Archer Coe and the Thousand Natural Shocks got a great response at Special Edition: New York City. I'm told that July 2 is going to be the actual release date now, same day as Madame Frankenstein #3. So that will be a great day for me at the comic book store!
Dan Christensen and I talked about the book with Pipedream Comics. You can read the whole chat right here.
It was also cool to see they gave us a positive review when the online serialization started.
With superb monochrome artwork from Dan Christensen which evokes both the weird and wonderful world of classic pulp but also the modern indie quirkiness of Mike Allred, Archer Coe is a really unique book that will evolve into something truly special over the course of it’s run (we’ve been lucky enough to check out the whole thing) so be sure to get involved at the very start as it’s one hell of a ride!
Speaking of good reviews, this very positive one comes from a noir skeptic who had his mind swayed by Archer's hypnotic powers.
All the ingredients of a stereotypical noir are here — the upstanding investigator, the chump husband who hires him, the seductive vamp at the center of the investigation — but none of them play out their roles in the expected way. As the mystery deepens, the story goes off the checklist completely, and Rich takes readers on something reminiscent of a Christopher Nolan film, or maybe even a Gilbert Hernandez comic.
I definitely may have been working something of a Gilbert Hernandez vibe, stuff like Grip and Sloth, sure. And I'm not going to lie, the original pitch contained the line, "a Coen Bros. script but directed by Christopher Nolan." So, kudos to you, sir!
The Outhousers also give us a pretty solid write-up:
Archer Coe and The Thousand Natural Shocks is a sharp, fresh take on the detective genre, blending murder mystery, pulp and honest-to-god psychics. Archer Coe himself is an interesting, gifted character, who seems to only be friends with cats, and I can’t wait to see where the next volume takes him and his cat friends.
And I also like when librarians chime in, this one is Sharon the Librarian:
Archer Coe is a mystery and a mind bending tale. The artwork and story compliment each other perfectly, in a complicated web of coincidences and deliberate action. I liked that Coe is a character that is initially very confident in himself and his abilities, but comes to doubt himself in several ways. The deceptions within the story are deep, and I would hate to ruin the unfolding by giving any big spoilers. So I will leave it with saying that the main players are all masters of mind games, simply using different methods and lures. I am interested in seeing more of Coe, and hope to see more of him in the future.
And one more, from SLUG Magazine:
Archer Coe is definitely a character deserving of his own series, and I will never tire of noir-style comic book storytelling. Jamie Rich has created a character and story worthy of television adaptation, but it remains absolutely intriguing on page.
Finally, you can also hear me chat a little bit, Publisher's Weekly stopped by my table at the Special Edition: New York show, and they included me in their podcast.
Current Soundtrack: The Style Council, The Sound of the Style Council