Archer & Armstrong
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| Archer and Armstrong | |
 Archer and Armstrong. Cover to issue #0, art by Barry Windsor-Smith. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Valiant Comics |
| First appearance | Archer and Armstrong #0 (July, 1992) |
| Created by | Jim Shooter, Bob Layton and Barry Windsor-Smith |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Archer and Armstrong |
| Abilities | Archer is the worlds greatest martial artist. Armstrong is immortal. |
Archer & Armstrong was a comic book series by Valiant Comics, with sales of 350,000 books a month. The first series featured writing and art by comic great Barry Windsor-Smith (creator of Red Sonja). When Valiant Comics was purchased by video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for $65 million, the revamped versions of the characters appeared in the Eternal Warriors series. Valiant Entertainment are the current owners of the Valiant catalog (including Archer & Armstrong).
Contents |
[edit] Characters
Obadiah Archer ("Archer") is the world’s greatest hand-to-hand fighter, an expert marksman, a combat-imitative harbinger and a seeker of truth and righteousness. Since his parents attempted to murder him, Archer has committed himself to vanquishing the evils of the world.
Aram "the Other" ("Armstrong") born in 3266 BC, is an immortal reprobate with the strength of a battalion. An amoral libertine who abandoned naive idealism thousands of years ago, Aram spends his days wandering the world drinking, fighting and telling stories of his unbelievable adventures.
[edit] Plot
As a child, Obadiah Archer discovers that his evangelist parents are using their position in the church to abuse young parishioners. In an attempt to cover their tracks, they burn down their own home, leaving their son unconscious inside. Archer is left clinically dead, but miraculously returns to the land of the living - longing for vengeance.
Running away to escape further attempts on his life, he travels to Ladakh, India, where he is trained to become the greatest living martial artist. Returning to America many years later, Archer is sought out by Mahmud, a devotee of the Sect - an ancient cult that has been hunting an individual called "he whose name is never spoken" since the late XIIth century. Archer agrees to help the sect only to discover their great Satan is actually Armstrong.
Born Aram, Armstrong is the youngest of three immortal brothers. The others are Ivar, the Timewalker, and Gilad, the Eternal Warrior. Archer quickly realizes that the Sect is the true evil and attempts to help Armstrong escape. Unfortunately, the two are captured and taken to Vatican City where Armstrong is to be ritually killed. In the fight, Armstrong loses his satchel and the age-old magical items it carried. Archer & Armstrong must retrieve the satchel before it falls into the wrong hands.
Pursued across the globe by the Sect they hide at Armstrong’s home where Archer meets Armstrong's beautiful wife, Andromeda – the Greek goddess. But the Sect is everywhere and once again the pair must flee. Finally returning to Los Angeles, they find that Sect leader Mahmud now wields enormous power, derived from the mysterious items within the satchel, and he intends to use them to destroy Armstrong.
Series Creative Staff Information: The following is a list of those who contributed to the creation of the series. When repeated, only last names will be used.
0: Jim Shooter & Bob Layton, story/Shooter, script/Barry Windsor-Smith, pencils & cover/Ralph Reese & Windsor-Smith, inks.
1: Shooter & Windsor-Smith & Layton, story/Shooter, script/Windsor-Smith, pencils/Layton, inks/Frank Miller, cover.
2: Windsor-Smith, story & pencils/Shooter, script/Layton, inks/Walter Simonson, cover.
3-6: Windsor-Smith, writer & pencils & cover/Bob Wiacek, inks.
7: Windsor-Smith, writer & pencils/Wiacek, inks/Windsor-Smith & Art Nichols, cover.
8: John Hartz, story/Windsor-Smith, script & pencils & cover/Wiacek, inks.
9: Layton, writer/Bernard Chang, pencils/Rodney Ramos, inks/Chang & Ramos, cover.
10: Windsor-Smith, writer & pencils & cover/Wiacek, inks.
11-12: Windsor-Smith, writer & pencils & cover/John Floyd, inks.
13: Mike Baron, writer/Rags Morales, pencils & cover/John Dixon, inks.
14: Baron, writer/Andrew Wendel, pencils/Carlos Garzon, inks/Mike Vosburg, cover.
15: Baron, writer/Doug Braithwaite, pencils/Garzon, inks/Vosburg, cover.
16: James Perham, writer/Wendel, pencils/Garzon, inks/Vosburg, cover.
17-22: Baron, writer/Vosburg, art & cover.
23: Baron, writer/Vosburg, pencils & cover/Stan Drake, inks.
24: Baron, writer/Vosburg, pencils & cover/Pat Boyette, inks.
25: Baron, writer/Vosburg, art & cover.
26: Vosburg & Kevin VanHook, writers/ Ted Halsted, pencils/Mike DeCarlo, inks/Layton & Halstead, cover.
[edit] Merchandise
To promote the book, Valiant Comics released a special Christmas promotional items to comic stores - Armstrong Ale, which was a bottle of beer featuring Armstrong on the label together with a Christmas card.
