Quantum & Woody continue to set a new bar for comics. This is superheroes, action, comedy, “creepy-ass clown monsters” and all out weirdness at it’s best!

Official Description from VALIANT:
What scares you more than anything else you can imagine? WRONG. The answer is… the Nightmare Brigade! The scheming forces of the ERA will stop at nothing to unlock the secret science behind Quantum and Woody’s powers.

Just after three issues, Quantum & Woody is quickly becoming the must read comic in my stack each month and it continues to raise the bar. Issue #3 has Woody and his brother, Eric, reaching their inevitable breaking point given the two’s childhood history. We flashback again to the boys growing up and the resentment Eric has toward Woody over his father’s “kid gloves” treatment of who he considers, and rightfully so, a screw up. He feels a higher burden of acceptance and, deep down, love from his father for doing everything right while Woody is rewarded for bad behavior.

This sets the underlying tone for the verbal exchange that follows their escape from the Johnny twins and the Nightmare Brigade. For the first time in this series the subject of race between the brothers is brought up and in many ways it feels incredibly politically incorrect. But writer James Asmus uses the dialogue in a way that’s honest to the characters and rings true in the end even if it is a bit off putting. But it should be between these two brothers and that’s what makes it so great. By the final panels we see how their damaged relationship is going to impact Woody’s new predicament at the hands of E.R.A.

What has always struck me about Quantum & Woody is that on it’s surface it’s a “funny” book but it also has tremendous heart and honesty. Not to mention it’s a great superhero book with irreverent characters. It’s interesting and exciting. Asmus has an anything goes approach and artist Tom Fowler makes sure to vividly bring it all to life. The monsters, creations and psychotic villains are as twisted as they are bizarre and horrific and Fowler is brilliant in every disgusting detail.

Quantum & Woody has set a whole new course for Valiant and their success in the comic book marketplace. With a book like this they easily challenge other publishers for quality, action, diversity and flat-out fun. If you think comics aren’t doing anything new these days, Quantum and Woody will prove you wrong. You can’t get more enjoyment reading comics than this.

5/5