WRITER: CHRISTOPHER HASTINGS | ARTIST: RYAN BROWNE | PUBLISHER: VALIANT | FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
With the Vin Diesel movie Bloodshot attempting to kick-off a new comic book cinematic universe, it should come as a surprise to no one that publisher Valiant has relaunched some of its more popular titles in an attempt to catch the wave of interest. Case in point, Quantum and Woody #1. This would be volume four of the series (we last saw them in 2018); comic books really do like their number one issues. It really doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of the book before. This new first issue establishes the set-up fairly quickly: Quantum and Woody are brothers with incredible super-powers that are seemingly cosmic in nature. They have to regularly clash their wrist bands together or they’ll explode (possibly taking out everyone else with them). They’re also inept at this whole superhero thing, and their adventures are typically of the action-packed but hilarious kind.
The new book seems to be pretty much more of the same: Quantum is still his dedicated and heroic self, acting like a proper superhero, whereas Woody is still looking for the easy way to do things. Though seemingly in this new volume, Woody is at least competent at his job as the smooth-talking one who thinks through problems. The new story sees the would-be heroes desperate to restore their reputation, as mostly they tend to mess up. Ryan Browne’s art works well here. His work is usually highly detailed and compact, and in this book that allows the artist to fill the page with both action and the odd sight-gag. Both character designs are strong; we get what most of the characters are about by simply looking at the page. Redmond’s colours aren’t busy, and the tone suits the wacky vibes of the story.
Writer Christopher Hastings nails the dialogue throughout, making the book both accessible and funny. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering also nails it, keeping the tempo of Hasting’s humour steady and appropriately silly. It’s a promising start to a series that will inevitably end up on the screen, one way or another.
