And wuv, twue wuv, will bwing us togefuh.
Creative Staff:
Story: Rafer Roberts
Art: Mike Norton
Colors: Allen Passalaqua
Letters: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
A&A’s whirlwind ongoing series is hitting the town with the one and only FAITH! With Armstrong on the road, Archer is taking some much-needed personal time…and bringing his long-distance Romance with Los Angeles’s number-one superhero off of FaceTime and into the real world! As these friends take their relationship to the next level, will romance conquer all? Or will they still find the time to brawl with some loan sharks? When a teenaged martial arts expert and high-flying psiot get together, anything goes!
Come on board here with the swooning standalone adventure of the summer as paramour extraordinaire Rafer Roberts and Eisner Award-winning artist Mike Norton bring you THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHER & FAITH! More crossbows than Sleepless in Seattle! More fistfights than The Notebook!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Being a hero has its perks: a life of adventure and purpose, no time-clock to punch (unless it’s like an evil, sentient time-clock that needs punching in its clock face), being around extraordinary people all day. Sure, that’s great, but there are downsides, too: no set hours (probably because you punched the time-clock), no insurance, and no paid time off, so when a moment comes between storms, you grab it, and that’s what Obadiah Archer does in this issue.
In the previous issue, Armstrong discovered that his wife—whom he married three hundred years ago—is alive, well, and immortal. Considering this is a man who forgot he stuffed the Greek god of wine in his satchel, forgetting that he was married seems fairly reasonable. Naturally, he desires to find her, but doesn’t know where to start. Thankfully, he has his old friend Muriel to help.
Archer takes advantage of this day off to go on a first date with his girlfriend Faith. Faith, for those of you who don’t know, is a powerful psiot who serves as Los Angeles’ premiere superhero. She and Archer have conducted a long-distance relationship over FaceTime, and now they want to meet in person. Unfortunately, some shady men looking for Armstrong shadow them and the date may end up with a bullet instead of a kiss.
A good seventy-five percent of this issue consists of Archer and Faith’s date. It’s mostly talking, and in the hands of a lesser writer, that would be the kiss of death, but Rafer Roberts keeps the reader’s interest all the way and makes the encounter incredibly sweet and charming. The action scene at the end actually feels like an intrusion when it happens, and I felt bad for the kids. Luckily, it doesn’t ruin their date.
After the jamb-packed, balls-to-the-wall first story arc, issue five feels refreshing, like the sherbet between courses—cleansing the palate and giving you something sweet. The story moves along at a good pace but doesn’t race along with the frantic energy of the first four issues, and it feels like the story and the characters have more room to breathe. Even the panels feel more relaxed. This isn’t a jab at the previous issues—I enjoyed them quite a bit—just an observation.
Kudos go to Mike Norton for making both the big, action moments and the small, character moments visually interesting. He does a great job with characters, especially with facial expressions, and he knows when to go cartoony and when to go more realistic. His elastic style fits the story and adds to the overall charm.
He also does a great job drawing Faith. I hesitated to mention this, because I didn’t want to label her, but Faith is a large woman—very attractive, but not fitting the standard superhero design aesthetic. In clumsier hands, that would be the end-all, be-all of her character, but Roberts and Norton never go there. Her size is never brought up, and she’s drawn both attractively and realistically, which is exactly how her character should be handled. Adding diversity to a story doesn’t mean that you call attention to the diversity. If you start with “Let’s have an overweight female superhero” then all you get is an overweight female superhero, but if you start with “Let’s have a woman named Faith who’s a huge science fiction and comic book fan and develops these superpowers. Oh, and she’s also overweight” then you have Faith—an honest-to-God character. I wasn’t sure if my bringing this issue to attention ruined the affect, or was somehow hypocritical, but this team deserves recognition for doing something this positive.
At the end of the issue, Archer returns to his partner-in-crime, Armstrong, and the two head to my current stompin’ grounds, Florida, to meet his estranged wife. Most likely it’s a trap, but when has that ever stopped these two?
In Summary:
The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong issue five provides a nice respite from the breakneck pace of the first four issues. Archer and Faith’s date is fun and charming, and the two are very sweet together. We should get back to the standard quota of punching and hijinks next issue, but this was a nice breather. Dr. Josh gives this an….
Grade: A
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Valiant
Release Date: July 20th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
