Two national news stories on comics appeared Wednesday, providing mainstream exposure for titles from Valiant and Vertigo.  The Associated Press story on Valiant covered the new villains that will be introduced in Valiant Comics’ Archer & Armstrong, One Percent.  Although the term comes from the Occupy Wall Street protests, the concept from Archer & Armstrong writer Fred Van Lente takes it beyond politics to a secret Masonic cult of devil-worshipers.  The characters will be introduced on the last page of the first issue (out August 8th) and featured in Archer & Armstrong #2, out September 5th.

Vertigo’s Get Jiro!, written by author, chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain, was featured on the front page of Wednesday’s "Life" section in USA Today.  The graphic novel, Bourdain’s first, streeted this week in comic stores.  Bourdain told USA Today that he was an aspiring comic artist when he was younger, and admired the work of Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, and others.  A bestselling author, now he’s turned to writing comics; he co-wrote the graphic novel with Joel Rose; art is by Langdon Foss.  The story is set in a futuristic Los Angeles ruled by food culture.