By Toren Chenault — Valiant’s “The Year of Heroes” is off to a hilarious and innovative start. This new run of Quantum and Woody by Christopher Hastings and Ryan Browne continues the trend of the pair being a spot of corky, hilarious sci-fi in comics. 

Quantum and Woody have always been the funny, annoying, and somewhat weird part of the Valiant Universe. It’s a superhero universe filled with time-displaced Visigoths, kids being hunted by the government, and Russian cosmonauts with the powers of a God. Quantum and Woody, however, often provide the comedy and silliness needed in a world as serious as Valiant’s.

The pair’s last run, to me, will always be remembered as a seminal moment, not just for them, but for Valiant as a whole. Quantum and Woody died, came back to life, and created a new universe in the process. And when they came back to our world, they brought the madness of their new world with them. Now, they’re considered fugitives because they’re power is too great to contain.

Issue 1 of this new series picks right up where the last run left off. And in typical Quantum and Woody fashion, it starts hilariously with Woody bragging about himself on the internet. Woody, more than any character in Valiant’s stable should be hip to trends of the modern world, and so this comic starting on the internet is a nice touch. 

The heart is there from the first pages. What makes Quantum and Woody such a good pair is that they’re authentic and different. They have a level of ‘human’ to them that other heroes don’t have. Is it because they’re somewhat stupid? Is it because they’re different races but see themselves as literal brothers? Whatever the reason, they’re a complicated team with an even more complicated situation (having to tap their wrists together every 24 hours to stay alive). This first issue sets the tone for another wild adventure for the pair.

New villains are something I think all superhero comics need nowadays. And they need clever ones. Quantum and Woody is the perfect comic for creating weird, intriguing villains. Christopher Hastings and team do exactly that with the first issue. Another thing that’s great about this comic is expansion of the pair’s powers. The last run proved they haven’t reached their limits when it comes to power, and this comic is jump started with Woody manifesting a new power. There’s no reason to be coy in a comic like this. And the wackiness is cranked up to one hundred with one of the wildest panels I’ve seen in a Quantum and Woody comic. 

Good Quantum and Woody comics couldn’t be a thing without good art. And I really enjoyed the art in this issue. Ryan Browne draws some detailed panels and some explosive action scenes. He’s got the perfect style for this wacky team. Where I think the art shines though is the color. When I think about Quantum and Woody comics, I think of the word ‘bold’. As you shouldn’t shy away from craziness in the story, the same goes for the art and color. Pack it in as much as you can and make the blue of Quantum’s shield and the yellow of Woody’s finger gun the brightest you can. And colorist Ruth Redmond does exactly that. The lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou is pretty great too. Some bold stylistic choices in certain panels made the scenes feel alive. Something I wasn’t expecting but that I hope continues in the future.

All in all, there’s no reason fans of the worst superhero team wouldn’t check this comic out. For new fans unfamiliar with the screwups, I think this comic does a good job explaining the new status quo. If there was one negative, I do think there’s some huge moments and characters from the last run that should have been mentioned here in this first issue, mainly for context purposes. There’s an extremely jumbled few pages of exposition and at first glance it’s a bit jarring. I can see it confusing newer readers. 

Overall: The positives shine bright with Quantum and Woody #1. The world can be a terrible place and can sometimes be too much. But this comic provides a nice escape. Even if the main characters aren’t that competent. 8.0/10

Quantum & Woody #1
Writer: Christopher Hastings
Artist: Ryan Browne
Colorist: Ruth Redmond
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-ElhaouPublisher: Valiant
Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 29, 2020

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Toren Chenault, a native of the Cincinnati area, currently lives in Michigan with his girlfriend. A graduate of Michigan State University, he is a long-time superhero fan who counts Captain Atom, Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Divinity, Nightwing, and XO Manowar among his favorite heroes. Mystic Man is his first book. Buy it now here, and check out more of Toren’s Why I Love series here.