Quantum and Woody #4
Written by James Asmus
Art by Tom Fowler and Jordie Bellaire
The short of it:
Remember how years ago Eric blew himself up trying to be more like his brother? Well, when he woke up from his coma his dad was there to hug him, but only really cared about whether or not Eric knew where Woody was. Story of his life. In the present, however, Eric is breaking into a secret base without a clue that Woody is a prisoner there, or that Woody is being shown a film reel on the history of the evil organization. The E.R.A.’s history is, essentially, that Thomas Edison was a jackass who stole idea and inventions from other people, but rather than take full credit, he and his people also paced out the releases, controlling the technological advancements of mankind. Their current leader, the creepy lady, invented cloning in the 40’s. Whatever, it’s still Eric to the rescue! He knows he’s outnumbered and outgunned, and that he’s starting to dissipate, but he’s got training! He’s army security!
But there are a LOT of them, and he runs like hell. Well, no, he sees that they have Woody and curses as he tries to find a less direct approach than running into a room full of people and attacking. He lets out all of the experiments and attempts to lead them after him so they can go and attack their captors. Instead, the clones and dinosaurs and everything else they’ve been making just trample and create carnage, in fact, only one of the experiments followed Eric. A goat. A goat that has every single guard scared shitless, which has Eric thinking that they’re mocking him…until the Goat dives in and massacres the lot of them.
Whatever! Eric’s going to go free Woody! And finally actually beat somebody up in the process! Eric shows that he’s finally done taking shit from everyone, and that, well, he’s a damn superhero. He apologizes to Woody as he pulls him out from the big energy orb cage thingy, and we get our first KLANG as the brothers restabilized. Woody promptly ruins the moment. The evil cop winds up being a clone, and the old stretchy faced E.R.A. leader wants her to go suicide bomb the brothers. She doesn’t agree, and the bomb leaves everything nice and open for Eric and Woody to confront the lady about their fathers death, and to not like the revelations she hands out. Anyway, the place does eventually go boom, and the brothers leave with Detective Clone and one of her ‘sisters’, and the Goat. Woody finally tells Eric why he left all those years ago, and they realize that now they truly are stuck together.
Next stop? Finding an apartment!
What I liked:
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THE GOAT!
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The fear in the eyes of everyone when they realized that THE GOAT was coming for them.
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“It’s loose!! Sweet monkey-$@#$*&@ Darwin, it’s loooose!!!”
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“I’m a @#$&-@#*% superhero, bitch.”
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Seriously though, as great as the quotes are, seeing Eric just completely dominate somebody was well overdue.
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One of the biggest takeaways I had during school, and my studying of mass media and the like, is that Edison was a prick. Total d-bag who would do anything to make sure he made all the money for anything, whether he came up with it or not. For that, and that alone, the E.R.A. is the best secret society villain group ever.
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It also gave a really easy plot device that gave us someone able to explain just what was up with Quantum, Woody, and their energy bands.
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The first human-cyborg; with the beta-max player. He’s part of the group because he’s the first guy to successfully graft cybernetics onto flesh, but now he’s horribly outdated and an update would kill him and I laughed and laughed and laughed.
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I really can’t believe there was ever a time when I hated on the art, Tom and Jordie turn in a gorgeous issue here. The facial expressions completely make the issue, but the action is great, and what happens to that creepy ass woman….wow, that’s some creativity behind the pencils to get that visual.
What I didn’t like:
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I have to wait a month to read another issue!
Final thoughts:
That is one awesome GOAT.
So, are Quantum and Woody going to tie into Unity? I picked up a lot of books I hadn’t read during Comixology’s Unity sale, and I am REALLY hooked right now.
I really love the non-cartoony style being employed in this book. I mean, yes, Doc Bright did bright and colorful and it didn’t distract from the more grounded tone of the book, but if anything, this book is more grounded. There is no superpowered professor, or globe trotting to stop a conspiracy that they concocted, and it feels far less like a superhero book. The more true to life art really reflects the tone and completes the package.
The bickering alone is worth the cover price.
Oh that poor, old, evil, creepy ass woman. That is….that is certainly a way to go.
Everything gets wrapped up with a nice and neat little bow and it works. They’ve got their powers, their status quo, have been brought back together, have the bitch clone cop, and even picked up the Goat. Absolutely great origin story.
Man, Derek was awful at communicating with his boys. Eric was left to feel like his adopted brother was loved more, and Woody was left to feel like he was the cause of every problem Eric ever had. It’s like he never tried to tell them anything of value.
Him killing himself just sorta furthers that, actually. I mean, yes, his death brought his boys back together, but he probably could have achieved the same goal by talking to them at any given point in time. Though I’m actually all in favor of his death being by his own hands, because it means we aren’t going to have an extended revenge period past the first arc. I mean, if creepy skin lady did kill him, would she really be done right now? This gives them some angst without having to focus it on someone hittable, which is going to make it a deeper personal issue, which is the bread and butter of our heroes.
I like that Eric has the shields and Woody has the guns. It’s just fitting, I mean, the hot head who never thinks first can shoot energy beams out of his fingers, and the guy who over thinks everything has the unbreakable shield.
I kinda want to see them swap bodies.
Don’t piss off the Goat!
This isn’t just some superhero comic with a unique twist on how to handle the genre in a new and exciting way. It’s an experience, a lesson in what good comics are supposed to be. Action, drama, comedy, romance; this book literally has everything. It even has a GOAT! Really, above all else, it’s what happens when a writer is allowed to tell a character driven story with a unique and interesting cast. This isn’t just a superhero book, or a buddy comedy, or a book with an awesome GOAT, it’s a story about two brothers who love each other but really, for the life of them, do not get along. Even though they desperately need to.
This would be the best half hour buddy TV show ever.
Overall: 10/10
