Klang! Quantum and Woody are back (again)!

Eric Henderson and Woody Henderson (once Van Chelton) are a strange couple of step-brothers:linked together by a mysterious accident that forced them to touch their wristband, unless they want to dissolve into a black hole of quantum energy, they became the “worst superhero duo of the world”. Since then, they have saved the world (and destroyed a parallel version of it) and fought a bunch of surreal enemies, risking their life and those of many others in a whirlwind of grotesque adventures and deranged situations. But a mystery in their families risks to break the duo apart, setting the stage for a fight between the two brothers, a year from now.
Moving between several temporal stages, Daniel Kibblesmith creates a convincing number-one-issue, a perfect starting point for all readers: the writer manages to explore the characters’ past (both remote and recent) without slowing down the pace of the issue and introducing new, plot-twisting elements to the great chemistry of the duo in order to create new, unexpected reactions between the two.

Kibblesmith is able to wisely mix the characters-defining nonsense with glimpses of psychological deepening, starting to explore some of the unknown familiar background of Woody by dropping small, catching clues that push the reader to want to know more about the story, all peppered with hilarious, excellently paced punchlines and brilliant, caustic dialogues (like the comical use of social media by Woody).

Kano is the perfect partner-in-crime for a Q&W comic book: he already showed with the miniseries “The Delinquents” great ability in telling a superhero comedy story, but with this new series he outdid himself for good. The artist changes the paneling continuously, multiplying the cartoons to focus on small details that guide the eye of the reader smoothly through the story. Kano’s storytelling can adapt to different situations, increasing the pace during the most adrenaline-inducing and dynamic parts (like the auto-chase with an ice cream van) and slowing it down during the most intimate and reflective moments (the silent, intense confrontation between the two superheroes around the middle point of the issue). The clean and precise line of the artist draws all the slightest emotion of the characters, while the careful choice of the shots and the colours underlines the most important moments of the story: a perfect example is given by the sequence of the surprising discovery of Eric about his and Woody’s father, where the red turn to deep purple and then to shadows and cold colours, as the shot turns from Eric’s shocked eyes to a mysterious figure in the dim light.

The new Quantum and Woody series is off to a great start, bringing back the characters that we love and promising new, interesting developments.

PS: Oh, yeah, forgot to say. These guys have the most crazy variant cover of all time, the variant cover to end all the variant cover. Check it out!