Like Carl Hiaasen mixed with a hot bowl of crazy.
Creative Staff:
Story: Rafer Roberts
Art: Mike Norton (A story); Ryan Lee (Sisters of Perpetual Darkness sequences)
Colors: Allen Passalaqua (A story and Sisters of Perpetual Darkness sequences)
Letters: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Freaky fracas!
Obadiah Archer: Skilled marksmen, trained fighter, and…deranged circus freak?! Through the unfathomable forces of nature, Archer and Gub Gub – the pint-sized and deranged clone of Armstrong – have swapped minds! When Gub Gub’s body is kidnapped by nefarious forces, Armstrong and his long-lost wife, Andromeda, must race to save their friend and undo the horrendous merger of minds before the damage becomes permanent!
“ANDROMEDA ESTRANGED” goes mental as rising star Rafer Roberts (Harbinger Renegade) and acclaimed artists Mike Norton (Revival) and Joe Eisma (Inhuman) drag Valiant’s leading adventure duo through Hell – and also Florida – for the very soul of Archer (and, sure, maybe Gub Gub too)!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
In the previous issue, Archer accidentally switched minds with the virtually mindless Armstrong clone Gub Gub. This happened just in time for him to be kidnapped by the One Percent and the team of renegade Soviet scientists/circus owners who are responsible for the clone in the first place. They believe that Gub Gub’s body holds the key to Armstrong’s immortality, and they plan on dissecting it to learn its secrets, no matter whose mind currently occupies it.
Thankfully, Armstrong and his estranged wife/Goddess Andromeda are hot on Gub Gub’s heels. If they get past an army of crazed, drug-addled Floridians (no jokes, please), they can save Armstrong’s little buddy, but the clock is ticking, and the chainsaws are revving.
Oddly enough, while this is going on, Davey the Mackerel and Oliver Dumpbucket happen to be in Sanibel Island, too. Dumpbucket attempts to continue his plans for taking over the world through the selling of well-made handbags and uses a craft fair as his launching platform. Unfortunately, he and Davey find themselves smack dab in the middle of the same crowd of crazy Floridians (again, no jokes, please) as Armstrong. While it looks dark for everyone’s favorite anthropomorphic mackerel, Davey might just have a trick or two up his sleeves—or, rather, up Armstrong’s magic satchel.
While this is going on, Mary-Maria and her renegade faction of assassins spring a trap against the Sisters of Perpetual Darkness. Like Davey, Mary-Maria has a few tricks up her sleeves. In fact, everything seems to be coming up roses for all our heroes. That is, until, we reach the last page. “What happens on the last page?” you ask? Well, I’m not telling, because I’m mean, and I want you to buy the comic.
Once again, this creative team pull off an impressive juggling act, pulling the A, B, and C stories together into various states of completion without sacrificing plot or narrative pacing. I wouldn’t be surprised if Roberts didn’t use a Levitz Paradigm to keep it all in check.
Both artistic teams do a solid job of keeping the art grounded. While it’s not photorealistic, the character actions and facial expressions remain within the limits of human anatomy, with maybe a scosche or two of exaggeration here and there. The style helps the reader stay anchored while the plot goes off on wild, bizarre, and thoroughly entertaining tangents.
In Summary:
“Thoroughly entertaining” is a good way to describe A&A: The Adventures of Archer & Armstrong. Lord knows it’s silly and full of far-out concepts that, frankly, should overwhelm the story and make it implode like dying star, but somehow, someway, this crew manages to keep everything moving and wrap all the craziness around a core of solid, engaging, and believable character work. The next issue wraps up the current storyline, so if you haven’t tried the comic yet, you might want to wait until issue 13. Believe me, it’s worth it. Dr. Josh gives this an…
Grade: A
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Valiant Comics
Release Date: 4 January 2016
MSRP: $3.99
