Writer - Fred Van Lente
Artist - Pere Perez
Publisher - Valiant
Review by Jeremias de Leon
Story
To summarize without any spoilers Archer and Armstrong are searching for Archer's parents and have a lead that sends them to Los Angeles. After that they find things aren't all what they seem to be and get pulled into a larger plot that involves Archer's birth parents. It also seems to involve a lot of celebrities and pokes at pop culture.
The story seems to be a really interesting one. Involving not only pop culture but a dive into the human psyche. This first issue setting things up with references to all sorts of famous people who had mental health issues, be it depression or whatever multiple issues that can afflict a person.
The dialog still has that Van Lente charm and wit to it. Almost like it's back to normal, Armstrong is the funny oaf and Armstrong is the straight laced foil to Armstrong's antics. But being out into the kind of storyline they are dropped in gives them a fresh way to look at them.
Art
There's no complaints about the art. The characters look decent, they have a crisp line-art that lends itself to the action scenes. The environments and the segments that seem surreal are what stands out in this comic the most. It's really unique and it gives this comic something more to stand on, on top of it's good writing.
Verdict
This issue of Archer and Armstrong is not only a fun read but a smart one. It builds up the arc well and sets up all the themes it's going to explore in a pretty unique way. Whether or not the rest of the arc will have a pay off for everything it sets up will be seen. But for the first issue in a new arc it does things beautifully. The dialog is human, and the action and "crazy" scenes are great. It feels like Archer and Armstrong is hitting it's stride again and deserves another 10 out of 10.
