Archer & Armstrong #5

Last month's Archer & Armstrong was a hilariously awesome conclusion to the first arc.  This Wednesday, Valiant starts the universe building.  Anyone familiar with the old Valiant world will know that the Eternal Warrior and the Geomancer are big time players.  We've seen hints of the Eternal Warrior already in X-O Manowar and A&A's debuts, but this week he comes out in full ass-kicking mode.  Up until now, the story has relied more on comedy than action, but this month flips the script.  The Warrior comes after Archer in total Terminator 2, nothing is gonna stop me until you're dead mode.  Luckily, Armstrong is the Arnold to his brother's Rob Patrick.  Oh - did I mention the Warrior is Armstrong's brother?  Of course, if you've been reading since issue one you know this.  Here we see flashbacks to the two of them thousands of years ago.  These scenes serve basically to show that if you kill the Geomancer, this dude is gonna fuck your shit up.  But they also provide good character building with the interaction between the brothers.

Ok, maybe this issue was a little light on the comedy compared to previous ones, but you will chuckle more than once still.  It's the beginning of a new arc and is laying the groundwork for a much larger tale.  Fill in artist Emanuela Lupacchino nails the action perfectly.  During a scene when Gilad is chasing Armstrong down with a bus, I could practically hear the Terminator soundtrack in my head.  Fred van Lante is excellent, as always, deftly balancing all elements of the plot, inserting unforced funniness where possible, and pacing everything well.  It's a solid start to a new story that has me anticipating next month's reveal of a new Geomancer.