Armstrong’s surreal reunion with Andromeda, his long-lost wife, gets even weirder (if that’s possible) as a legion of bath salt “empowered” Florida Men unleash total mayhem! But that’s not the only trouble awaiting Valiant’s fearless-ish adventurers… Enemies from across the globe are descending on the Sunshine State to destroy Archer & Armstrong once and for all! But never fear, dear reader, in the darkest of hours a new hero will rise — and, by Gub Gub, he’s bringing prophetic visions of the future with him!

A&A: The Adventures of Archer And Armstrong #10 is one of those comics that needs a second reading. The first time through you’ll feel like there wasn’t too much that happened – that there was almost too few words for the art (no, this wasn’t a silent issue) – but the second time you read through it then you’ll begin to notice something. Even though relatively little happens in the story on the surface, Rafer Roberts uses the time to develop Armstrong’s relationship with Gub Gub through some surprisingly subtle ways.

Subtle, that is, because they take place in scenes where the focus isn’t on those two, and it’s down to Mike Norton‘s artwork to really bring the relationship building to your attention. It’s easy to gloss over the first time through because you’ll remember a particularly psychedelic scene involving Archer running through some increasingly whacky moments that allow the artist to flex some muscles that wouldn’t be amiss in one of those mind bender paintings. It’s a cool sequence that may drag for some, but didn’t quite seem long enough for me, and  at the end of the day that’s kinda how you’ll feel about the issue itself; I quite enjoyed the comic, but it’ll not be for everybody.

With only two more issues left Roberts doesn’t have to worry as much about attracting new readers, and instead gets to tell a pretty off the wall story that’s a breath of fresh air. It’ll be a shame when this series ends, but I’m going to cherish every issue till then.

Story: Rafer Roberts Art: Mike Norton Colours: Allen Passalaqua
Story: 8 Art: 8.75 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy a FREE copy for review.