Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

Valiant Teases Continue With A&A: The Adventures Of Archer & Armstrong For 2016

Published Wed, 30 Dec 2015 08:45:02 -0600

Last updated Wed, 30 Dec 2015 10:09:58 -0600

Following on from first looks at 4001 AD and Divinity II, Valiant have just released the latest in this week's series of 2016 teases… Next up, it's A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong -– the new ongoing series for Valiant's inebriated immortal and kind-hearted underage assassin by writer Rafer Roberts and artist David Lafuente (with teaser artwork by Kano).

Announced during New York Comic-Con, the series is notable for several reasons, including that it features the mainstream superhero debut of Rafer Roberts. The writer/illustrator of the underground comic Plastic Farm, Roberts is perhaps best known as the artist of the Thanos/Darkseid parody "Carpool Buddies of Doom" mini-comic with Justin Jordan and looks to be becoming a major part of the Valiant talent stable in 2016.

Also of note, artist David Lafuente — formerly a Marvel-exclusive mainstay on titles like Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man and All-New Doop and recent of DC's Batgirl –– has signed on as Valiant's latest exclusive hire for the launch of the A&A series, making him the latest in a string of high profile signings for the publisher.

After a critically lauded, seven-volume run of the previous Archer & Armstrong series by Fred Van Lente, A&A remains a marquee property for Valiant so expect this title to be front and center when it debuts in March 2016. Roberts & Lafuente's initial story arc, entitled "In the Bag," will feature Archer dropping into Armstrong's bottomless shoulder satchel to rescue his partner from a god he imprisoned inside long ago…and then promptly forgot about:

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 who 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, these 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! (Okay, so, Armstrong went into the satchel himself to get a bottle of whiskey that he kinda misplaced and got stuck. It's like the Amazon warehouse of arcane treasures in there…and he doesn't exactly have a maid service.)

Imprisoned in Armstrong's satchel for centuries, Bacchus now commands a legion of monsters, goblins and golems bent on escaping back into the world of man and enacting revenge on their captor… Can Archer single-handedly combat the godly embodiment of intoxication himself – and rescue his best buddy – without becoming lost amongst Armstrong's endless repository of bizarre artifacts and historical oddities in the process?

A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong #1 will arrive in March 2016.