Review: Archer & Armstrong #13
Creative Team:
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Pere Perez
Color Artist: David Baron
Letterer: Simon Bowland
The Issue:
The adventure in the Faraway continues as Archer, Ivar, Ambrose Bierce and his pet Dodo bird Hearst find a graveyard of fighter plane. When Bierce refuses to help in fighting General Redacted, Archer walks away angrily in hopes of finding Armstrong. When he does find him it is in a way he hadn’t prepared himself for: in bed with the love of his life Mary-Maria.
Heartbroken Archer runs out in search of another pilot only to run into Amelia Earhart. The next morning Earhart, Ivar, and Archer take to battle with Redacted’s UFOs in an aerial shootout. It is now up to Archer who is more focused and angrier than ever who sacrifices his fighter plane to destroy General Redacted.
As Archer’s ejected seat lands everyone prepares to celebrate. Archer clearly not in the mood punches Armstrong. Armstrong tries to talk him down but he fails. Archer has pick pocketed the map of temporal ripples, which are the only way to escape the Faraway, from Ivar and he escapes leaving everyone else behind.
What I Liked:
Holy heartbreak.
What more can I say? Fred Van Lente has done a great job of establishing how naive Archer is. Prior to being sent out into the world to kill Armstrong he had never stepped outside of his adopted parents’ compound. He knew nothing but the propaganda he was fed by people who ultimately didn’t care whether he lived or died. So it is ironic that this great evil that he was supposed to kill turns out to be the best thing that’s ever happened to him. But of course there is no such thing as a completely positive thing.
All Archer wanted from his old life was the love of his life, and adopted sister, Mary-Maria. There relationship straddled the line between sweet and icky, but it was Archer’s innocence that prevented it from bothering me. So seeing Armstrong and Mary-Maria in bed felt like two-fold betrayal, and felt even worse when the two told him truths. He had no claim over Mary-Maria’s actions, and Armstrong was a man while he was a boy. But Archer isn’t wrong in being upset. It’s moments like this that are so real and impactful because this series is dealing with fully formed characters. Also: is Archer destined to become General Redacted or is that something else?
What makes this adventure in the Faraway even more fun is Fred Van Lente being able to play with missing figures in time. The appearance of Amelia Earhart was expected but wonderful. You can tell the fun that he and Pere Perez are having within each panel.
What I Didn’t Like:
Are the elder Archers still in Mary-Maria’s head? At one point I thought they were controlling her actions, and then others they aren’t. It’s not as consistent from issue to issue.
Grade:
Coatesvillain
Just a guy who was into this nerd stuff before it's popular. Now that is I'm just happy I have people to talk about it with.
