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A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong #1-3
A&A: The Adventures of Archer and Armstrong Deluxe Edition
Join Harvey Award nominated writer Rafer Roberts (HARBINGER RENEGADE) and superstar artists David Lafuente (Ultimate Spider-Man) and Mike Norton (Revival) as they take Valiant's (somewhat) dynamic duo on an all-out assault on the senses right here in the complete deluxe edition hardcover of the series The A.V. Club calls "some of the most bold, original work in all of superhero comics right now..."
Meet Armstrong: Since the ancient city of Ur, this immortal adventurer has spent the last 7,000 years drinking and carousing his way through history alongside some of the greatest merrymakers the world has ever known.
Meet Archer: A sheltered teenage martial arts master and expert marksman that was raised for a single purpose - to kill the devil incarnate. Little did he know that this undying evil was actually Armstrong (he's actually a pretty good guy...once you get to know him) and, since hitting the road together, the two have become great friends and even better partners.
Now: Archer is about to set off on his most dangerous mission yet - a quest into the mystic reaches of Armstrong's bottomless satchel to liberate his friend and comrade from the clutches of the mad god Bacchus!
Collecting A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong #1-12, IMMORTAL BROTHERS: TALE OF THE GREEN KNIGHT #1, and ARMSTRONG AND THE VAULT OF SPIRITS #1, along with more than 20 pages of rarely seen art and extras!
Meet Armstrong: Since the ancient city of Ur, this immortal adventurer has spent the last 7,000 years drinking and carousing his way through history alongside some of the greatest merrymakers the world has ever known.
Meet Archer: A sheltered teenage martial arts master and expert marksman that was raised for a single purpose - to kill the devil incarnate. Little did he know that this undying evil was actually Armstrong (he's actually a pretty good guy...once you get to know him) and, since hitting the road together, the two have become great friends and even better partners.
Now: Archer is about to set off on his most dangerous mission yet - a quest into the mystic reaches of Armstrong's bottomless satchel to liberate his friend and comrade from the clutches of the mad god Bacchus!
Collecting A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong #1-12, IMMORTAL BROTHERS: TALE OF THE GREEN KNIGHT #1, and ARMSTRONG AND THE VAULT OF SPIRITS #1, along with more than 20 pages of rarely seen art and extras!
368 pages, Hardcover
First published July 24, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 27, 2019
Yes! Our favorite conspiracy-fighting duo are back in action!
While this run doesn't reach the clever heights that it did under Fred Van Lente, writer Rafer Roberts still keeps it as fun and wacky as Archer and Armstrong adventures should be! First, Archer must journey into Armstrong's bottomless magic satchel to rescue his buddy and battle Bacchus, the mad god of wine and partying, and then the two hit the road to track down Andromeda, the wife that Armstrong forgot he had. On the way, they stumble onto more secret societies and the team must deal with everything from crazy circuses, clones, talking Communist bears, witches, and the scariest of all: Florida Man.
Rafer Roberts does a great job of maintaining the style and the humor, but pushes everything forward in regards to each character and Archer and Armstrong's relationship. You can tell that the creators are trying to see how they can top the craziness from Van Lente's run, but it doesn't come off as tacky or fake. And if you miss Van Lente’s work on the characters, he returns as a guest scribe to write two standalone issues at the end of this book: one of them starring all three Anni-Padda brothers in a medieval adventure, and the other is a touching adventure where Armstrong invites all his buddies from the Valiant universe to the most epic wine-tasting know to man. It’s the best issue in the book and works as a fantastic farewell to Van Lente’s run with the characters!
This includes the special Van Lente issues as well as Rafer Roberts' full complete series from all the trade paperbacks:
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong, Volume 1: In the Bag ★★★
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong, Volume 2: Romance & Road Trips ★★★★
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong, Volume 3: Andromeda Estranged ★★★★
While this run doesn't reach the clever heights that it did under Fred Van Lente, writer Rafer Roberts still keeps it as fun and wacky as Archer and Armstrong adventures should be! First, Archer must journey into Armstrong's bottomless magic satchel to rescue his buddy and battle Bacchus, the mad god of wine and partying, and then the two hit the road to track down Andromeda, the wife that Armstrong forgot he had. On the way, they stumble onto more secret societies and the team must deal with everything from crazy circuses, clones, talking Communist bears, witches, and the scariest of all: Florida Man.
Rafer Roberts does a great job of maintaining the style and the humor, but pushes everything forward in regards to each character and Archer and Armstrong's relationship. You can tell that the creators are trying to see how they can top the craziness from Van Lente's run, but it doesn't come off as tacky or fake. And if you miss Van Lente’s work on the characters, he returns as a guest scribe to write two standalone issues at the end of this book: one of them starring all three Anni-Padda brothers in a medieval adventure, and the other is a touching adventure where Armstrong invites all his buddies from the Valiant universe to the most epic wine-tasting know to man. It’s the best issue in the book and works as a fantastic farewell to Van Lente’s run with the characters!
This includes the special Van Lente issues as well as Rafer Roberts' full complete series from all the trade paperbacks:
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong, Volume 1: In the Bag ★★★
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong, Volume 2: Romance & Road Trips ★★★★
A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong, Volume 3: Andromeda Estranged ★★★★
July 17, 2021
Quando a Valiant reviveu os seus personagens clássicos, uma das séries depressa se destacou: Archer and Armstrong, as aventuras de uma dupla improvável composta por um dissoluto imortal que traça a sua origem à Suméria, e o seu fiel companheiro, um jovem especialista em artes marciais que foi treinado desde criança para caçar e eliminar este imortal, mas que acaba por se tornar o seu ajudante. Juntos, combatiam as ameaças da Seita, um grupo que unia diferentes sociedades secretas com dois objetivos: exterminar Armstrong, o imortal, algo em que se mantinham muito ineficazes ao longo dos milénios, e dominar o mundo, onde as suas teias de influência estavam a ser mais bem sucedidas do que na caça ao seu alvo milenar. Por seita, entenda-se uma união nada sagrada de grupos que incluía freiras católicas guerreiras (semi-deuses imortais não agradam ao catolicismo) a cientistas ex-soviéticos ou os meus favoritos, os um percentistas - yuppies endinheirados que destabilizam o mundo para fazer lucro a qualquer custo, que se ocultam as suas identidades sob capacetes de touros dourados. Já o imortal, o que prefere mesmo fazer é manter-se em vários estados de ebriedade. O argumentista Fred van Lente fez, à altura, um trabalho delirante misturando comédia com buddy movie, em aventuras surreais e divertidas. A primeira encarnação destes personagens, criada em 1989 por nada menos que Barry Windsor-Smith, também merece ser lida, mas diga-se que no reboot, Van Lente soube dar-lhes novas e divertidas dimensões.
Este volume representa a continuação do estilo, mas sob a direção de outro argumentista que, apesar de saber manter os elementos que tornaram Archer e Armstrong um sucesso, não tem a capacidade de os levar ao absurdismo que merecem. Apesar de tudo, não deixa de ser uma leitura divertida, porque convenhamos, histórias frenéticas com freiras guerreiras renegadas, surtos de orgias báquicas, deusas gregas divorciadas, cientistas soviéticos que criam um circo de deformidades enquanto pesquisam os segredos da imortalidade, e muitas referências profundamente alcoólicas, são sempre uma leitura divertida, apesar de não tão interessante quanto a temporada original.
Este volume representa a continuação do estilo, mas sob a direção de outro argumentista que, apesar de saber manter os elementos que tornaram Archer e Armstrong um sucesso, não tem a capacidade de os levar ao absurdismo que merecem. Apesar de tudo, não deixa de ser uma leitura divertida, porque convenhamos, histórias frenéticas com freiras guerreiras renegadas, surtos de orgias báquicas, deusas gregas divorciadas, cientistas soviéticos que criam um circo de deformidades enquanto pesquisam os segredos da imortalidade, e muitas referências profundamente alcoólicas, são sempre uma leitura divertida, apesar de não tão interessante quanto a temporada original.
September 30, 2018
Rafer Roberts' take on Archer & Armstrong isn't nearly as strong as Fred Van Lente's. The only things that keep this story out of mediocrity are a brilliant Faith issue, a strong-ish ending, and some good supplementary material by Van Lente.
In the Bag (#1-4). New author Rafer Roberts offers a somewhat different take on Archer & Armstrong, focusing more on Armstrong and his history than on a raft of silly corporate conspiracists. The historical take is great, with a look at Armstrong and some of his old buddies being the best part of the volume. It's also interesting to have the present-day story focus on the bag. However, a long series of battles with various ugly monsters and lots of vomiting drag the present-day story down. Funny? Maybe a little, but mostly silly. And Archer mainly gets lost in the shuffle. Still, I'll be interested in seeing if Roberts can build on the strengths that do exist in this volume [3+/5].
Faith (#5). Archer goes on a date with Faith. This is one of the best Archer & Armstrong stories to date, and gives me great hope for new author Roberts. That's in part because we get a focus on Archer, who was too much in the background of "In the Bag". It's in part because it's poisonously cute. But it's mainly because Roberts offers the humor here that had just been silly in the pervious volume. Kiss•ing, indeed! [5+/5]
Next Stop: Clowntown (#6-8). And back to a more normative adventure with tons of silliness. These stories have a hilarious backup story about the evil guy released from the bag, but the main story is just OK (and also manages to annoyingly lose Archer's descriptive actions). This does have Soviet Bear, is funny, but otherwise it's forgettable [3+/5].
Andromeda Estranged (9-12). The finale of A&A is Roberts' strongest. That's in part because we've got a culmination of the plot to date, with the pseudo-cloning of Armstrong drawing to a conclusion as does the tale of our bag-escapee. Meanwhile, we've got an intriguing new plot about space beings, or some such, that I'd like to learn more about (but apparently in some future comic). There may not be as much strong humor in this volume, but there's some, and there's less silliness too [4/5].
Tale of the Green Knight (Van Lente Special). It's great to have a story of all three brothers, it's great that it's historical, it's great that it mixes with Arthurian myth, it's great that there's a surprising twist, and it's great that this is all framed as a story that Archer tells Faith. So basically: fun! [4+/5].
The Vault of Springs (Van Lente Special). A cute story in large part because it teams Armstrong up with several other VH-E characters. But it's also got some great interactions with Ivar and the hilarious intro of the Canaanites. [4/5]
In the Bag (#1-4). New author Rafer Roberts offers a somewhat different take on Archer & Armstrong, focusing more on Armstrong and his history than on a raft of silly corporate conspiracists. The historical take is great, with a look at Armstrong and some of his old buddies being the best part of the volume. It's also interesting to have the present-day story focus on the bag. However, a long series of battles with various ugly monsters and lots of vomiting drag the present-day story down. Funny? Maybe a little, but mostly silly. And Archer mainly gets lost in the shuffle. Still, I'll be interested in seeing if Roberts can build on the strengths that do exist in this volume [3+/5].
Faith (#5). Archer goes on a date with Faith. This is one of the best Archer & Armstrong stories to date, and gives me great hope for new author Roberts. That's in part because we get a focus on Archer, who was too much in the background of "In the Bag". It's in part because it's poisonously cute. But it's mainly because Roberts offers the humor here that had just been silly in the pervious volume. Kiss•ing, indeed! [5+/5]
Next Stop: Clowntown (#6-8). And back to a more normative adventure with tons of silliness. These stories have a hilarious backup story about the evil guy released from the bag, but the main story is just OK (and also manages to annoyingly lose Archer's descriptive actions). This does have Soviet Bear, is funny, but otherwise it's forgettable [3+/5].
Andromeda Estranged (9-12). The finale of A&A is Roberts' strongest. That's in part because we've got a culmination of the plot to date, with the pseudo-cloning of Armstrong drawing to a conclusion as does the tale of our bag-escapee. Meanwhile, we've got an intriguing new plot about space beings, or some such, that I'd like to learn more about (but apparently in some future comic). There may not be as much strong humor in this volume, but there's some, and there's less silliness too [4/5].
Tale of the Green Knight (Van Lente Special). It's great to have a story of all three brothers, it's great that it's historical, it's great that it mixes with Arthurian myth, it's great that there's a surprising twist, and it's great that this is all framed as a story that Archer tells Faith. So basically: fun! [4+/5].
The Vault of Springs (Van Lente Special). A cute story in large part because it teams Armstrong up with several other VH-E characters. But it's also got some great interactions with Ivar and the hilarious intro of the Canaanites. [4/5]
March 20, 2020
Je n'avais déjà pas aimé le premier tome des aventures d'Archer et Armstrong, et celui-ci me laisse un goût encore pire. C'est logique, j'étais déjà fatigué du semblant d'humour des deux héros qui ne fonctionne pas du tout sur moi. Je trouve le ton décalé raté, mais cela n'engage que moi.
Et les aventures tournée sur l'humour d'alcoolique ou de pétomanes, ça tourne vite en rond. Même si les auteurs rajoutent des phrases en disant "on abrège, on sait que c'est nul", ça ne rend pas l'histoire moins nulle.
Pour couronner le tout, cette histoire ne fait absolument rien avancer sur l'univers Valiant... Ce qui m'a vraiment donné l'impression d'avoir perdu mon temps. Heureusement qu'on est en plein confinement et que j'en ai, du temps.
Mais c'est loin d'être le meilleur duo de l'univers Valiant, à mon sens.
Et les aventures tournée sur l'humour d'alcoolique ou de pétomanes, ça tourne vite en rond. Même si les auteurs rajoutent des phrases en disant "on abrège, on sait que c'est nul", ça ne rend pas l'histoire moins nulle.
Pour couronner le tout, cette histoire ne fait absolument rien avancer sur l'univers Valiant... Ce qui m'a vraiment donné l'impression d'avoir perdu mon temps. Heureusement qu'on est en plein confinement et que j'en ai, du temps.
Mais c'est loin d'être le meilleur duo de l'univers Valiant, à mon sens.
July 6, 2021
If you are an Archer & Armstrong fan already, then this volume will be a welcome return to the familiar. But if you are not, this book is unlikely to win over many converts with its over-the-top nonsense. It is marketed as “total insanity,” but really, it is just unfocused; too madcap to be enjoyed straight and too gratuitous and unfunny to work as satire.
January 13, 2025
Wow, just WOW!
Great stories because it's more than one Arc involved in this Deluxe edition. But it is a great read full of action and so so much comedy. I highly recommend these stories, to anyone who needs to have a good sit down fun read.
Great stories because it's more than one Arc involved in this Deluxe edition. But it is a great read full of action and so so much comedy. I highly recommend these stories, to anyone who needs to have a good sit down fun read.
April 23, 2019
Probably closer to 2.5 stars but the best parts of this book for me were the Faith date issue (already collected in the Faith HC) and the two one-shots that close it out.
November 29, 2023
A&A doesn't take itself seriously, which is a plus. Absurdity without irreverence would have been better, though.
August 26, 2018
Une histoire qui manque d'enjeux, et pose sa force surtout sur le comique de situation et l'extravagance des protagonistes.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews