“Yesterday’s” Comic> Quantum & Woody #1 (Acclaim Comics)

That’s not solidarity. They’re trying to kill each other.

Quantum & Woody #1

Acclaim Comics/Valiant Heroes (June, 1997)

“Klang”

SCRIPT/PLOTS/PENCILS/CO-CREATORS: Christopher Priest & M.D. Bright

INKER: Greg Adams

COLORING: Atomic Paintbrush

LETTERER: Dave Lanphear

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Omar Banmally

EDITOR: Lynaire Thompson

Eric and Woodrow are friends…though why is anyone’s guess. Growing up in Connecticut as rich kids, Eric still thinks he’s “down with the struggle” as a black kid while Woodrow keeps getting him into trouble. Then one day Woodrow and his family moved away without warning. As adults their fathers were working together on a project when they died in a copter crash. The two reunite as adults at the funeral, a cop keeping them from beating each other senseless to find the crash suspicious, somehow naming them as potential suspects. Eric decides to go after the third unconnected suspect, a man named Dr. David Warrant who worked for the two. They follow him around, eventually both wearing a pair of gauntlets Eric found in his father’s sock drawer. Falling into a trap thanks to another squabble, they get into yet another squabble, clanging the gauntlets together and waking up outside with the cop they’ve been talking to all this time, Joe Tomorrow. This is just the beginning of their origin.

What they got right: I like the costume designs.

What they got wrong: I hate both of them. Eric (who is also the superhero Quantum) is uptight and later goes into the military, but also convinced that white kids are racist, including his friend. Woody is just a total jerk and Eric has good reasons for wanting to smack him around. These are supposed to be our heroes. I don’t want to follow these guys.

What I think overall: Look, I’m not the best critic of Christopher Priest’s work because I rarely if ever enjoy any story he works on. His style and mind just don’t mix, though apparently he has a lot of fans and I can’t say he’s a bad writer per say. I don’t know how much of the story is Bright’s but while I saw the ads in comics for years this is my first actual introduction to the characters, and hopefully my last. I really don’t like either of them and I don’t care what the deal is with the bands. I could almost get into Quantum if they toned down the “I’m so black but grew up in a rich white neighborhood” stuff but Woody I can do without altogether, and as a team I really don’t care about these squabbling nitwits. I hear they get a goat later and I don’t care about him, either.