perfect fodder for comedy. There are bits about whether Woody disguising himself as Eric constitutes blackface (the actual scene takes place off page, so it's only conceptually offensive), of Eric trying to get Woody to do one normal thing in a day that spirals out of control, and Quantum having to defend a group of white supremacists as they are the lesser of two evils that all just play out as screwball superhero comedy in the best tradition.

The circle of supporting characters is kept pretty tight in the series, really meaning two characters. Or is it one? Oh, clones... Yes, the two other recurring human characters are both clones of the ERA member The Crone. The Crone sent her clones out into the world to have them in positions where they would benefit ERA before she harvested one. One of these clones became a Washington DC police detective, Alejandra Cejudo, who got involved with Quantum and Woody as they investigated their father's death. She's not just a competent cop, but she does not want to take any of the crap that Woody, and to a lesser degree Quantum, dish out and get suckered into. She also declares autonomy from The Crone, trying to make her own life, which doesn't go over well. The other clone in the orbit of our hapless duo is Clone Number 69 (yes, yes, get all the jokes out of your system now, and be prepared for new ones in the comic, because they plum the depths). 69 is a naive clone in her late teens who leaves the ERA base with Woody and the two become a couple. There's a lot of humor on how she interacts with the world, not knowing much about the outside, and also in how she interacts with Woody, since the only thing she seems to know less about than the normal world is relationships.

And there's one other character I mentioned earlier who is a series regular, and that's The Goat. The Goat is, well, a goat. A goat that ERA experimented on. A goat that now has more super powers than it probably should, and is clearly more intelligent than a normal goat. I compared The Goat to Poyo, Chew's luchador rooster, earlier, and I think the description is apt, as The Goat is a breakout hit, who got an origin story in Quantum and Woody #0 and let me tell you, that origin is more involved than you can imagine and is something I don't want to spoil. The Goat is just awesome, and if there's a way for a new Valiant and Image crossover could ever happen, like the 90s Deathmate event, I think it should totally be called Deathbarn, and just be Poyo and The Goat destroying everything in their path.

Oh, and all this plot stuff I've talked about, with the ERA and the investigation of Quantum and Woody's dad? Yeah, that's just the first volume of Quantum and Woody! One of the things I really have to give Valiant credit for is that nearly all their comics are jam packed with stuff. I can't think of one that is a comic you just breeze through in five minutes. Volume two is a story where the now stuck together Quantum and Woody move in together, only for Quantum to get a new security job that isn't what it seems and our hapless heroes have to stop a war within the United States from breaking out. And volume three has the return of a vengeance seeking ERA and the rise of a reborn Thomas Edison who is... yeah, I'll let you read that for yourself.

And after those first three trades, Quantum and Woody went on hiatus and was replaced by The Delinquents. This was a crossover between Quantum and Woody and Valiant's other mismatched and hilarious duo, Archer and Armstrong. I went to link to reviews I did, and am kicking myself for seeing I only reviewed one issue of what is one of the best crossovers I've read in years. It's two odd couples having to work together to solve a mystery involving The Hobo Code (not to be confused with The Hobo Way of Thrilling Adventure Hour fame), genetically modified foods, Cow/man hybrids, and The Big Rock Candy Mountain. It's a great comic, you don't need any previous knowledge of either series to enjoy it, and it probably deserves a recommended reading of its own someday, since it is an absolute joy to read.

So, that's Quantum and Woody. Seriously, if you enjoy superhero comics like Deadpool, the Giffen/Dematteis Justice League, or Archer and Armstrong, all of which mix strong character work with zany humor, you can't go wrong with this comic.

Three trades of Quantum and Woody, "World's Worst Superhero Team," "In Security," and "Crooked Pasts, Present Tense," are all out and readily available, as is the trade for The Delinquents. The fourth volume of the series, "Quantum and Woody Must Die!" comes out on Wednesday.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 2/11

Atomic Robo Vol.9: The Knights of the Golden Circle TPB
Story: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener

There's something great when you get a fish out of water. And putting an atomic robot in the Wild West is about as fish out of water as you can get. After the events of the previous volume, Atomic Robo has found himself trapped in the late 1800s, and has done his best to not get involved, so as to not upset the timeline. But desperadoes and a town in danger get Robo back in action. Robo, mistaken for an armor wearing old west gunslinger called Ironhide, winds up on a vengeance ride of sorts with Doc Holliday and Deputy US Marshall Boss Reeves, to save the townsfolk of . I didn't know Reeves before this; he, like Holliday, is a real person, and as per usual when real people are used in Robo stories he is very interesting, and the story has now made me curious to track down more about him. Before the story is done, we get cyborgs, zeppelins, a train chase, and everything you might expect in an Atomic Robo story. I have written more times than I can count about how much I love Robo, how much fun the stories are, and how there can still be character and heart in the middle of all the crazy science fiction. This volume mixes many classic Western tropes with the usual science fiction of Robo in a perfect mix. Brian Clevinger subtly builds tension throughout the story as it is clear Robo is "dying;" his power cells failing. There's no big speech explaining it, since the people Robo is with wouldn't understand it, and I like the fact that the needless exposition isn't there. Also appearing for the first time in a bit is Robo's arch nemesis (well, other arch nemesis after Dr. Dinosaur), Baron Heinrich Von Helsingard. The question of how Helsingard is alive so long before his and Robo's first meeting during World War II remains unanswered, a story for another day, I hope. So, what more can I say other than go buy some Robo, because it's the best dang science action comic on the stands? How about go read some Robo for free! Yes, this is the last print first volume of Atomic Robo, Recently, the guys at Robo, in conjunction with Hiveworks, started putting all of Robo's adventures on-line. They're rolling out all the past stories, and leading up to new material this summer. There will be trade collections of the new work, but you can read it first on-line. So you now have no excuse! Go and read some Robo now!

Divinity #1
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Trevor Hairsine

Since Valiant's return a couple years ago, the company has reinvigorated most of it's old properties. This week saw the debut of it's first completely original property under the new regime. Divinity is the story of Abram Adams, a young man who was sent off into space by the Soviet Union, and has now returned, decades later, with godlike powers. Much of this issue takes place before that mission, and is the story of Abram's life. A black orphan left on the doorstep of a Soviet embassy, he was raised by the state, and trained to become this cosmonaut. We see a boy who strives to the ideals that are laid before him, who is loyal, but who still disobeys quietly at times. It would be a perfect and beautiful short story, of one boy's life, and the reader learns to care for Abram over these short pages. But then we see his return, as his ship crashes in Australia. There we meet our second principle character, David Camp, who, out for a morning climb, first encounters Abram. He falls, and wanders, wounded, through the outback, with visions and pain from the fall. At issue's end, we see Abram track David down once more, and as the military arrives, Abram uses his powers for the first time to a devastating effect. This is a four issue mini-series, so I understand writer Matt Kindt can't spare the pages to make this a done in one story the way I like most first issues to be, but he does an excellent job of doing everything he should in a first issue while still leaving it on a cliffhanger: there's character, plot, and just a bit of action to make the reader want more. Trevor Hairsine's is gorgeous, with excellent face work, especially on Abram. His settings, both the Soviet Union of old and the Australia of now, draw the reader in. I also really like the design for Abram's space suit; it's a logical mix of what we expect from space suits and super hero costumes. Valiant has been on a roll with its recent first issues, and Divinity is another excellent example. Hopefully, this is a new character who will catch on and be a longstanding part of the new Valiant Universe.

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Down Town #1
Story: Jim Butcher & Mark Powers
Art: Carlos Gomez

After War Cry, the last original Dresden Files comic mini-series, I was very excited for this new one. We're now set deeply in the series, and so we're getting to see characters who have never appeared in comics before, and we're seeing a Harry Dresden at the height of his powers. Down Town takes place in between the novels White Night and Small Favor, and features Harry being brought into investigate the murder of a pawn broker at the hands of something monstrous. Well, hands might not be the right turn of phrase. It looks more like the fangs, claws, and horrible goo of something monstrous. Still, it's a case right up Dresden's alley. This is a great jumping on point for new readers who want to get a feel for Harry's day to day world. War Cry was a very self contained story, removed from Harry's stomping ground of Chicago, and not featuring many of Harry's long time associates. This issue introduces you not just to Dresden, but to his police contact/sometimes love interest Karrin Murphy and her partner, Rawlins, Harry's half-brother, Thomas, Harry's apprentice, Molly Carpenter, and Harry's big shaggy dog, Mouse. And other than the mysterious figure at the beginning of the issue, the man responsible for the attack on the pawnbroker, readers also meet one of Harry's most recurring nemeses, Chicago mob boss Gentleman John Marcone, along with his supernatural adviser Ms. Gard and his bodyguard Hendricks. Mark Powers clearly knows and loves his Dresden Files, because the characters are spot on, their voices perfectly on pith from creator Jim Butcher's world. With a mystery, the mob, and all the best aspects of a Dresden Files story, Down Town looks to be the best of the original Harry Dresden comic adventures yet.

Princeless: The Pirate Princess #1
Story: Jeremy Whitley
Art: Rosy Higgins

After some time away, Princeless returns with the third full mini-series, The Pirate Princess. The titular princess is Raven, who our heroines, Adrienne and Bedelia rescue at the beginning of the issue. The story opens with Raven being told the story of her great-grandmother, the dreaded pirate Mong Two-Tails, by her father, and then recounts the events of the zero issue, a Free Comic Book Day issue from 2013, from Raven's point of view instead of Adrienne's. These events include Adrienne and Bedelia rescuing Raven from a tower her brothers have left her in, as well as imprisoning the pompous knight who has been pursuing Adrienne. It's a great way to refresh readers who read that story over a year and a half ago without having to reprint it, and to flesh out Raven as a character. With their new friend saved, our heroes go out to get some food. If you're familiar with Princeless, pretty much any time Adrienne goes out into public, something chaotic happens, and in this case that something is Raven, who picks a fight with a couple members of her brother's crew who happen by, to have them deliver the message that she is back. The issue ends with Raven agreeing to join Adrienne and Bedelia on their quest to save Adrienne's sisters, but she has some of her own plans involving her brothers and Sparky, Adrienne's dragon. Princeless remains one of, if not the, best all ages comic on the market, with it's wonderful mix of character, action, and fairy tale trope breaking. It also happily passes the Bechdel test, and has a very diverse cast. What more could you ask for, really?


And this week, Dan Grote takes a trip into the DCU

Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special

Story:  Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti

Art:  John Timms, Ben Caldwell, Aaron Campbell, Paul Mounts and Hi-Fi

The comics power couple of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti have worked hard to turn the Joker’s gal pal into DC’s version of Deadpool: a fourth-wall breaking psychopath with a secret good-guy streak who still loves killing people and makes for damn-funny comics. In this holiday-themed one-shot, Batman sits up and takes notice.

Harley’s long gone from Gotham these days, managing an apartment building in Brooklyn Heights and riding the Staten Island Ferry for days on end just because it’s free. So she and B-man haven’t crossed paths in a while. But when Bruce Wayne is put up for a win-a-date auction to benefit an animal rescue, Harley steals $1,000,100 from a Bernie Madoff-ripoff to get herself into the bidding pool. Harley and Bruce end up running afoul of a purposely lame villain named The Carp who believes dogs and cats get too much publicity and the money should go toward saving fish. The Carp has a sidekick named Sea Robin, because that’s just the kind of book this is.

In fact, in case the reader has any doubts about the tone of the book, Harley’s talking stuffed rodent spells it out for you while she sleeps, simultaneously introducing a dream sequence, explaining the role of guest artists and mocking crossovers.

A good chunk of the book is dedicated to dream sequences: One Harley’s, one Bruce’s, each drawn by a different artist. In Harley’s, drawn by Ben Caldwell very much in the style of Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, she and the millionaire playboy fall madly in love, until Bruce reveals he effectively wants Harley to become a baby factory. Harley protests, saying having kids will ruin her figure, which I guess is more of a concern now that she’s ditched the red-and-black spandex bodysuit to dress like a Suicide Girl. Cartoon violence ensues. In Bruce’s, drawn in much darker tones by Aaron Campbell, he wakes up in bed next to Harley brandishing a list of his ex-lovers. She becomes the new Robin/Mrs. Batman, fires Alfred and henpecks him about cleaning up the Batcave (and getting rid of the giant Joker playing card) and the Batmobile, which is covered in bat poop. Dream Harley makes a valid point: How does the Batmobile stay so shiny parked in a cave full of bats and their guano?

Harley rescues Bruce from the Carp – though in true Batman fashion, he didn’t need saving at all – and honors Harley’s winning bid for a date. Impressed by her current escapades, Bruce lets her kiss him goodnight, then returns as Batman and threatens her in such a way that he’s actually praising her for her behavior, robbing a corrupt millionaire included. Then they kiss again.

So essentially this special was made to inspire a wave of Batman/Harley slash-fic, to add to the pile of Harley/Ivy and Harley/Deadpool fantasies. Happy typing, slashers!

Recommended Reading for 2/7: Archer & Armstrong

When I started reading comics, I wasn't reading Valiant Comics. I was a DC guy, with a little Marvel, and my only experience with Valiant was reading about the company in Wizard (remember Wizard?). The comics were supposed to be great, but the early issues were supposed to be really expensive, and I didn't have that kind of money. Over the intervening years, I picked up some of the back issues after the bottom dropped out of the speculator market, and found that they were really good comics. When Valiant relaunched a couple years ago, I figured I'd give one of the titles a shot, and I decided on Archer & Armstrong, and I was glad I did, as it has been consistently one of the best books on the market. So this recommendation is for the current series, but have no fear old school Valiant fans, I think a discussion of the classic series isn't too far off.

Archer & Armstrong is a book in the classic Odd Couple mold; two characters who have no logical reason to work well together prove to be better as a team than they are on their own. Obadiah Archer is the son of right wing Christian Evangelists, who has been trained as an assassin to do, what he believes anyway, God's work. He is naive, seemingly even tempered, and always willing to help; he also has the ability to channel any form of combat or physical skill, a power we're still learning about. Aram Anni-Pada, also called Armstrong, is one of the oldest beings on Earth, one of three immortal brothers, who is nigh-indestructible and super strong, and who has spent thousands of years enjoying wine, women, and song. Archer sees the world as debauched and horrible; Aram sees it as a wonderful place to write poetry about. They're a mismatched pair, no doubt, but that's the fun of it.

When our two title characters meet, it's when Archer is sent to kill The Great Satan, who turns out to be Armstrong. Archer's parents turn out to be leaders of a branch of The Sect, a secret organization that's branches have their hands in finance, religion, the military, and anything else that allows them to control the world, and The Sect has a long standing grudge against Aram. But Archer's parents indoctrination about good and evil has worked too well, and when he realizes that they're the ones who are actually evil, Archer sides with Aram against The Sect. This sets up a buddy comedy that travels around most of the world and onto others, not to mention across time.

One of the things that makes these kind of stories work is the way the characters differences compliment each other. You can put two mismatched characters together, and a story can just fall flat if they don't click right. Archer is learning things about the world from Armstrong, being shown that things aren't quite as black and white as he has been led to believe his entire life. Archer is growing throughout the series, although he still has quite a ways to go. Aram had no purpose for millennia, and is finding that Archer, his "little buddy," is getting him to do things other than drink, even if it's grudgingly at times.

Frankly, writer Fred Van Lente does more in the first four issue arc, The Michelangelo Code,  than a lot of writers do in the first year of their titles. He crams every page with snappy dialogue, character development, action, and plenty of humor. That humor is one of the things that helps this book really stand out; in a world where most of the comics out there are grim, Archer & Armstrong face threats with a wonderful tongue in cheek.

In that first arc, we not only establish Archer and Armstrong's relationship to each other and The Sect, we start to meet the rest of the cast of the book. With Archer having fallen away from his parents, they start using his siblings, the other children they've raised, as their army, and we meet Mary-Maria, Archer's foster sister and seeming love interest. She remains initially loyal to his parents, and winds up in conflict with Archer and Aram. Mary-Maria is a great character because you're never exactly sure whose side she's going to fall on. She clearly cares for Archer, but maybe not the same way he does for her, and as the first arc wraps, things don't work out for our young hero. While he believes Mary-Maria is dead, something more sinister has occurred.

Things gets much worse for our heroes with the second arc, Wrath of The Eternal Warrior, as they remain on the run from The Sect, plus encounter an immortal hunter who is chasing them because of the fallout from the confrontation at the end of volume one. Worse yet, that immortal hunter is Gilad, Aram's baby brother, the Eternal Warrior. While Aram is a party animal and usually does his best to try to talk his way out of a situation, Gilad lets his fist and steel do the talking. The parallels between Aram's relationship with Gilad and his relationship with Archer are pretty clear, but it's interesting to see the differences between Gild and Archer, and how things turn out for Aram with this particular family reunion. We also meet Kay McHenry, the most recent in a long line of Geomancers, the beings who speak with the voice of the Earth. Kay is another strong female character, one who is coming into her power as Geomancer, and it's interesting to see all the madness of the world of immortals and assassins through the eye of someone who is thrust right into the middle of it. I'm hoping we see Kay again in the future.

Far Faraway, the next arc, takes Archer and Armstrong into a whole new world literally; the time lost Faraway. It's a land with grey aliens, dinosaurs, timelost grizzled generals preparing to fight commies, and a sect of monks from the future. It's a wild story, with all sorts of crazy angles. I love this arc because of just how many elements pop up and how they fit together. General Redacted, whose speech features those black bars that the government uses to redact documents, Mary-Maria, and Ivar, the final of the Anni-Pada brothers are all in Faraway with Archer and Aram, all appear. There's battles between tribesmen and aliens in spaceships. The monks from the future have a very interesting messiah, one that leaves Archer in a bit of a snit, which is hilarious in its own right. Oh, and Ambrose Bierce is lost in the Faraway too; if you don't know who that is, look him up, trust me. The story ends with a falling out between the title characters, which I think is a good piece of character work; two such different people aren't going to work seamlessly together, and Aram is actually a pretty thoughtless hedonist who isn't used to having people around him he needs to think about, so it makes sense he's going to screw up.

The most recent arc, The Sect Civil War, is exactly what it sounds like. All the different cults that make up The Sect start going at each other. We had already met The One Percent, the gold bull wearing Wall Street moguls, and the Sisters of Perpetual Darkness, an order of ninja murder nuns, and had hints that Project Rising Spirit, the group that fellow Valiant hero Bloodshot works for, are part of The Sect, but we also get to meet more branches, and they're all wonderfully crazy. There are the Master Builders, evil masons out of Alan Moore's wildest From Hell dreams; The Hashish Eaters, who are pretty much what they sound like; and the Black Block, anarchists who wear black blocks on their heads. Again, there's so many ideas crammed into an issue that you pity other comics trying to keep up, and it never feels rushed. Of course, Archer and Armstrong and trapped in the middle of this mess, and they have to work through their issues while everyone is trying to kill them. The second issue also features some time travel, as Aram and Ivar go on a pub crawl through time, and the sight gag for the meter of Aram getting drunker is one of those things that you read in a comic and just makes you laugh out loud. The issue ends with a major shift in the status quo, with Archer and Armstrong seemingly safe from much of The Sect. Yeah, I don't think that's going to last either...

Archer & Armstrong is a great comic. It's clever, quick, funny, and packed with action and is a story that is character driven. Both of the protagonists are characters that you come to care about quickly. Fred Van Lente is one of the best writers in comics, and this is him working at the top of his game. Each arc further builds the world that Van Lente has been crafting since issue one, and it fits seamlessly into the overall Valiant Universe without feeling like you need to read any of those other books. If you're sick of comics where your heroes are full of angst and don't seem to know how to crack a smile, then pick up Archer & Armstrong.

The first three trades of Archer & Armstrong are currently available, with the fourth on the way next month.  If you want to try out a single, this month's #0 issue, which was released on Wednesday, gives you more details about Archer's past, is a good start, and helps set up next month's crossover with Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps, Mission: Improbable.