Alex K Cossa, Author at Graphic Policy

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DC Rebirth: Recap and Review Comics Released 12/27

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Alex K Cossa

Welcome to Graphic Policy’s DC Rebirth: Recap And Review where we take a look at the comics released under DC‘s Rebirth banner and try to work out just how accessible they are for new readers – we’ll also be providing recap of sorts for the relevant story beats up until the issue in question in order to help you figure out if the series is something you’re interested in.

Each comic will receive a rating of Friendly or Unfriendly based on how easy it was for new readers to pick them up; the ratings are based solely on the issues released in the post-Rebirth ongoing series. More consideration regarding the comic’s accessibility will be given for the specific issue being read rather than the series overall, but if reading a back issue will help, then that will be mentioned. You’ll also notice that each comic will get a rating that falls on Graphic Policy’s typical ten point scale, which is there to help you pick between issues if you only want to check out one or two.

Not every comic is covered week to week, and that’s because I sometimes forget to read them (although that doesn’t happen often), or I really can’t bring myself to pic up the issue. If I have missed an issue, typically I won’t go looking for back issues to catch up on events – this feature is all about accessibility for new readers, after all.

Action Comics #994 Guest starring Booster Gold, who gives a Friendly enough recap at the beginning of this book for those new to the series or returning after a few issues, this issue is easy enough to jump onto, even if it doesn’t do anything too interesting. 6/10

Detective Comics #971 The Victim Syndicate, a group of formerly innocent people caught in the crossfire between Batman and his war on crime have taken over Arkham Asylum, and they have Clayface trapped inside (Clayface being one of Batman’s team as they’re working on a cure for his condition, he’s able to remain human with a bracelet) . There’s a lot of action this issue, which lends a Friendly tone as it limits the plot movement… but it’s not the best issue of the week. 6.5/10

The Flash #37 The Rogues are running a criminal empire right under Flash’s nose in Iron Hieghts prison, and he has no idea. As far as jumping on points go you could do worse, but as long as you’re okay with putting the small things together as you go along then this issue is Friendly.

Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #35 The Guardians have been kidnapped by the Controllers who are harvesting the Guardians life energy to produce new Controllers, and Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, Kyle Raynor and Jon Stewart are going to mount a four man rescue mission. This is a Friendly comic that’s just pure fun. 7.25/10

The Hellblazer #17 The second part in an ongoing arc, of which I missed the first so have no recap for you. Thankfully, this is a Friendly issue that’s quite easy to follow along with. 7/10

Suicide Squad #32 The finale of a story that saw the return of two Rick Flags (one who was presumed dead several issues ago, who is also the grandson of the other) while the Squad is fighting a space monster. It’s chaotic, well drawn, and Friendly if you just go for the art and action sequences. 7/10

Teen Titans #15 Part three of an inter-series crossover that concludes in Superman #38, this won’t be an ideal jumping on point. It’s good, but Unfriendly. 7/10

Wonder Woman #37 Darksied is killing the children of Zeus to absorb their power to grow stronger (apparently he was a baby), and his daughter had been working with Wonder Woman’s brother (yup) to find the demigods. Then Wonder Woman got blindsided by an attack and Zeus showed up to end it all. The issue is Friendly, but it’s utter crap. 4/10

That’s a wrap for this week folks. I’ll see you next time!

Mini Reviews For The Week Ending 12/30

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling short reviews from the staff of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full review for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews.

Logan

Doomsday Clock #2 (DC) Doomsday Clock #2 is more like a bona fide crossover and less like a Watchmen sequel, which is very much a good thing. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank leave Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ world and unleash Ozymandias, Rorschach, and company on the DC Universe. Once they arrive, Johns’ plotting gets lean and mean with an intrigue filled overarching storyline about a merger between Wayne Enterprises and Lexcorp, a battle between genius one percenters. The banter between Ozy, Rorschach, and two fitting DC characters is worth the price of admission, and sometimes Johns shuts up and lets Frank work some formalist storytelling magic with some beautiful silent sequences of the passage between two universes or how the Batcave would look to a total stranger. And most of this is within the constraints of a nine panel grid, which lets him add humor or interesting character moments that complements or contrasts with Johns’ narration. Overall: 8 Recommendation: Buy

Phoenix Resurrection #1 (Marvel) A pretty generic mega-superhero team up is bookended by some eerie storytelling by Matthew Rosenberg and Leinil Yu. Rosenberg keeps things mysterious in his plot and hints at the return of Adult Jean Grey while simultaneously using pretty obvious foreshadowing like a Phoenix in the sky and weird energy surges. Even when divided into small groups, the cast is pretty unwieldy, and characters barely get personalities much less arcs. Phoenix Resurrection is serviceable, yet not jaw dropping. This could also describe Leinil Yu’s art work. Overall: 6.7 Verdict: Read

Ryan C

Moon Knight # 190 (Marvel)** – I give Max Bemis a lot of credit for engineering a terrific plot twist here — unfortunately, he telegraphs it in advance about halfway through the issue so that when it finally hits on the last page, it’s no longer a surprise. Apart from that, the story just kind of runs in place. Jacen Burrows continues to deliver the goods on art, at least, so there’s that, but inker Guillermo Ortega drowns out a lot of the detail in the pencils with a quick, sloppy-looking job. Overall: 3.5 Recommendation: Pass

Thanos # 14 (Marvel)** The first half of this issue is pure recap, and the second half is a pointless fight between the present and future iterations of Thanos that ends with a “let’s join forces” cliffhanger that’s anything but unpredictable. Poor show there, Donny Cates. Fortunately, Geoff Shaw’s sweeping cosmic vistas make for some seriously compelling pages to look at, but the book just isn’t worth reading. Overall: 4 Recommendation: Pass

The Demon: Hell Is Earth #2 (DC)** – I was more than pleasantly surprised by the first issue of this six-parter, but things this time out take a serious step back as Andrew Constant delivers a poorly-paced script that actually advances the storyline very little, while Brad Walker’s art loses much of the fun Kirby influence we saw last time and ends up looking like any number of personality-free “New 52” comics. Overall: 2 Recommendation: Pass

Underwinter: A Field Of Feathers #3 (Image)** – Ray Fawkes is masterfully steering this quietly visceral horror comic toward something big, and in this issue he makes a lot of progress toward tying events of this series in with its predecessor. His impressionistic art is admittedly not to everyone’s tastes, but for my part I think it works perfectly for the kind of story he’s telling. Borderline-magnificent stuff. Overall: 8 Recommendation: Buy

Shean

Punisher Platoon #4 (Marvel) This book gets stronger with every issue and this particular installment goes places most comics don’t. We find Frank getting to know each of his subordinates, where we find a leader two steps ahead of everyone. We also get to see how the Vietcong views the American occupation , as we get a first hand look of how propaganda as well as the evils that were done by American soldiers. By book’s end, the Vietcong assassin , proves she is a formidable opposition and the coming standoff between her and Frank, will be one to watch. Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Star Wars: Storms Of Crait #1 (Marvel) Usually, when comic and movie companies do standalone prequels, they’re sometimes inferior bridges to their source material. In this standalone issue, I am so glad to have read something in the same league as Timothy Zahn’s Shadows of the Empire,as we get the back story on how the Rebellion discovered Crait in the first place. We find Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie and Wedge Antilles on a reconnaissance mission to find a new rebel stronghold but soon find themselves in a trap. By book’s end, our heroes escaped mostly unscathed except for Han, for any fan of Empire Strikes Back, this book will give you the shot of nostalgia for all of us who crave to see Leia in action, as the team accurately draws her and writes her much in the spirit of Carrie Fisher’s portrayal. Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Well, there you have it, folks. The reviews we didn’t quite get a chance to write. See you next week!

Please note that with some of the above comics, Graphic Policy was provided FREE copies for review. Where we purchased the comics, you’ll see an asterisk (*). If you don’t see that, you can infer the comic was a review copy. In cases where we were provided a review copy and we also purchased the comic you’ll see two asterisks (**).

Underrated: Revolver

Posted on December 30, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Revolver

Published by Vertigo, Revolver was written and drawn by Matt Kindt in 2010, and as near as I can tell was released as a graphic novel first. The wonderful hardcover collection in my hands will set you back around $24.99 at full price, but I picked up a used copy in a sale at my LCS for about $2 (I paid for this out of my own pocket, and happily so).

So what’s the story about?

Stuck in a dead-end job with a boss he can’t stand and a materialistic girlfriend, Sam rises from a late night of barhopping to discover his whole world has changed. Literally.An avian flu outbreak has killed millions, the nation’s infrastructure has crashed and a dirty bomb has destroyed Seattle. Forced to go on the run, Sam awakes to a normal world the next day – and to chaos again the day after that. A single constant between the two worlds will undo all the damage, if he can find it – but that seems impossible. In one world, anything goes. In the other, he’s out of danger and sleepwalking through life. So Sam’s got an even bigger problem: Which world to choose?

Taken from the Vertigo website, the above text is also located on the back of the book, but that wasn’t what sold me on the book. The entire reason I picked this up is because the story was written by Matt Kindt, who is one of my favourite writers in comics today. That it was also $2 was the icing on a very lovely cake for your humble writer.

Revolver can perhaps best be described as a slight blend between the inverse of Groundhog Day and Fight Club where the protagonist wakes up one day in the normal world, and the next day he wakes up in a post apocalyptic world after several bombs have gone off, and the power is failing. The obvious question asked is which of the two worlds our protagonist wants to live in by the end of the book as a choice has to be made.

Kindt takes a somewhat unlikeable office worker on a somewhat introspective journey as he explores what living truly is. Is it a life where you go through the motions because you have to, or is it a life where you need to feel a sense of purpose (not necessarily the danger inherent in the post apocalyptic world). Revolver was far more interesting a read than I expected, but it’s when you sit down and just think about the book afterwards that you realize just how deep a story it actually is. The minimalist art only helps in that regard, with subtle shades of colour helping you differentiate between which world we’re joining the protagonist in.

This isn’t my favourite Matt Kindt story I’ve read all year, but it is one that I think fans of science fiction will enjoy.

Unless the comics industry ceases any and all publication look for a future installment of Underrated to cover more comics that aren’t cracking the top 100.

Review: X-O Manowar #10

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

“One does not rise to power without making enemies along the way…and for X-O Manowar, the armored emperor of the planet Gorin, those enemies’ grievances have now come due. To end his reign, Aric of Dacia’s adversaries have paid a blood-fueled bounty to a ragtag assemblage of the cosmos’s most feared undesirables and cutthroat killers – alien beings whose viciousness is matched only by their greed. And their hunt starts…now.”

Now that Aric of ~~Dacia~~ ~~Earth~~ Urth has become the de facto emperor of an entire planet after a commanding a successful revolution on the planet Gorin, he’s finding that the difficulties of leading three nations in peace after the wars present a set of problems all on their own now that the entire way of life on the planet has been upended. So much so, in fact, that the conclusion of the previous issue saw one of Aric’s inner circle reveal to the audience that a contract had been put upon the head of the ruler.

But who would dare take money to kill the man wearing the most powerful weapon in the galaxy? The answer to that question is found within X-O Manowar #10‘s pages as we’re given an introduction to the bounty hunters who are going (to try) to kill X-O Manowar.

Matt Kindt spends the issue introducing us to the bounty hunters we’ll be seeing a lot more of, and wastes no time in letting the reader know just how tough and ruthless these people are; in fact, that’s actually the comic in a nutshell. Because this issue is all about establishing these new characters before they come into contact with X-O Manowar you’d be forgiven for thinking that not much actually happens beyond a lot of expositionary dialogue and long winded talky sections. But if you did think that, you’d be wrong. Kindt is able to tell an interesting story as he drip feeds us bits and pieces of their backstory and character traits whilst using the deep space setting to explore some pretty interesting ideas (the prison without walls for example), no matter how throwaway they may seem.

The deep space setting allows Renato Guedes to flex his creative muscles when bringing Kindt’s script to a darkly vivid life. There was a minor nitpick with the art; the review copy has a decent sized watermark across the middle of every page (and understandably so) which did sometimes obscure aspects of the visual delight that is X-O Manowar #10, but as your copy doesn’t have the watermark then you won’t have the same problem as I did. Normally I wouldn’t mention this, but the art has a general darkness to it that’s a little incompatible with the watermark, I’m largely basing the score off the preview pages as Guedes has literally nothing to do with said marking.

Indeed, his artwork is, frankly, stunning when you really stop to look at it. His command of colour and visual pacing elevate an already solid script into a comic that’s a must read; something that’s even more impressive when you consider that X-O Manowar #10 could easily be a forgettable issue when you look at it on paper. After all, 22 pages dedicated to learning bit more about some potentially throwaway characters is something that you could easily leave on the shelf.

But when it’s this good, that’d be a terrible shame.

Story: Matt Kindt Artist: Renato Guedes
Story: 8.6 Art: 9 Overall: 8.8 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided a FREE copy for review, which is awesome, however I’ll still purchase my own copy anyway.

Review: Eternity #3

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

“In a realm beyond the limits of human perception, a group of impossibly powerful beings have laid claim to a human child… Now, to save their son, Abram Adams – the god-like being known as Divinity – and his comrade turned lover, Myshka, must finally reconcile their humanity with the unreal abilities conferred upon them…and journey into the source of their power… Where they will bear witness to the truth of their purpose…and their role in the cosmic reckoning that is to come…”

Eternity #3 is one of two Matt Kindt scripted titles set in the far reaches of space that’s out this week. This one follows Abram Adams, aka Divinity, and Myksha, the Russian Cosmonauts gifted with incredible power after a mission to the far reaches of the galaxy, as they return to the source of their power to rescue their baby from a strange group who are trying to fulfill a prophecy. In it’s simplest terms, Eternity has been about parents literally going to ends of the galaxy for their son, and finding themselves embroiled in a civil war between two factions seeking to take advantage of the death of the Observer.

Once again Divinity’s preference toward avoiding violence is present, with a poignant internal monologue set against some incredible visuals that show you in moments you’re not in Kansas anymore. The creative team do a fantastic job in introducing you to the world of the Unknown as the story is happening, blending the exposition into the art and dialogue with such effortless grace that you won’t realize how well it’s being done until you’re more than half way through the issue.

Yet despite the comic taking place as far from Earth as you’re likely to get in the Valiant universe, it’s also one of the most intensely human and relatable stories the company have published recently. Eternity #3 is a nigh on perfect comic in a series that brings the focus of the franchise back to Divinity, and the very human soul wielding godlike power and away from the alternate reality Stalinverse. As much as I enjoyed Divinity III, Eternity is shaping up to be a much stronger story in almost every way.

Story: Matt Kindt Penciller: Trevor Hairsine
Inker: Ryan Winn with Stefano Gaudiano Colourist: David Baron
Story: 9 Art: 9.75 Overall: 9.5 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided a FREE copy for review, I’ll still pick up a copy from my LCS

DC Rebirth: Recap and Review Comics Released 12/20

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

Aquaman #31 If you’re thinking of starting this series (and you should) then you could do a lot worse than here. Indeed, if this is your first issue, then you’ll find a recap more than you’ll find at the beginning of the comic will rob you of a couple of interesting moments that those reading the comic will already be aware of. Needless to say, this is Friendly. 7.5/10

Batman #37 You know Batman and Catwoman are engaged? Great, you’re caught up. Now go enjoy a wonderful story. 9/10 (Yes, it’s Friendly)

Batwoman #10 Having been caught by Scarecrow and subjected to some mental torture and experimentation Batwoman and another prisoner, Colony Prime, escaped. Now, Batwoman has finally cornered Scarecrow while still under the influence of his fear toxin. Unfortunately, this is closer to Unfriendly that not, but that shouldn’t discourage you from at least thinking about this issue. 6.75/10

Green Lanterns #37 Following on from a story where the Lanterns relocated a dying planet’s population to Ungaran, an already populated planet, at the behest of the Ungaran regent, this issue sees the Lanterns return to said planet to help quell an uprising because of those relocated people. A Friendly issue that skirts racism with a less than subtle story. 7.75/10

Justice League #35 Although this is part two in The People Verses The Justice League, it’s almost a better place to start than the last issue. Friendly, and not too bad a story that looks at the public images of superheroes. 7/10

NTW_Cv35_ds

Nightwing #35 The start of a new arc is, once again, a great (an Friendly) place for you to jump into this series. Nightwing is forging his own path in Bludhaven, away from Batman and Bruce Wayne, and his struggles to establish himself in a city that doesn’t want him have been quite entertaining. Nightwing’s at his best when he’s against the wall, and he’s against the wall here. 8/10

Superman #37 The first part of the story that continues in Super Sons #11 (and you can guess which I read first…). Obviously, this is a Friendly issue, and probably should be read before Super Sons #11. 7/10

Super Sons #11 The second part of a story that crosses multiple series, and one I don’t remember reading the first part of. Despite that, this is still a pretty Friendly issue that touches on Damian’s touchy relationship with the Teen Titans and captures how he and Super Boy relate to each other in a few short pages. 7/10

Trinity #16 You know who the title characters are, and you probably know – or at least have an idea of – who Deadshot is. You’ll find this single issue story Friendly. 6.75/10

That’s a wrap for this week folks. I’ll see you next time!

Mini Reviews For The Week Ending 12/23

Posted on December 24, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews.

Logan

Dark Nights Metal #4 (DC)– Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo plunge DC’s greatest heroes deeper into darkness and give Batman and Superman a glimpse of hope before snatching it away. Even though Capullo and inker Jonathan Glapion do some visually striking things with Kendra Saunders and Carter Hall’s nightmarish new designs, they don’t make interesting or emotionally resonant bad guys compared to the Dark Batmen. However, this weakness is counterbalanced by a guest appearance from Dream and Lucien’s library, who nudge the plot along and add a touch of the metafictional. Like much of Metal, this comic is a little too busy at times, but it’s relentlessly entertaining with cool moments like Batman punching Dark Multiverse Supermen with something called a “Five Finger Death Punch” Overall: 7.9 Recommendation: Buy

Quantum and Woody #1 (Valiant)– Quantum and Woody are back and kind of estranged in the new series from Daniel Kibblesmith and Kano. The plot is a little too non-linear for its own good, but is sprinkled with funny moments, like comparing Quantum’s day at the office and Woody’s late night Russian mob poker games, and heartbreaking ones like Quantum and Woody reluctantly meeting up every day to hit their bands together so they won’t die. Kano’s art is really immersive with all kinds of fun side details and clashing color scheme It’s a pretty good revival of my personal favorite Valiant series. Overall: 7.4 Recommendation: Read

Ryan C

Batman #37 (DC)** – A promising start, but lackluster finish for this little two-parter, as the whole “Superman and Batman trade places” novelty wears off after a couple of pages — but keeps going for the entire issue. Nice-looking art from Clay Mann isn’t enough to save Tom King’s extended gag strip. Overall: 4. Recommendation: Pass

Tales Of Suspense #100 (Marvel)** – Marvel resurrects another old title for a limited (as in, five-issue) run, this one seeing Hawkeye and Winter Soldier teaming up to find Black Widow — assuming she’s even, ya know, alive. Matthew Rosenberg’s script moves along at a nice little clip, and Travel Foreman’s art is solid, though nowhere near as interesting as his run on “Animal Man.” Nothing that’ll blow you away happens here, but as an example of competent comic book storytelling, what the hell, it’ll do in a pinch. Overall: 6.5. Recommendation: Read.

Unholy Grail #5 (Aftershock)** – I had been enjoying Cullen Bunn and Mikro Colak’s slightly revisionist take on Arthurian legend, but now that it’s over,, and ends more or less exactly as we’d figured it would, the whole thing just feels like a Cliff’s Notes version of “Camelot.” Kinda struggling to see what the point of it all was, really — stunning art, though, so props for that. Overall: 6. Recommendation: Read if you come this far, otherwise pass.

The Wild Storm #10 (DC/WildStorm)** – Warren Ellis seems to play a lot of his cards this issue, but for every revelation, a half-dozen new questions arise. And now we’re getting David Icke-style Repitlians added to the mix? Yeah, I only think I know where this is going. More superb art from Jon Davis-Hunt is the icing on a complex, multi-layered, mysterious, high-tech conspiracy cake. Overall: 8. Recommendation: Buy.

Shean

Deadpool Vs Old Man Logan #3 (Marvel)– We catch up with Wade and Logan as they look for Genform who has been kidnapped. Along the way, they didn’t out there’s a lab testing mutants, where she probably is. The duo have to fight their way through foot soldiers and ninjas. By the time they get to her, Wade gets grabbed and tested just like Genform. Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Well, there you have it, folks. The reviews we didn’t quite get a chance to write. See you next week!

Those Two Geeks With Alex & Joe Episode Thirteen

Posted on December 24, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

On the docket this week: The geeks have seen Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, and want to talk about it. And they do. With full spoilers almost right from the get go, so be warned.

As always, the Alex and Joe can be found on twitter respectively @karcossa and @jc_hesh if you feel the need to tell them they’re wrong individually, or @those2geeks if you want to yell at them together on twitter or email ItsThose2Geeks@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you ~~next week~~ in the future!

Underrated: Comics Not In Diamond’s Top 100 For November

Posted on December 23, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

This week we’re going to be looking at a list of comics that are all fantastic, but don’t get the attention that they deserve. Now I’m not even going to pretend to have a definitively exhaustive list of underrated comics here, because we’re hoping that you decide to check at least one of these series out next time you’re looking for something new either online or at your LCS, and giving you a huge list to check out would be counter productive to that. Instead, you’ll find four to six comics that are worth your attention that failed to crack the top 100 in sales. You’ll notice that there’s only one comic from a publisher featured – this was done to try and spread the love around, rather than focus exclusively on one publisher.

Where possible, I’ve also avoided comics that have appeared on the last version of this list, but the only hard stipulation for this week: not one of the comics made it into the top 100 for November’s comic sales, according to Comichron, which is why they’re Underrated.

Unholy Grail #4 (Aftershock)
November Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 311 /4,496
A revisionist take on the legend of King Arthur, this series asks “what if Merlin wasn’t a wizard, but a demon instead?” It’s a darker take than you’re used to because of the demon infusion, but the Cullen Bunn scripted tale breathes a new life into the legendary story. It also doesn’t hurt that the comic looks great.

Fence #1 (Boom! Box)
November Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 235 /7,484
An all ages tale about a fencer from a less privileged background with plenty of raw talent trying to compete against some of the best fencers in his age group. It’s a coming of age style story that handles the sport of fencing admirably well, and was one of Graphic Policy’s most anticipated comics the week it came out. Go find out why.

Eternity #2 (Valiant)
November Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 221 /8,647
The continuation of the Divinity story finds two of the most powerful beings in the Valiant universe travelling the galaxy in search of their kidnapped child. Chock full of Kirbyesque imagery, the fourth miniseries in the saga is also a pretty accessible jumping on point as well, oddly enough, as very little of the previous saga has been mentioned thus far. A wonderfully imaginative story told only as Valiant can tell it.

Kill Or Be Killed #14 (Image)
November Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 126 /16,936
A more realistic take on a gun wielding vigilante who murders evil people to sell their soul to a demon. Yes, I realize that sentence shouldn’t work, but you’ll see how great this is when you give it a look.

Deathstroke #25 (DC)
November Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 109 /20,899
I have an interesting relationship with this series. I’ve always thought that it’d do better in terms of the story if you were to read it in large chunks, but if you’re looking for something a little different from DC that doesn’t shy away from the villain’s past, then you should check out this intelligently written series that doesn’t hand you anything on a silver platter.

Unless the comics industry ceases any and all publication look for a future installment of Underrated to cover more comics that aren’t cracking the top 100.

Review: Quantum & Woody #1

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Alex K Cossa

“Sometimes…you embrace your destiny. And sometimes…you and your troublemaking adopted brother find yourselves trapped in a scientific lab explosion that grants you $@&%ing awesome superpowers. As a result of their accident, Eric and Woody Henderson – aka Quantum and Woody – must “klang” their wristbands together every 24 hours or both dissipate into nothingness. Which makes superhero-ing pretty awkward when you’re not on speaking terms at the moment. See, Eric has been keeping a pretty big secret: He knows who Woody’s birth father really is…and where he’s been hiding all these years.”

There is a lot to talk about Quantum and Woody #1. Firstly, the sheer number of variant covers is unreal, almost comical, really, because there is the ultimate variant cover that will out variant any variant by design (which is utterly brilliant), as well as the “oh shit we ran out of foil so lets just use a bunch of different types for cover 1B” accidental variant that will inevitably drive sales high as completists look to collect every possible variation of the numerous different foil covers available. Oh, and there’s also quite a few meme variants where the title characters are mimicking different popular internet memes. And this doesn’t even begin to cover the single issue second printing to benefit the CBLDF.

To say that Valiant are embracing the idea of variant covers with this comedy series would be fairly accurate. Once you get past all the bells and whistles of the metric fuck tonne of variants, you’re left wondering whether the series has any hope of sustaining enough of a readership on its own merits, or whether the sales will drop off once the variants are done.Coming into this issue, I had read one issue of featuring these characters before (Q2: The Return Of Quantum And Woody #1) and then never went back for the second issue – that should tell you what I thought of it. Needless to say, I was going into this with some trepidation and with a whole lot of fog regarding who the characters were. I needn’t have been worried. Written by Colbert Report writer Daniel Kibblesmith, Quantum & Woody #1 features art and colours by Kano, the opening to the new series starts with an appropriately titled Don’t Call It A Threepreat (which immediately put the utterly unrelated LL Cool J song in my head) that lets you know from the outset that this is a continuation of Quantum and Woody’s story, and not an attempt to reboot the pair for a new audience.

But that doesn’t mean new readers (such as myself) will be lost. There’s a useful recap blurb at the beginning that gives you the basics (such as that the pair need to Klang to stay alive, but not why – which is ultimately irrelevant), and the rest is filled in throughout the issue itself in some well placed exposition. Kibblesmith packs a lot of story into this issue, and yet the comic never feels crowded or rushed; it has that unique quality of moving the story along without sacrificing the pacing or characterization. That being said, the issue strays dangerously close to feeling like a collection of moments rather than a cohesive single issue as we explore several different (yet still relevant) points in the lives of our heroes.

Where there is no little niggles is the brilliantly chaotic art. Credit for that belongs to Kano and the way his pages are laid out. They’re great. The early issue chase scene involving an ice cream truck is kinetic, the shit from the fan nearly splatters your hands and face as you read the scene, all while enveloped in a colour scheme that will leave your eyes bleeding.

That probably sounds awful, doesn’t it? But it’s not; far from it, in fact because Quantum & Woody #1 is a visual treat that stands above the numerous variant options available.

Gimmick covers aside, the content of the comic itself does more than enough to pull you in for the second (and possibly third) issue on its own merits. A successful return for the worlds worst superhero team, and one that doesn’t require any familiarity with the two.

Story: Daniel Kibblesmith Art: Kano
Story: 8.2 Art: 8.98 Overall: 8.8 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided a FREE copy for review, but I picked my copy up from my LCS today.

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