Here’s to the end of another stupid adventure.
Creative Staff:
Story: Rafer Roberts
Pencils: David Lafuente
Ink: Ryan Winn
Colors: Brian Reber
Letters: Dave Lanphear
What They Say:
We’re gonna need a bigger bag!
Archer and Armstrong – with the help of Mary-Maria and the Sisters of Perpetual Darkness – must stop Bacchus’ cavalcade of terror! Will our heroes be able to defeat this 40-foot foe before the party stops forever? Will Armstrong ever find that bottle of Lagavulin? Will we ever find out who or what Davey the Mackerel is?! The answers to two of these questions might possibly be found in this issue!
Be here as red-hot creators Rafer Roberts (Shutter) and David Lafuente (Ultimate Spider-Man) bring “IN THE BAG” to a close with a bang! Or a snap. However Armstrong’s satchel closes.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Metafiction is difficult to pull off. If you’re too self-aware, you come off as trying to convince everyone of how clever you’re being. There’s lots of winking and mugging and “aw shucks, folks” for the audience, often to the expense of story. Do it too little, though, and the self-referential moments come off as odd, and they stick out like a sore thumb, taking the reader right out of the narrative.
Thankfully, Rafer Roberts manages to walk that tight middle way between too much and too little quite well. Issue four wraps up the first story arc and we see the titular boys and Mary-Maria wipe the floor with Bacchus and his army of dudebros and dudegirls. We also see Armstrong make amends with part of his past, and the comic moves from exciting action to genuinely funny moments to heartfelt character development with startling alacrity.
The issue begins with Armstrong concussed after Bacchus through a dumpster on him. He mistakes Archer and Mary-Maria for his old friends Frank and Muriel, and gets all blubbery and apologetic. He pulls himself out of it and the three of them commence punching people. This leads in to the first self-referential moment when Archer quips, “…That really needs to stop being our solution for every problem we face.”
I won’t spoil anything, but the ways the sisters come up with to disable the dudebros and dudegirls are pretty dang funny, and Armstrong gets to knock a bunch of hippies off a roof, including “three-fourths of a terrible Phish cover band…calling themselves Phursh.” Obviously, they deserved to be thrown off a roof for that name alone.
Unfortunately, all the punching and cleverness can’t make a dent in Bacchus, who has now grown to Godzilla-like proportions thanks to the power of alcohol and the energy from his Bacchanal. Armstrong finally comes up with a plan to take out the would-be God, and it only requires a little punching. As Mary-Maria says: “I can’t tell if that’s actually a good plan or really stupid.” Archer replies: “It’s a little of both.”
At the end, Mary-Maria proves herself to be more complicated than just a bad girl, Armstrong remembers something important from his past, and the three reach a new understanding. Or, as Armstrong puts it, “Here’s to the end of another stupid adventure.”
Again, the little meta moments work very well in this story. This creative team really dives into the silliness and play around with it like children in the world’s biggest sandbox. It’s funny and exciting and actually rather heartfelt, which is difficult to pull off without creating a jarring tone or incomprehensible plot.
That sense of playfulness extends to the art and the general page layout. I don’t think I’ve seen this many panels used since the last Keith Giffen book I read. This excess of panels could potentially create an odd rhythm or even be difficult to follow, but Lafuente sets them out masterfully. Really, it’s pretty amazing how much visual and story content this creative team has managed to cram into twenty-three pages.
Lafuente and Winn do a great job with body language and facial expressions in this comic. I especially like the way they draw Mary-Maria. She has some of the most interesting poses and expressions.
I also enjoyed the colors in the issue. Brian Reber works from a rich palette here and uses color very effectively to create the proper mood for the moment. His color choices also stray towards the cartoon-y, which helps establish the overall tone of the story and makes the “stupid” more palatable.
In Summary:
One stupid adventure ends and another begins. Archer, Armstrong, and Mary-Maria manage to beat Bacchus and reach a new level to their friendship. It’s a satisfying end to a really fun first arc, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this team takes our heroes next. Dr. Josh gives this an….
Grade: A
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Valiant Comics
Release Date: June 15th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
