This week on War Rocket Ajax, one of our favorite writers joins us when Fred Van Lente drops in to chat about Archer & Armstrong. He tells us all about what it's like to write a story with more political content than he's been able to do from other major publishers, and how A&A is the perfect comic for fans of Assassin's Creed -- and you can listen to the whole show right here at ComicsAlliance!War Rocket Ajax #128: Mustang Moderate with Fred Van Lente

(WARNING: Contains NSFW language)


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In this week's episode, Chris and Matt are having a pretty rough time, being stricken with all manner of toothaches and plagues. But they're better off than some people, like those who are writing to Thrasher Magazine from a juvenile detention facility. All things are relative, one supposes.

When Fred joins us, the conversation to turns to whether or not he considers his work in this book to be "politically charged."

In comparison to the other comics on the stands today, yes. I would say that in comparison to some of the things we see in larger culture, whether it's anything you see on Adult Swim or in South Park or anything like that, it's... I won't go so far as to say it's innocuous, but it's a little more on the lines of that. But compared to mainstream comics, it's pretty out there, politically.

You'd be surprised. I'm from Cleveland, and Hunter Gorison, our great PR guy at Valiant, got us some AP coverage on the fact that we had this faction of the sect called the One Percent, this villainous, devil-worshipping Wall Street cabal. I can't even say it without laughing! It got picked up in 150 media outlets, and my hometown paper, the Plain Dealer, the comments on the article were hilarious. They were like "he's a Limousine Liberal!" These comics writers, when they leave their mansions and penthouses, how dare they not know anything about the Real America! They're just promoting their MSNBC propaganda!

I was like, "Sir, I am not a Limousine Liberal, I'm a Mustang Moderate. Get your facts straight, sir."

Show Notes:

Follow Fred Van Lente on Twitter!

Euge and Chris Haley's Gravity Falls Gossiper podcast is a must-listen.

Find Swearin' for free right here!


Chris and Matt's Co-Rec: Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music


Chris's Rec: The Rockford Files


Matt's Rec: Swearin' - Swearin'


Comics Reviewed:


Justice League #12: "Who cares, at this point? Who cares? I don't! I could not care less about these characters, and I'm a guy who, in theory at least, really likes these characters. It doesn't matter, and it's very clear. It never mattered, I guess, but now it's very clear that none of it matters. The Justice League fights a bunch of ghosts who turn out to not be ghosts and then they punch this guy who has a devil head." "I got this comic on my iPad and could not have regretted that more, because when I was finished, there was nothing to throw across the room."

Avenging Spider-Man #11: "What is weird about this issue is... several things. One: Steve Dillon's art makes everything seem way more ominous than it is."

Edison Rex #2: "As enjoyable as the first issue was, there was a lot of bookkeeping to it. In this one, there's none of that. It's full-on, flat-out, beginning-to-end fun."

Captain Marvel #3: "How cool is it that the first arc of this comic is one in which Captain Marvel goes back in time and hangs out with World War II fighter plane pilot ladies who are fighting Japanese fighter pilots in Kree spaceships?"

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