Valiant-Sized Quantum and Woody #1

by Tim Siedell, James Asmus, Pere Perez

Fans of Quantum and Woody should feel right at home with this book, because even though much of it is done by a new creative team, the feel of the characters is very much the same. Valiant-sized Quantum and Woody #1 reads very much like one of the recent anniversary issues and consists of three separate stories, with different teams, though I must say they are all equally fun and help expand the mythos of these characters.

The first story, written by newcomer Tim Siedell with art by the infamous Pere Perez, sees our heroes teaming up with Thomas Edison, the main villain from the ongoing series, and a couple of new characters to save the world from a giant asteroid – an Iranian ex-nuclear scientist whose head has been grafted onto Edison’s back (which of course leads to plenty of jokes), and R.V.G.F.C.N., a North Korean metahuman whose development cost explains the nation’s hunger problems, and who plays a key part in the plan (though not as you may expect. When their original plan to stop the asteroid fails, Woody enters a dimensional portal which was supposed to be a last ditch escape plan, but in typical Woody fashion, things go crazy and he is transported to a parallel world where he is the smartest man on Earth. His interdimensional counterpart enters our world, hilarity ensues, and one of the two worlds is destroyed (I bet you can guess which one).

Siedell does a terrific job at capturing the magic of these characters with the same level of zany humor which James Asmus infused into the ongoing. It’s hard to paraphrase the story without giving away any spoilers, but this is definitely Quantum and Woody at their finest, and I couldn’t help but laugh the entire time. Pere Perez’s art is as good as always in this book and I’m glad we’re getting to see his work again. Perez has some of the cleanest line work of any Valiant artist and his emotive facial expressions work great in a book with many closeups of characters.

The backup stories are written by Tim Siedell and James Asmus, and while they could be read on their own, there are many threads that tie back into the main storyline of this book which was great. Often times in a book of this sort, we see disparate stories connected only by the main character of the book, but what Siedell and Asmus have managed to do is extend these stories beyond that and creating some very interesting possibilities for the future of Quantum and Woody. The idea of multiple universes is very intriguing, and in comics, can be very exciting when done correctly. Seeing the multiple versions of Quantum and Woody was fun and a real testament to the characters. They aren’t just cartoony versions of superheroes, but rather multidimensional (quite literally!) personalities with great potential. I can’t wait for the upcoming Quantum and Woody Must Die! book, and anything else with these characters. While I have always enjoyed the ongoing series, this book has made me truly fall in love with these characters.

Overall

With an amazingly talented creative team, and multiple stories, Valiant-sized Quantum and Woody #1 is probably the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a long time. Even if you’re not a fan of these characters, this book is absolutely perfect, with a creative team that truly gets what these characters are all about.

Originally from ValiantCentral.com