Talking Archer & Armstrong #8 and "The Twist" With Fred Van Lente

With the penultimate chapter of "Wrath of the Eternal Warrior" hitting the shelves on Wednesday, we were pretty eager to sit down with Fred Van Lente and discuss the shocking twist at the end of the issue, and what it means for the future of the series and the relationships between some of the key characters. Of course, had we gone out and talked about all that on Wednesday before most people had a chance to get to the comic book stores, Van Lente had said something about bamboo shoots under the fingernails, which sounded unpleasant. So we held off until the weekend, where we can simply say that this is a SPOILER-FILLED conversation. Read at your own risk. In fact, don't. Remove risk from the equation by buying a copy of the comic and reading along with us like we're a director's commentary track. You've clearly got a handle on a lot of the historical weirdness and big ideas for this series. Do things come along while writing where you end up learning more than you knew was there about a given topic? A little of both. For anyone who's interested in the history of zero as it relates to mathematics -- and it's a truly fascinating story -- I'd highly recommend Charles Seife's ZERO: HISTORY OF A DANGEROUS IDEA. I added it to my "Archer & Armstrong Reference" shelf on Goodreads. (grin)

I just have to ask this, because it always occurs to me when I read a story like this: When you've got the scholar who's the only one smart enough to figure out what the bad guys need to know, who's there keeping him honest? I always feel like if he's just ever so slightly wrong, nobody will be able to catch him and he can play for time. I presume you're referring to Gallus, Zorn's bespectacled scientist? As Zorn says, everyone in The Null helped create the equation, he's just entering it. He's basically a typist. He's also the spokesperson, but that's a storytelling convention to make one person spout all the exposition. It doesn't in itself mean he's the only one with the necessary knowledge. I'm just noticing it now, but both Obie and Geomancer appear to be wearing jackets that have the old school Valiant logo on them. Is there any meaning to that, or just for fun? I believe that's all Ema -- she came up with that on her own, I think it's pretty rad. Obie really has lived a pretty sheltered life, if he thinks that Armstrong is going to be a solid guide in his existential crisis, no? Obie has lived a very sheltered life, to the point where Armstrong is his only friend. Don't we want friends to help us? The Null is a really creepy kind of group, aren't they? It's easier to deal with somebody like the One Percent, who want something, rather than the Null, whose almost religious fervor means they're not scared of wiping themselves out with their crazy plan. Right. That's the link to the Assassins of the opening flashback and today's suicide bombers -- the idea is you can't fight nihilism. At least not conventionally. Just hypothetically--is Kay just really, really good at this or would she have developed a little slower into her role if there weren't a massive, seismic event going on that made her communication with the Earth a bit easier to "hear"? No, it's really the function of her office. She could do that any time, she doesn't need the earthquake to help. You need to be a Geomancer to do it, of course, and there's only one of them alive at any given moment on the planet. I like the Rubaiyat reference. I remember reading an issue of Booster Gold where his sister inadvertently became the inspiration for the Mona Lisa and thinking it didn't quite fit...but it works with a book like this. Are there tonal differences you consider when writing a line like that or am I overthinking it? Armstrong's quoted poetry since issue #1 (and, plug-plug, we'll get an idea of how much poetry means to him in #0). It's not a bug, it's a feature. So...is Mary-Maria still a true believer, or does she (as I would guess) have her own agenda and she's just using these guys for their money? An excellent question, and one we won't wait too long to answer. This speech by the "virus" feels like a twisted take on the Tom Joad monologue. Is that on purpose? A flattering comparison, thank you. I agree with it, but no, that wasn't what I was thinking at the time. This feels like a cliffhanger that's really going to hurt the relationship between Archer, Armstrong and Kay in the long term. Will we be seeing her again soon (provided the universe survives #9)? That would be telling, wouldn't it? I see that the next arc features art by Pere Perez. It's beautiful stuff, what I saw of it, but I thought that Clayton might be coming back after an arc off. Do you think it's safe to say that these days, the writer is the "indispensible" part of the creative team as far as a publisher is concerned? It more has to do with that artists are expect to work for whole arcs than single issues. Clayton wanted to come back (he told me), I wanted him to come back, but the A&A arcs didn't sync up with his schedule. So he's kicking ass on Harbinger Wars instead. We still hold out hope for him to return -- and soon. I love the 8-Bit Variant for #10. How involved have you been in the whole Harbinger Wars thing? Zero. I am excited to read it, though, as Joshua and Duane are both terrific writers -- and my good bud Clayton is drawing it. Do you worry at all when changing genres kind of abruptly that you'll lose somebody along the way, or do you figure that the nature of comics is that people are following the characters and your job is just keep them there with a good story? We're in the "Let's go on crazy adventures and make fun of shit" genre, and so far everything is going as planned.