Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 9/16

The Fade Out #9
Story: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips & Elizabeth Breitweiser

The final act of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's The Fade Out explores the relationship between two of the series main characters: series protagonist and blocked screenwriter Charlie Parish and his best friend, blacklisted screenwriter Gil Mason. Charlie and Gil's fractured friendship has been one of the emotional centers of the title, but this issue sees things come to a head, as Charlie recalls the major beats of their lives together as they get into a fist fight. In the span of a normal comic, we see the history of these two men in Hollywood, from Gil's arrival as a novelist-turned-screenwriter, to his partnership with Charlie, who's a wide eyed new kid, to Gil's mounting jealousy as Charlie seems to be gaining more success and prestige. And we see exactly why these two guys are working for Victory Street Pictures, and how deep the commitment that ties these men, and the jealousy that drives them apart, goes. It's made even more complicated by the relationship between Gil and his wife, Melba, and the relationship that exists between Melba and Charlie. It's a web of love and resentment. I love how Brubaker finds a way to mix character development with plot in this issue. Brubaker wrote in the letter column of this issue that The Fade Out is really a serialized novel, and that because it's one big story, that's why some issues are far more focused on character than plot (also, because character is what interests him as a writer moreso than plot). But in the scenes that take place in the present, the plot is pushed forward towards the inevitable collision, as Charlie confronts Gil about Gil's blackmailing of the studio, and Gill shows Charlie the evidence he's collected and what his plans really are. I don't think exactly what the studio heads are up to is particularly surprising if you've been reading all along and you aren't blind or naive, but it makes it no less repulsive, and you want Charlie and Gil to get the justice for the victims, not just the Valeria Sommers, whose death set off this whole chain of events, but all the victims that this issue implies. Still, this is a noir, so happy endings aren't usually in the cards for anyone, and with three issues left, there's plenty of room for sad endings all around. I was initially saddened by learning that The Fade Out was going to be only twelve issues, but I feel like Brubaker knows the story he wants to tell, and so if it's a twelve issue story, let it be twelve issues. But once it's over, I hope Brubkaer and Phillips have another project lined up.

Ivar, Timewalker #9
Story: Fred Van Lente
Art (Main Story): Pere Perez & Andrew Dalhouse
Art (Archer & Armstrong #1 pages): Clayton Henry, Matt Milla, & Dave Lanphear

It's funny to write about two issue nines that marks the beginning of a third and final act of a series that I love in a row, but here I go. Ivar, Timewalker #9 opens with a scene familiar to anyone who has been following the adventures of the brothers Anni-Padda in the new Valiant Universe: It's the opening scene from the first issue of Archer & Armstrong, the origin of the brothers, Aram (Armstrong), Gilad (Eternal Warrior), and Ivar. But this time, there's a twist: Neela Sethi, Ivar's companion in the series, pops up and spirits him away. We follow Neela and Ivar as they travel through the time arcs that allow them to travel through time, only now not only are they hopping time, they're hopping through alternate timelines, thanks to the Null, the nihilists who exploded a superweapon that is destroying all of time (and are led by an alternate future evil Neela). There is a lot to love in this issue. Firstly, it's a great inversion of the first issue of the series, where it was Ivar dragging Neela through time and had hidden feelings for her. Here, it is Neela who is the experienced timewalker, with Ivar the blustering jerk he was in ancient times. And boy, is he a blustering jerk. A brilliant one, no doubt, but when he patronizingly tells Neela she can't come on the adventure because she's a woman, or when he offers to make him one of his wives, well, you kind of want to smack him almost as much as Neela does. And Neela has developed into one of the best characters at Valiant, this mix of determination, regret, and hope that you just can't help but root for. Van Lente also does a good job of making all the timey-wimey science stuff read clearly; time travel and paradoxes are often just giant headaches, but here? It works. But aside from all the character beats and kooky science, the highlight of the issue is the timeline gags. There are three distinct alternate worlds that Neela and Ivar experience, and each is distinct. The least hilarious is one where Native Americans seem to have overrun the white man, and everything is inverted; there's a sports team called the Whiteys, which is a nice jab at some of the controversies in the sports world about the Washington Redskins. But the other two worlds? Oh good lord I nearly fell over in laughter and joy. One has clown vikings. Yes, you read that right. The other, well, I usually do my best to not spoil last page reveals. I really do. But I have to this time. In a world where Neela and Ivar encounter bipedal, human size animal men, the world is ruled by dinosaurs. Talking, intelligent dinosaurs. Talking, intelligent, T-Rexes that ride Triceratops and where Roman looking armor. If that's not the coolest thing I've ever written on this blog, I don't know what is.

Secret Identities #7
Story: Brian Joines & Jay Faerber
Art: Ilias Kyriazis & Ron Riley

Friday's piece about series ending too soon was mostly in response to other recently announced cancellations, but it could have just as easily been about Secret Identities. The series debuted, introducing a brand new team of super heroes, all of whom had secrets they were keeping from the others and the world. It was a great concept, and a series I really enjoyed, but low sales meant that an ongoing was cut down to seven issues, and writers Brian Joines and Jay Faerber do their best to wrap up the plot in this oversized final issue, and they're pretty successful with it. The Front Line, our team of heroes, are divided, dealing with two threats: while most of the team is fighting a V'Ren, a giant alien weapon/ship/monster, the Recluse, the team's Batman analogue, is fighting Crosswind, the traitor who has been working the team since issue one, trying to learn their secrets. The first two thirds of the issue deals with these two fights. In those battles, we learn aspects of the Recluse's backstory, explaining exactly what the hunger and curse he's been keeping a secret is, and we learn more about the origin of the power of team leader Luminary, and how it ties to the V'Ren. These are satisfying answers to questions, and Ilias Kyriazis draws two very impressive fight scenes of different scales, nicely balancing the city wide destruction of one with the more personally brutal of the other. The latter third of the book ties up loose threads, explaining why the Front Line's police contact used Crosswind to infiltrate the team, and giving a small spotlight to each character, showing where they went after the events of the series proper. This answers some of the book's other mysteries, while also tying up some of the character beats that time didn't allow to be resolved. But the final page does something very clever, keeping the theme of secrets that has been central to the book a major part of the conclusion; it would have been easy to end the series on an info dump, but pulling thing around full circle, to secrets within secrets, and the things we do to keep them, was a great tonal moment for the title. While it would be nice to see some more with these characters, all the creators have other projects they're working on, but there will be a complete series trade coming out shortly, and it will be well worth your time to check it out.


And Dan Grote looks at the debut issue of the newest Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Marvel mini-series...

Captain America: White #1

Story: Jeph Loeb

Art: Tim Sale

Seven years ago, Marvel released Captain America: White #0, a tale about Cap and Bucky’s earliest days as partners in 1941. It was supposed to be the start of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s next “color” series for Marvel, following Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Grey and Spider-Man: Blue. Each of those books explored how one of Marvel’s founding fathers dealt with loss: Daredevil with Karen Page, Hulk with Betty Ross and Spider-Man with Gwen Stacy.

Cap’s diverted from the pattern in that it dealt not with the loss of a romantic love interest (slash fiction ain’t canon, kids) but of a young sidekick. Certainly when Cap came out of the ice in the 1960s Avengers comics, he spent most of his nonfighting time grieving over Bucky, whose character was retconned as having died in a rocket explosion planned by Baron Zemo.

And that’s where, seven years later, Cap: White #1 picks up. Or at least the framing device for the five-issue (six if you include #0) story. The book opens with Cap coming to in a retelling of 1964’s Avengers #4, with the original members of the team – Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man and the Wasp – standing over him. He then meets up with an old war contact, none other than Original Recipe Nick Fury, which leads to the meat of the issue, an extended flashback to the first time Cap and Bucky ever met Fury and Dum Dum Dugan.

Marvel’s been telling Untold Tales of Captain America from World War II since, well, World War II, practically. But even a cynic would have to admit watching these four characters interact with each other for the first time is entertaining. Fury argues with Dum Dum, Cap argues with Bucky, then they pair up and argue with each other, all with German forces shooting at them. Fury and Dum Dum even steal Cap’s motorcycle. Later, Cap mixes it up with the rest of the Howling Commandoes at a GI-friendly bar in Casablanca, leading to one heck of a brawl.

In the end, they all find themselves on assignment together, leading to the issue’s cliffhanger.

As a backup, helpfully, the book includes issue #0, for those who never read it and others who may not remember. Zero rehashes the moment when Bucky first discovered Steve Rogers was Captain America, and then largely is a montage of Cap training Bucky to fight Nazis.

Both issues explore the relationship between Cap and Bucky, and the idea that while the Super Soldier Serum made Rogers into a dashing leading man who looks like one of Hitler’s master race, on the inside he’s still the scrawny kid from Brooklyn who got labeled 4F, unfit for military service. Maybe that’s why he’s more comfortable palling around with an orphaned Army brat than the women who take an interest in him overseas. It’s clear Loeb’s given some real thought to the actual dynamics of Cap and Bucky’s relationship, building on the canonical fact that Cap cared deeply for Bucky and felt responsible for him, and mourned him for decades before Ed Brubaker brought the character back as the Winter Soldier. It’s because of all this groundwork that Bucky has become more than the first dead Robin.

It’s also really nice to see Sale drawing again. Sale’s style falls somewhere on the spectrum between Jack Kirby and Bruce Timm, with more heavy shadows, which made him the perfect person to draw something like Batman: The Long Halloween, and is equally as comforting to see here. It also gives me the warm fuzzies for some lesser-appreciated Loeb/Sale ’90s jams, such as the Wolverine and Gambit: Victims miniseries or the standalone Cable #23, in which Nathan and Domino have to hunt down a feral Grizzly.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 5/27

Batman '66 #23
Story: Jeff Parker
Art: Brent Schoonover and Giancarlo Caracuzzo

Nearly two years into its run as a print comic, it's nice to see Batman '66 take a few chances. While the early issues focused on established villains in the universe created by the TV show, since the publication of the lost episode that introduced Two-Face into the universe, we've begun to see other Batman villains from the comics who never appeared on the show, including Harley Quinn and Lord Death Man. This issue is two short stories, both written bu series regular writer Jeff Parker, with two of Batman's more monstrous foes. The first story, drawn by Brent Schoonover, introduces Solomon Grundy, whose origin is tied to that of Marsha, Queen of Diamonds, one of the series's original villains. It's weird to see this universe and actual magic tied together, as so much of the classic series was tied up in funky 60s, but it's hard to do the walking dead and use science. Still, it's a scientific solution Batman comes up with to stop Grundy, even if it's as pseudo-scientific as Bat shark repellent. A highlight of the story is that Schoonover works homages to classic covers and Batman images into panels, one especially cool one being to an old Aurora Batman model I remember assembling as a kid (a reproduction from the 80s, mind, not the original). The second story introduces Clayface, and does a very cool thing of tying him into False Face, a TV villain. It establishes that False Face was Basil Karlo, who was also the original Clayface, and he is given an origin that has echoes of the Clayface origin from Batman: The Animated Series. Artist Giancarlo Caracuzzo draws a monstrous Clayface who never could have existed on the budget of the TV show, or looked good in the effects of the era. And again, as was often the case, for all the biff bam pow action, Batman defeats Clayface using his brain more than his brawn. I'm looking forward to seeing some more Batman villains introduced (we've been teased with Killer Croc and Poison Ivy, so they're on  the horizon), as it adds some nice flavor to a book that's already a lot of fun.

Convergence: Booster Gold #2
Story: Dan Jurgens
Art: Alvaro Martinez

Convergence has ended, and sadly it was more a whimper than a bang. But there were some real high points to the tie-ins, love letters to older versions of characters and their fans. One of those love letters was the Booster Gold series, written by Booster's creator, Dan Jurgens.This issue not only features two Boosters, but his son, Rip Hunter, his sister, Goldstar, his robot buddy, Skeets, and his best buddy, Blue Beetle. While it's still serious, with the older, original Booster dying of an overdose of chronal energy, we still get some fun moments as the other Booster, Rip, and Goldtsra fight the Legion of Super-Heroes, and post-Flashpoint Booster is still as much a goof as classic Booster pretended to be to hide his more serious duties. But it's the scenes between a rapidly aging Booster and Blue Beetle that warmed my heart. We've seen Booster try to save Beetle using time travel, both in the comics and in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, but here it's a resigned Booster who's meeting his friend when Beetle was in his prime, and Booster treats it as a gift. The two get to talk, and joke, and even though Booster tries to warn Beetle a little about his oncoming fate, he doesn't spoil the time together with portent. In the end, Booster gets to say his goodbyes to those he loves before he goes through a startling metamorphosis that makes absolutely perfect sense if you're familiar with a couple of DC's previous events. It's a bittersweet farewell, but with hints that the new Booster has an important place in upcoming events and the old time travel crew still out there guarding time, there's a glimmer of hope, and hopefully a hearty Bwah-ha-ha to come.

Divinity #4
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Trevor Hairsine

Divinity has been the most experimental series I've read from Valiant, and it's been a resounding success with me. Matt Kindt talks in the production notes in the back about creating an overpowered character and the importance of knowing how to defeat them, and this issue is about the fall of Abram Adams, the godlike being called Divinity by his followers. Interestingly (and smartly) there is very little combat between the titular character and Unity, Valiant's premier superhero team (although there is a gorgeous two page spread of them assaulting him). Mostly, Unity fights Divinity's followers, who are trying to stop them from interfering with their god while trying a hail Mary to contain Divinity. Meanwhile, with all his power, Divinity has resurrected his girlfriend and daughter, and is talking to them. But it's not the conversation he wants to have. It's a tragedy, as Eve, the woman he loves, tells him that she lived a full life and she wants to stay where she is. it's not a great energy weapon, or brilliant tactics that defeats Divinity. It's his remaining humanity. The series ends on a few different notes, leaving the fate of the character and the world in the air. Unity is unsure what to do with a contained super being who could defeat them with barely a thought, Divinity's followers are ready to declare a holy war to retrieve their savior, and Divinity himself? Divinity has realized exactly how much has changed, both in the world and in himself, but still has some hope in a very human form. This level of introspection is uncommon in superhero comics; so much of post-Watchmen superhero comics plays at seriousness, but doesn't really talk about anything beyond brooding. Divinity explores what it's like to become a being of power in a very thoughtful and human way, something that impressed me greatly, and I'm looking forward to the sequel to see where Abram Adams's journey takes him next.

Ivar, Timewalker #5
Story: Fred Van Lente
Art: Francis Portela

Fred Van Lente can cram more into a comic than pretty much anyone I can think of. In one issue of Ivar, Timewalker, you get a science fiction assault in a space station, a discussion of time travel physics, a fight on a post-apocalyptic world, a conversation at a bar, and all of it is done with humor and character development. The issue opens as a space fleet attacks Oblivi-1, the time/space station that is the headquarter of the villains Ivar has been dealing with in the first arc of the series, only to meet an unfortunate fate. While we do see Neela Sethi, the scientist who has been the... target? Goal? Of everything Ivar, our titular time traveler has done over the course of the series so far, and we see her talking to another version of herself about their scientific goal, the majority of the issue is set in the year 9999, with Ivar trying to recruit his youngest brother, Gilad the Eternal Warrior, to storm Oblivi-1 to rescue Neela. It's pretty standard infiltration and save humanity from monsters, in this case the Nergal Horde, but it's elevated by Van Lente's dialogue. It's not only very funny, but it's staggeringly real. I have two little brothers, and I know how brothers talk and bicker, and Van Lente has it down. Despite Ivar being the eldest brother, it's Gilad who has always been the serious one, the one who takes his responsibilities to heart, but here, at the end of Earth, Gilad is ready to lay his arms down, for once Earth is gone, his responsibility as its guardian is gone too and he can rest. But Ivar's interference lights a spark under Gilad one more time, and he agrees as long as Ivar promises that Aram, the middle brother, better known as Armstrong, isn't coming, something Ivar agrees to without a blink. Cut back to a bar in 2015, where Ivar is talking to Armstrong shortly before he left for 9999 to find Gilad, and we see a familiar scene with a familiar promise. The issue ends with a scene involving the former captives of the Nergal Horde that I don't want to spoil, but it's interesting how both this plot and Ivar's own operate in a circle in this issue. Saying anything more would spoil the fun, and with this title, that's the last thing I would want to do.

Sandman: Overture #5
Story: Neil Gaiman
Art: J.H. Williams III

What more can I say about Sandman: Overture? This is the comic that I most look forward to whenever it happens to come out. It's Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams working together seamlessly, producing a vision of beauty and a story that is enchanting in the literal sense of the word; I find myself unable to look away from the pages as I read the issue, quietly mouthing the words along with the comic. After being trapped in the previous issue, Dream finds himself in the court of his mother, Night, brought to her by a servant named Dusk. Dusk's "d" name makes me curious is she is another relative of the "d" named Endless, but that is not addressed here. Instead, we see Dream having a family squabble with his mother. Night makes some very valid points about Dream and his relationship with his siblings, but we also see where Dream and Desire get their tempers from. While within the blackhole, Dream deals with family issues, outside it, the Dream of Cats wanders the battlefields of the universe, the ones growing worse due to the machinations of the mad star, and begins to save people, as well as retrieving the lost girl Hope from the afterlife. What exactly the Dream of Cats's plan is remains mysterious, but he's still a cat, so that's pretty much par for the course. Dream escapes the blackhole, naturally, saved by Destiny, his elder brother. The reasoning for this particular rescue us cleverly presented, as it not only works with already established Sandman mythos in a way that it didn't occur to me it could, but gives some personality to Destiny, who has always been the dustiest member of the Endless; he's like Marvel's Uatu the Watcher, bound only to observe, only he actually does only observe. It kind of shows why Uatu was always doing stuff, since it makes him much more interesting. The final scene of the issue takes place on a boat, and here's where I want to call out Williams for his astounding work. Any page is a masterwork, but there's a great moment as Dream boards the boat and his clothes change from the usual flowing regalia he wears into a sailor's outfit that is done with such grace. It's a tiny detail, but those are what makes Williams amazing, he doesn't miss a beat. The designs of the boat and it's crew are similarly astounding. There's only one issue left now, one issue for Dream to bring about the downfall of the mad star that he inadvertently created, and to receive answers to as many of the questions as Gaiman is willing to answer. Because really, this comic is as ethereal as a dream, and whoever gets all the answers they want out of a dream?

Recommended Reading for 4/17: Code Monkey Save World

Music and comics have a long and strange history. All sorts of artists have had their own comics; while Kiss has probably the longest history, Prince, the Wu Tang Clan, and others have had their own comics, and various artists have guest starred in popular titles, from Aerosmith in Shadowman to Pat Boone in Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane. And some musicians have written comics, like Gerad Way's Umbrella Academy. But I'm not talking about them today. Today, I'm talking about geek singer-songwriter  Jonathan Coulton's collaboration with writer Greg Pak and artist Takeshi Miyazawa, Code Monkey Save World. I'm just starting with some historical context.

I first encountered the music of Jonathan Coulton through some of my wife's friends. They started bringing up YouTube clips, and by the third or fourth song, I was hooked. His lyrics were smart and funny, and he was singing about stuff like being a programmer, the presidents of the United States, Ikea, and the Mandelbrot set. And when he started as the one man house band on NPR's Ask Me Another, well, you add NPR to that other geekery, and this was a guy who was right up my alley. And I was vaguely aware that he had a Kickstarter for a comics project, but I wasn't doing the whole Kickstarter thing at the time. More the fool me.

Flash forward to New York Comic Con this past year, and I'm talking to Greg Pak, a tremendously nice guy by the way, whose run on Incredible Hulks I had just written up. Among the books he had for sale, I saw Code Monkey Save World, and I remembered that Kickstarter. And you toss in a a writer whose work I love with a musician whose songs I love, and it became a must buy. Greg signed my copy, and I was off. I read it shortly thereafter, loved it, and knew I was going to write it up, but was waiting for the right time. That time is today, and you'll find out why a little later.

Code Monkey Save World follows the misadventures of Charles, a computer programmer for SCM Industries who happens to be, well, an actual monkey. The graphic novel follows Charles as he goes from his humdrum, boring day-to-day life into a wild adventure involving supervillains, beautiful women, the fate of the world, and curling.

After his office is attacked by robots and their armored female leader, and all his coworkers are kidnapped by the robots to serve on mines on the asteroid Chiron Beta Prime, Charles finds out that his company is actually owned by Skullcrusher, a supervillain whose main methods involve corporate bureaucracy and patent lawsuits, and whose goal is to get the attention of Laura, the Robot Queen, who he had a crush on when they were in school together. Charles is willing to help the Skullcrusher in his attempts to thwart Laura's plans (because if you're a pair of supervillains, you can't just send flowers. Thwarting is courting) because one of the people kidnapped was Matilde, the receptionist who Charles has a crush on.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the book is the Matilde doesn't need Charles to save her; as a matter of fact, every attempt to do so just makes things worse. Matilde happens to be former Staff Sergeant Matilde Sanchez, and she does way better on her own. And Laura is a way better supervillain than Skullcrusher. Pak presents his female leads as far more competent than his bumbling male leads; Matilde is no damsel in distress and Laura could have probably taken over the world with little problems except for that classic bumbling interference from Shullcrusher and Charles.

As the story progresses, the cast grows with even more bizarre characters. When Skullcrusher decides to take the fight to Laura, he calls in the other members of Villainy Affiliated, LLC. These supervillains include a giant squid, aan animated, one-eyed, psychic creepy doll named Creepy Doll, and Zombie Bob, who's an office worker turned zombie. They're frankly all more evil than Skullcrusher too, and once again Charles is in over his head. Soon a government agent, code-named B-12 and a curler named Skip Jorgenson are also on their way to stop Laura. It all comes together with a team up of all our leads to stop Zombie Bob's hordes from overtaking the world to determine who will rule the world after the averted zombie apocalypse. And in the end, Charles makes a choice about his life. He grows as a character over the course of the book, and by the end isn't the same code monkey he was at the beginning.

Yes, that's a lot of plot for the equivalent of four single comics. But that's part of the fun. It's this constant stream of crazy jokes, big plot, and fun character beats. Pak is a writer who has always had a strong sense of character, and even though a lot of these characters start out very broadly drawn, which makes sense as most have their origins in 2-4 minute long songs, he spends time with each to let you understand their motivations. Well, everyone except Zombie Bob and Creepy Doll. They're pretty much just evil.

Artist Takeshi Miyazawa (best known for his work on Runaways with Brian Vaughan and co-creating Amadeus Cho with Greg Pak) goes a long way helping establish character, as his style, with its manga influences, gives a lot of big, wild expressions that carry a lot of weight. His designs for all the characters, from Charles's put upon look at the beginning to his more confident one by the end, to Laura's armor and robots, to the especially disturbing punkey (read the book, trust me) are original and really eye catching.

At the back of the book, you'll find some making of material, and a series of short strips by various other creators inspired by other Couton songs. A couple of these include Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey of Action Philosophers fame do a more historically accurate take on former baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Pak teaming with Faith Erin Hicks for "Mister Fancy Pants." It's a nice little bonus gallery to compliment the main story.

If you've never heard a single Jonathan Coulton song but this sounds like something you'd want to check out, that's perfectly ok, as it's not like you need to know the songs to get what's going on, but it sure does add a level of depth as the characters from various songs wind up together, and you pick up all the other inside jokes. It's also nice that the jokes fly so fast and furious, and serve the plot so well, but it doesn't take time to stop and wink at the camera every time one happens. If it did, all you'd see was a lot of winking.

I picked this book for this week's recommendation because Coulton, Pak, and Miyazawa recently completed a Kickstarter for a second book, a picture book based on Coulton's song The Princess Who Saved Herself, about a princess who stops an evil queen with the power of friendship and rock n' roll. I contributed and just got my digital copy, and it's wonderful. The print copies are due in a couple months, but if you liked this review and are curious about Code Money Save World or Princess Who Saved Herself, you can now pre-order either book here. So seriously, go to Spotify or your favorite music streaming service, check out some Jonathan Coulton, and then check out the books. They're all gonna bring a smile to your face. Especially if you love monkeys. And who doesn't, really?

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 10/29

Archer & Armstrong #25
Story: Fred Van Lente & others
Art: Clayton Henry & others

Credit where credit is due, Valiant does up a heck of an anniversary issue. The (for now, anyway) final issue of Archer & Armstrong is chock full of different stories that sum up the relationship between our two leads perfectly. The lead story, "Back to the Beginning," reunites the series original creative team of Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry, to tell a story that ties up many of the series loose ends, including the identity of Archer's parents, Archer's relationship to The Sect, and the origin of the Archer cult from earlier in the series. More important is the scene where Archer asks Armstrong to show him more of the world, and Armstrong sets him straight about exactly what that will mean. It's a thesis on judgement and what it means to really live, from someone who has lived longer than pretty much anybody, and if we never hear another word from these character by Van Lente, it is a perfect send off. The second long form story in the issue, "Immortal Combat,"by John Layman and Ramon Villalobos, is much lighter. An immortal returns to fight Armstrong, and thanks to Armstrong's... pickled brain, he has little recollection of someone who has spent hundreds of years planning his demise. This story is just pure fun, which has been something that this book does and gets right every time. Also included is a short that leads into the upcoming one shot that features A&A enemies the 1%, and three time hopping stories that show Armstrong at different points in his immortal life. This is exactly what I feel an anniversary issue should be, one that celebrates all the aspects of a title, and gives long time readers a reward for picking it up. Van Lente and Henry will soon be starting a new Valiant series about Armstrong's time travelling brother, Ivar, Timewalker, so they'll be hanging around the Valiant Universe some more, but I'm glad they got the band back together to tell one more story from what has been my favorite Valiant series from the new line.

Marvel Comics 75th Anniversary Special
Story: Various
Art: Various

And here's another anniversary issue. I have to give Marvel credit, while I'm a DC guy, Marvel has done more with this 75th Anniversary one shot than DC has done with most of its big 75th anniversaries. A series of short stories, taking place throughout Marvel history, all the pieces have some feeling of history. The Spider-Man and Wolverine stories are fine and interesting, but it's the other three that really grabbed me. The opening story is a meditation on when the world changed, when the Fantastic Four got their powers and created the new heroic age. Narrated by Ben Urich, this story, written by James Robinson and drawn by Chris Samnee, is just so beautifully drawn, showing where many of the great heroes were when the FF took their space ride. Bruce Timm then adapts the Captain America prose story from Captain America Comics #3 that was the first Marvel work by The Man himself, Stan Lee. Any new work from Bruce Timm is worth celebrating, and this classic Stan Lee story is a fun throwback that's 40s setting works really well with Timm's style. Finally, Alias creative team Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos tell a story of Jessica Jones helping a little old lady find the fireman who saved her the day the original Human Torch debuted. It's a sweet little story, and feels like it's setting up a new Jessica Jones series, which makes sense with her Netflix TV series on the horizon. Along with all of this, we have a series of pin-ups with concepts by Bendis and art by various A-List artists, my favorites being a 90s X-Men one, featuring such luminaries as Marrow, Stacy X, and Adam X the X-Treme, with art by Joe Quinones, and a Groot Attorney-At-Law with art by Francesco Francavilla. The whole issue is a fun tribute to Marvel's past, with some great creators doing some top notch work. I know issues like this often seem a shameless cash grab, but this one is well worth your time.

Rasputin #1
Story: Alex Grecian
Art: Riley Rossmo

One of my favorite Image series of all time is Proof, the story of a Sasquatch who knew Thomas Jefferson and now works with a government organization investigating cryptids, things like Sasquatch and chupacabras. The creative team of Proof is back at Image this month, with the debut issue of Rasputin, a historical fiction based around Russia's mad monk, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. This opening issue is a solid done in one of sorts, starting as Rasputin sits down to dine at the dinner that, for anyone who knows his story. will end in his seeming murder, and flashes back to his youngest days. Rasputin is already being fleshed out as a full character, not the mad, licentious figure he is often portrayed as in fiction, but someone with a backstory. The issue specifically show the conditions Rasputin grew up in, with a father who had little trouble savagely beating his wife and son. By issue's end, we have seen that this is a world where the supernatural will play heavily, and one where violence is going to be as central, and not in a graphic way, but in the sense that life started with pain, and will probably not get any easier. As good as Alex Grecian's story is, and it is very good, Riley Rossmo's art adds something to it that makes is all the better. In pure text, a first person narrator is only as trustworthy as your impression of him or her, and if you know anything about Rasputin, he isn't someone you should trust. However, the graphic element of art in flashback adds a dimension. You see Rasputin use his power to heal (or resurrect?) his mother after a beating, and you see the expression on his face. You see him make the cold hard choice after his father is attacked by a bear. Rossmo is one of my favorite artists in comics, his work on series life Proof, Cowboy/Ninja/Viking, and Bedlam showing the breadth of his talent, drawing character moments with the same strength he draws monsters. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Image is producing the widest variety of interesting new comics on the racks right now, and a supernatural historical fiction is a great addition to that. If you like history, magic, and bears, you should check out Rasputin. Oh, and Riley Rossmo, in case you read this, I read you bit in the backmatter, and yes, there is still an audience waiting for more Proof. Give it to us and I'll preach it to the mountains.

Saga #24
Story: Brian K. Vaughan
Art: Fiona Staples

Ah, the pre-hiatus issue of Saga. The last issue of an arc on Saga usually steps away from the family who are our main protagonists and instead spends some time with one of the other characters, be it The Will, Prince Robot IV, or Gwendolyn. This time, the issue's driving force is The Brand, freelancer (bounty hunter) and the sister of bounty hunter The Will, who is looking for the person responsible for her brother being in a coma, and her partner, Pretty Boy, who's a big dog. The Brand crosses paths quickly with Gwendolyn and Sophie, as well as series favorite Lying Cat, who are seeking a cure for The Will. The first scene, where they retrieve the scroll with the cure's ingredients on it, has the best Lying Cat moment since the heartwarming scene between the cat and Sophie. Vaughan develops these characters further, giving us a bit more of The Brand, exploring Gwendolyn's roll, showing more than a force hunting Marko, but as the honorable warrior she is, and starting to see Sophie come more out of the shell she was forced into by her horrible past. Aside from the A-story, we also get a great flashback to The Will's time with his ex-lover, The Stalk, and see more of the complexity of their relationship, as we learn we will soon be visiting The Stalk's home planet. And that final page cliffhanger, the thing that Vaughan does better than anyone in comics, has me ready to tear my hair out in the best kind of frustration from the wait until early 2015 to see where it goes.

Southern Bastards #5
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Jason Latour

No one is the villain of their own story. And even the villain usually has his reasons and his backstory. Sometimes, I feel this is unnecessary, like with The Joker or Hannibal Lecter, but in most cases, that backstory makes for a much better character. Jason Aaron proved to be a master of the well rounded villain with Lincoln Red Crow, Agent Nitz, and so many others in Scalped, and this issue of Southern Bastards begins an arc focusing on the background of series villain, Coach Boss. The story flashes back and forth, from the present, where Coach Boss is heading to the funeral of Earl Tubbs, the protagonist of the first arc and the man Coach Boss killed at the end of the previous issue, and a young Boss working to make the football team. The Boss of now is a cold, calculating bastard, the kind of guy who goes to that funeral knowing full well everyone knows he killed the man, and who by issue's end shows that he wants the town to remember that. The young Boss, while not a tough guy physically, still shows the will that will make him Coach Boss one day, although here he comes to a bad end by not knowing when it's best to let a bully mouth off. We get to see Craw County from Boss's point of view, an insider's view, versus the outsider that Tubbs was. I'm a northerner, and can count the number of football games I've watched on one hand, but it's a credit to Aaron's writing that I can see where the mania for the game in these southern town comes from. This arc will continue to fill out Boss's history, and while I don't think he's ever going to be a character we like, it's going to be an interesting journey to see if he's a character that I can understand.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 9/17

All-New X-Factor #14
Story: Peter David
Art: Pop Mahn

All-New X-Factor, like it's predecessor X-Factor, is at its best when it's about the characters. Peter David writes great superheroic action, and crazy mystic plots, but what he really does best is dig down into these people and let us get insight into them. Stories like the legendary "X-Aminations" issues and the issues with John Maddox, the dupe of Jamie who became a man of God are some of his best. This issue isn't quite as heavy and internal as those; it's a simple tale of team members Danger and Polaris, along with Polaris's sister, the Avenger Scarlet Witch, going to a Renaissance Faire for a girl's day out. Lorna (Polaris) is doing her best to not be alone with Wanda (Scarlet Witch), who Lorna still is holding against Wanda that whole depowering well over 99% of the mutant population thing that most humans and mutants have forgotten. Danger, who is an artificial intelligence, is beginning to experiment more with feelings and her "humanity" for want of a better word, mostly by asking Lorna if she wants to have sex and Lorna completely freaking out in an amusing way (meanwhile, when she asks Wanda, Wanda just says no thanks, which makes sense since Wanda was married to The Vision, who was also an A.I., for some years, so robot sex isn't something unheard of for her). David does wind up cramming in some action, as one of the women who works at the Renn Faire is being stalked, and her crazy stalker does attempt to kill her, and the women of X-Factor and the Avengers step in. We get the Peter David beat where he makes us a little worried about Lorna's sanity and/or morals, but it all works out. That particular touch, the stalking, is apt for this issue, as Lorna finds out her ex, Alex Summers, aka Havok, has been spying on her, and I feel like things are about to go very bad for Alex, but we'll probably have to wait until the crossover issues with Marvel's next mega-event, Axis, before we see what happens there. But before this big action piece, I was pleased to get this one issue of peace, quiet, and a drunk Scarlet Witch.

The Delinquents #2
Story: James Asmus & Fred Van Lente
Art: Kano

There are times where too much funny can make the end product seem overstuffed and not as funny as the component parts. That is NOT the case for The Delinquents, this fall's best comic book crossover, between Valiant's two mismatched duos, immortal drunkard Armstrong & naive assassin Archer and uptight hero Quantum & his con artist brother Woody. The first issue set up where the series would go, with the two duos on a collision course to find the treasure of the Hobos (a concept which I laughed at while typing), Armstrong to honor an old debt and Q&W because they were hired by the Monodsanto Corporation, known for their genetically modified foods, which is possibly the least subtle political joke ever, making it all the funnier. This issue plays with the classic superhero trope of the two heroes (or two twosomes in this case) coming together and fighting because of a misunderstanding, at a house that is a combination of Falling Waters and the House on the Rock. The initial combat is funny, with the unkillable Archer throwing down with the force field wielding Quantum, while Woody does his best to fight Archer, who can channel any physical skill, and winds up talking his way out of the problem, even directly addressing the trope in a very meta way. Woody then gets Archer drunk on absinthe before Quantum and a disappointed Armstrong (he wanted to get Archer drunk the first time) arrive from a fall out of the house. They find out more about the Hobo Code and the Hobo Treasure. We get reference to Big Rock Candy Mountain and the funniest Old MacDonald joke I've ever read. which I admit are more than you'd think. And then the issue ends with them being menaced by tigers. James Asmus and Fred Van Lente, writer of Quantum & Woody and Archer & Armstrong respectively, know their characters, and blend them seamlessly into one big crazy tapestry of anarchy. Kano's art is perfect, realistic but with this touch of kookiness that suits the subject matter. I especially like a panel where Armstrong sticks his head out of a moving boxcar, forgetting trains move a lot faster than they did when he was a hobo in the Depression, and his face goes all flat; it's got a Looney Tunes vibe while still fitting into the non-cartoon world. Oh, and it looks like Mondosanto has cow/human hybrid monsters. As The Simpsons pointed out, "If a cow ever had the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!" So it looks like our heroes are in for some big trouble next issue.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 6/11

Archer & Armstrong #21
Story: Fred Van Lente
Art: Pere Perez

Every time I think Archer & Armstrong can't get any more clever and weird, Fred Van Lente finds a new way to make it even weirder, and that's what makes the book an absolute joy. After last issue's story, where it tuns our Jim Morrison is still alive, has a cult, and is keeping Archer's mother prisoner, I thought we had reached the apotheosis of bizarre. But this issue spends some time with our heroes, drunken immortal Armstrong and young naive-assassin-turned-naiver-cult-leader Archer in a room with every dead celebrity ever. We get a a better idea of what the Wheel of Aten does, as well as a flashback of sorts to Archer's foster-sister Mary Maria traveling in time to find the Wheel and see exactly what it has wrought. There's a wonderful scene where Armstrong nearly collapses in gales of laughter after figuring out exactly what is happening and how he is inadvertently responsible for it. Armstrong has been alive since the dawn of civilization, a devout atheist, and the revelation about faith and celebrity is clever on the writer's part, and a perfect fit to the world. There are also fights with the Lees (Bruce and Brandon), and meeting with a certain first lady in a pink suit, and the potential for a meeting with the King. It's the final page, though, that left me with my jaw on the floor, as Archer meets his biological mother. If you do the math, you also can figure out who his father would be too, and... well, I definitely didn't see that coming. I expect a completely new dynamic starting next issue, and boy howdy is it going to be awkward in the best possible way.

Lumberjanes #3
Story: Noelle Stevenson & Grace Ellis
Art: Brooke Allen

Lumberjanes is quickly becoming the best all ages comic on the rack. It has everything that a comic should have: engaging characters, fun plots, action, friendship, and the occasional monster or animated statue. This issue finds out heroes, the Lumberjanes, a groupe of girls away for the summer at Lumberjane camp, having fallen down a hole and having to wander their way out of a series of crazy traps and pitfalls. If you have ever played Dungeons and Dragons or any other similar roleplaying game, you've probably been through a dungeon crawl like this, but instead of attempting to outdo everyone else there (and let's be fair, that's pretty much what happens in these situations 99% of the time) the Lumberjanes work together. And what the creators do is use each trap to show a strength of one of the characters. Between Mal throwing Ripley in a Fastball Special at a moving statue with a magic gem on its chest, April arm wrestling another walking statue, Jo using her smarts and the Fibonacci sequence to beat an Indiana Jones-esque step trap, or Molly using wordplay to beat the final trap, each character gets a spotlight. But it's the camaraderie that gives this wonderful book its charm. It also fills my heart with joy to read a comic that isn't part of some all encompassing universe or based on a movie or tv show; I know Image does a ton of that, but you're not getting all ages work out of Image. An all ages comic that can encourage kids to create their own characters and stories is something that just makes me happy. Oh, and there's the Holy Kitten. Anything with the Holy Kitten gets a thumbs up for me. I'm reading this book in singles, and I can't wait to get my soon-to-be ten year old niece the first trade (her six year old sister has a bad habit of wrecking anything and everything, so floppies are asking for a torn up comic and tears. Otherwise I'd be buying multiple copies and mailing them away. it's THAT good, people). It's recently been announced that Lumberjanes has transformer form and eight issue mini into an ongoing series, and that fills me with glee.

Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland #7
Story: Joe Hill
Art: Charles Paul Wilson III

The final issue of Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland is a very different comic; it might not even qualify as a comic in the classic sense. It's actually a short story, with multiple illustrations each page. Hill is an accomplished short story writer, with a collection of great stories called 20th Century Ghosts, and this issue is an excellent short story with all the hallmarks of the best kind: in twenty pages you meet a character, get to know him and his world, and everything is wrapped up perfectly. The issue calls back to the first issue of the series, the issue that told the origin of the series main character and villain, Charles Talent Manx, but you don't find out the exact connection until about half way through the story. What you get is a story told in the the second person, which is uncommon, about a young man who grows up with his grifter uncle, becoming a con man himself, meeting a girl, and the two of them starting a life. But his life as a grifter leads to tragedies of different kinds. The story starts at the turn of the 20th century, and we see our protagonist working all sorts of classic cons. It seems that Manx, and the con that connects the two, might be a footnote until the life of our grifter begins to unravel, and in the end, he is another victim of Manx and his Wraith. It's a sad story, and you see and can sympathize with someone raised hard on the road, and what he might do to make a life for himself and his family. And despite being the lesser evil in the story, there is a visceral, EC Comics-esque reaction to seeing him get his comeuppance in the end. It's an excellent issue, and the perfect coda to Joe Hill's most recent comic book series.

Weekly Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 2/5

Archer & Armstrong: Archer #0
Story: Fred Van Lenter
Art: Pere Perez

After doing a whole recommended readings on Archer & Armstrong on Friday, I had to review this book today. This issue fills in the background of one of the title's leads, Obadiah Archer. It's a pretty harrowing story, with not a lot of humor, but every now and then, even a comedy needs that bit of gravity to stand counterpoint to the comedy. We see Archer's abduction, brainwashing by Project: Rising Spirit, time with the Archers, his evil foster parents, and him coming into his power. This ties this book a little more firmly into the Valiant universe; Project: Rising Spirit, a major mover in other aspects of the universe, has been dancing around the edges of the title, and now we see exactly how they tie into Archer's background. I'm curious to see if at some point soon the creators address the fact that Archer was stolen from his real parents, and if we see him go on a hunt for his roots. Archer has always been a sympathetic character, someone who clearly has this kind of tragedy in his back story, but really seeing it doesn't lessen that, as it sometimes does, but heightens it, especially at the end when he finally is pushed over the edge and savagely beats one of his fellow children of the Archers. The rewarding of this act shows exactly how poisoned his past is, and it makes the reader really feel bad for the kid. The end of the issue does indeed set up the crossover with Bloodshot and the H.A.R.D. Corps, so it's not just a book about the past, and it's curious to see how Archer is indeed the villain from, to quote one of my favorite movies of all time, a certain point of view. It has made me even more excited for that crossover, so bring it on.

Bad Blood #2
Story: Jonathan Maberry
Art: Tyler Crook

While Image has been getting a lot of credit for the launching of new series (and rightly so. Many of them are incredible), Dark Horse hasn't been noticed for a lot of its new works, which is a shame, because there's a lot of great work, especially in the horror genre. One of these books in Bad Blood, a vampire comic. And it's a great vampire comic. I'm not a big fan of vampires; give me a werewolf comic any day. But this book does some really interesting things with vampires. The book isn't about vampires, really, but about the life of one guy whose life has been affected by them. Trick is dying of cancer, and after a vampire attacks and bites him and is poisoned by the chemo drugs in his bloodstream, the vampire begins to exact revenge by killing his friends. This issue sees Trick going out to try to find the vampire and stop it from harming anyone else. This issue we get to know Lolly, a goth girl and stripper who wants to meet a vampire and be given its "dark gift." Lolly has a hard past, one that she doesn't really let Trick or the reader into until the end, and she is far more than that past. We spend the issue with these two characters, one who is sure that vampires are evil, the other who doesn't want to believe it. They're both very well rounded characters, especially after only a couple issues of exposure. Lolly takes Trick down into the depth of vampire culture, something that Trick finds frustrating, because he knows exactly what these creatures really are. For a book about vampires, it's a very realistic book, about people who are trying to escape: Lolly her past, and Trick his oncoming death. The supernatural does rear its head in the issue, but it's really a book about two people trying to connect and not really succeeding, like young people so often do. The thing that convinced me to pick up this book is the art by B.P.R.D. alum Tyler Crook, whose work is even better here, softer and dreamlike. I think next issue we'll see more vampires, and I have faith that we won't lose that strong character work as the book moves deeper into that realm.

Batman: Black and White #6
Art & Story: Various

The new volume of Batman: Black and White wraps up with this issue, and as with all the other issues, it's a gorgeous thing, full of great short stories by a murderer's row of creators. Under a great cover by Doug Mahnke, we get the following stories:

"Clay" by Cliff Chiang- This is a Dick Grayson as Robin story more than a Batman story. It's set in Dick's early days with Bruce, when the GCPD isn't taking Robin seriously and Dick isn't fitting in at school. It's narrated by Dick, and Chinag does a great job of making you understand Dick's feelings. The villain of the piece is Clayface, and Chiang does a great job of drawing the villain, which is not unexpected, since Chiang does a great job on everything he does.

"Bruce" by Olly Moss and Becky Cloonan- Becky Cloonan is an incredible artist. I've loved her work from the time she did Demo with Brian Wood, and was hugely impressed with the Batman issue she did with Scott Snyder. She draws great action, but even better people interacting, with wonderful faces, and so this story by Olly Moss seems tailor made for her. It's the story of a woman making her way out of Wayne Manor after a night with Bruce Wayne and meeting her friends. It's rare we see the point of view of people about Bruce Wayne without him being there, and I like the particular point of view given.

"The Batman: Hiding in Plain Sight" by Dave Taylor- The most traditional story in this issue, it's a story about Batman investigating the statue of a giant robot that has appeared on land that might have been crookedly purchased outside Gotham. Dave Taylor has a lot of history with Batman, between a run on Shadow of the Bat and the Batman: Death by Design graphic novel with Chip Kidd. His art works really well on this story, and it mixes aspects of Batman, with him both being the detective and being the hero who fights a mad scientist's bat-themed robots.

"She Lies at Midnite" by Adam Hughes- If Adam Hughes was going to write and draw a Batman story, it only makes sense it would feature Catwoman, a character Hughes has a history with. I've never read anything Hughes has written before, but I feel like he has the voices of Batman, Catwoman, and Slam Bradley down pretty well. The story seems to take place in a continuity adjacent to Ed Brubaker's run on Catwoman, a favorite run of mine, so a little revisiting of the Batman/Catwoman/Bradley love triangle is fun to see. Hughes gets in a great line in Batman's narration, about his view of Catwoman as, "someone I could love, if one of us was able to change just a little bit," that I really loved and really speaks to the relationship between the two.

"To Beat the Bat" by Dave Johnson- Dave Johnson's story is a noir, told from the point of view of a three time loser waiting for Batman to come and hunt him down. The gritty nature of the story works perfectly with Johnson's style, best known for his covers on 100 Bullets. You see this guy go down a path to hell because of a femme fatale, like many great noir protagonists. I don't want to talk about the ending, since like many good short stories the end has a twist to it, but I think the end of the story shows the darker side of the fear Batman inspires; fear doesn't always scare a guy straight. I would be curious to see exactly how Batman would react to the events of the story after the last page, and that's also something a good short story does: it leaves you wanting more.

Bloodhound: Crowbar Medicine #4
Story: Dan Jolley
Art: Leonard Kirk

After the tragedy at the end of the last issue, Travis "Clev" Clevenger is even more driven to hunt down Dr. Morgenstern, the man who is giving out the chip that gives people super powers. Each issue of the new Bloodhound series has been building and building, and the explosions are just starting to happen. One of the great things about this book is that Clev looks like a big bruiser, even moreso now that he's shaved his head, but he's quick witted and smart. He deduces Morgenstern's location, and goes out on the hunt. The truth behind Morgenstern's history now bears a frightening parallel to Clev's own after last issue (something I really don't want to give away if you haven't read the series), but I don't think that is going to stop Clev from dealing out some justice. There's some great action as Clev and his partner, Saffrom Bell, find some of Morgenstern's custom superhumans guarding his compound, and not only does Leonard Kirk do a great job of illustrating it, but there are moments I assume writer Dan Jolley scripted in that show just the kind of guy Clev is; he fights dirty if he has to, and I like him all the more for it. With a little help from the mysterious superhuman Terminus, Clev and Saffron are on their way to confront Morgenstern. Seriously, folks, I can't recommend this book enough. If you like Gotham Central, Powers, Chase, Alias, or any super-hero/procedural, you're doing yourself a disservice not reading Bloodhound. You have time to catch up before next issue's finale, so what are you waiting for?

Juice Squeezers #2
Story & Art: David Lapham

David Lapham is best known for his noir masterpiece, Stray Bullets (something I'll be writing about in the not too distant future), so the fact that he's doing an all ages book about kids fighting the giant bug infestation beneath their town seems a bit out of character. But that book, Juice Squeezers, is turning out to be great fun. In the initial story in Dark Horse Presents, we met the Juice Squeezers, the kids who defend Weeville from the giant bugs, and got to see the giant bugs, although we also got hints that there's more to the bugs than the Squeezers believe. Issue one of this series introduced Billy Farnsburger, the new kid in town who has moved onto seriously bug populated land with his dad. This issue, Billy traps a giant bug, and makes it his pet. He spends much of the issue with Lizzy Beedle, the only female Squeezer, who is disobeying orders from her teacher/leader of the Squeezers, Mr. Kettleborne, by befriending him. Billy is the reader proxy, the outsider who is going to be learning about the secrets of Weeville with them. It's a fun comic, with lots of action and great character work. The Squeezers interact like kids would, not like little adults and not like adults imagine kids would; their dialogue is realistic without lots of slang that would date the book. I have to reiterate what I said when I was talking about Bad Blood, and say that I'm impressed with the breadth of books Dark Horse is publishing right now, and between that title, this one, and Bloodhound, we've got three comics with very distinct voices and string characters.

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.