Archer & Armstrong 4: Sect Civil War

Comic Info

Archer & Armstrong (2) #14

Reprints Archer & Armstrong (2) #14-17 (October 2013-January 2014).  Archer and Armstrong are friends no more!  With Armstrong’s betrayal with Mary-Maria in the Faraway, Archer is headed back to Earth to unfinished business.  He’s out to learn his true past and sparks a war between the Sect factions in the process.  When Archer learns that he needs to locate the Wheel of Aten, Archer realizes the only one who can help him is Armstrong.  Now with an uneasy alliance, Archer and Armstrong are going to be forced to work together if they hope to stop the Sect Civil War, but another betrayal could be coming if Archer’s plans come to fruition.

Written by Fred Van Lente will art by Khari Evans and ChrisCross, Archer & Armstrong 4:  Sect Civil War collects the entire four issue arc of the series.  The collection follows Archer & Armstorng 3:  Far Faraway.

Archer & Armstrong through its run has developed into my favorite Valiant series.  Much of Valiant is very good right now, but Archer & Armstrong does a nice job capturing a balance of action and fun and with Archer & Armstrong 4:  Sect Civil War the fun continues.

Archer & Armstrong (2) #14 8-Bit Variant

Archer & Armstrong rely a lot on gimmicks but they generally pay off in this series more than they do in Valiant’s other duo comic series Quantum & Woody.  I like the issue involving Armstrong and his lost brother Ivar’s pub crawl through time.  I don’t know that I needed the updates on Armstrong’s sobriety and felt the issue stood on its own, but it didn’t bother me enough to ruin the comic…I would love to see more Armstrong and Ivar issues or a reunion of all three brothers.

I do have to say that this volume of Archer & Armstrong is a little down in regards to previous volumes.  It isn’t because the writing has faltered, but because I really enjoy the bizarre team aspect of this book, and I hate to see Archer “growing up”.  Once Archer’s innocence is out of the bag, it will be hard to put it back in.  Archer has such a positive view of the world in previous volumes that seeing him become “Dark Archer” (even though it is played as a joke) isn’t necessarily a good thing for the series as a whole.

Archer & Armstrong 4:  Sect Civil War shows a bit of a dark side to a light comic but still takes it with a lot of humor.  I hope that Archer & Armstrong has a long life, but that is sometimes difficult in the world of independent comics.  I like how Valiant is managing their titles and hope with the steady release dates and well planned crossovers, Archer & Armstrong will succeed.  Archer & Armstrong 4:  Sect Civil War leads into Archer & Armstrong’s crossover Mission:  Improbable with Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps.

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Related Links:

Archer & Armstrong 1:  The Michelangelo Code

Archer & Armstrong 2:  Wrath of the Eternal Warrior

Archer & Armstrong 3:  Far Faraway