Archer

Obadiah Archer is a martial-arts prodigy raised in a strict religious household who sets out to destroy the immortal Armstrong, only to become his unlikely partner. His extraordinary fighting skills make him Armstrong's moral counterbalance in their globe-spanning adventures.

Few characters can claim a debut crafted by a creative trio as formidable as Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, and Barry Windsor-Smith — but Archer launched in 1992 with exactly that pedigree, arriving in the Copper/Modern Age as one of the distinctive voices of the early Valiant universe. Sharing his adventures with the likes of Armstrong, Aram Anni-Padda, and even the legendary Turok, Archer has kept remarkable company across a publishing journey that stretches all the way to 2024. His title, Archer & Armstrong, is the heart of his story, and his appearance in the crossover event Deathmate signals that he was never confined to the margins of his era's comics landscape. For collectors drawn to that golden window of early-'90s independent comics ambition, Archer is a character well worth seeking out.