By Daniel Vlasaty

I am kind of new to Valiant Comics. I’ve obviously known about Valiant, and I’m sure I’ve even read a Valiant book here or there. But nothing all that regular or consistent like I’ve been reading lately. I have been enjoying books like X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Ninja-K, and Secret Weapons. So, I’ll admit that I was kind of excited to give Quantum and Woody a shot as well. I will say that I do remember reading one issue of a previous Quantum and Woody series and not being super into it. I just picked up a random issue at a friend’s recommendation, and I think that was the problem. I didn’t know the characters. I wasn’t invested in the story. It was just a thing I read and didn’t like. But I didn’t hold it against the characters or the book or whatever. It just wasn’t my thing – at the time – and if my life has taught me anything, I am all for second chances.

This new Quantum and Woody #1 is written by Daniel Kibblesmith, who is apparently a writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. This is not something I was aware of. Maybe that’s because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Stephen Colbert’s show. Maybe because I haven’t watched TV since I don’t even know how long, I’d guess at least a year. And it’s not for any douche-y or pretentious reasons. It’s just that with an infant at home, two jobs, and a writing career I’m trying to get off the ground, I barely have time to sleep or eat, let alone watch late night TV.

Quantum and Woody (the characters, not the book) are kind of a rag-tag team. They’re brothers, through adoption. One’s black and the other’s white. One’s full of himself and the other’s full of mission and purpose – probably due to his Army background. And really what this makes for is some good back-and-forth, some good banter. And a decent mix of action and comedy in a strong character-driven story.

There is a lot of history in these characters, a lot of past. There’s a connection that goes beyond just this new #1. I like that in a book but I feel that it also leaves me at a disadvantage. There’s a part where Woody is explaining (to some dude who clearly does not give a shit) why him and his brother (Eric/Quantum) had a falling out. And he’s talking about all the shit and adventures and mishaps they got in together in the past. And I just know that it’s things from the previous Quantum and Woody series, and it sounds hilarious and ridiculous and now I think that I might have to seek that series out and give it a proper go.

But the fact of the matter is Quantum and Woody are not good superheroes. It even says so in the description for this book. They are known as “The World’s Worst Superhero Team,” so that has to tell you something, right? But this book isn’t about them being superheroes. Sure, they stop a bad guy from doing his bad guy things. But that’s only like three pages in the book. It almost seems like an afterthought. Because this book is just about them, about Quantum and Woody, about their family life and their falling out, and the fact that they can’t just ignore each other and never talk again – like most other families that have a falling out. They are tied together through their Klang – the fact that they apparently need to touch bracelets together or else they’ll like disintegrate or something.

This might seem like kind of a “dumb” book, like a cheap buddy-cop type of story. But it’s more than that. It’s more than the simple jokes and childish humor. It’s a book that has a bit of heart and some promise to tell an engaging and interesting story. There’s the mystery that Kibblesmith keeps teasing. What happened between these brothers? What happened to this family? What’s up with Woody’s dad? Like who the hell is Thedge the Hedge?

The writing here is smooth and welcoming, and Kano’s art is the perfect thing to compliment it. The way the art kind of flows along is something special. Kano uses small boxes inset into the bigger panels to show us more of the scene. Little side images and ways of leading the reader’s eyes. This lets us take in all the details on the pages and in the scenes. He uses it to highlight things as well as for comedic purposes – like when Woody’s nose starts bleeding because his sees a picture of a busty woman. The colors, too, are soft and playful and bright. It’s just a great looking book.

Like I said before, Valiant is kind of killing it right now. This new revamp or whatever you want to call it is really doing a great job of telling fun and interesting stories, with great creative teams. I think one thing that always turned me off a bit about Valiant was that everything seemed to revolve around their small stable of characters. I don’t know why that bothered me. It’s literally the same thing with Marvel or DC. Maybe it’s just because I didn’t give any of these characters a chance. Quantum and Woody might have seemed kind of annoying to me before, but with this new series, I am really enjoying them. Kibblesmith and Kano are a great team, and I look forward to following them along for this ride.

Score: 5/5

Quantum and Woody #1
Valiant Comics