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By Eliot Rahahl, Francis Portela, Andrew Dalhouse, Dave Sharpe & Ariel Olivetti
Quantum and Woody is one of Valiant’s more consistently entertaining properties, and that usually can be attributed to the light humor the writers mix in with the superhero drama. The basic premise of the book, however, is one that often leads to repetition: a pair of adopted brothers who must “clang” their respective quantum control bands together every 24 hours or risk evaporating into energy. Since the basic concept is that they have to stay together to survive, the most obvious and frequent way to create conflict in the book is to have them butt heads. It works, sure, but it can get old if it’s done too often.
This Harbinger Wars 2 crossover issue not only avoids that trope, but it also shows how a good crossover chapter is done. The events of the main book have resulted in a nationwide blackout, which also has caused Quantum and Woody’s powers to short out somehow. That’s literally all you need to know from the main crossover, and it’s covered deftly on the recap page. From there, we launch straight into a story about the suddenly de-powered brothers having to deal with one of the classic superhero situations: evacuating the residents of a burning building.
The status quo of this title is usually “Eric is the responsible one, Woody is the goof-off.” And yeah, we get that feeling in a couple of panels. For the most part, however, we see two men who deeply care about each other trying to deal with a situation that, frankly, just went way over their heads. Woody steps up and shows that, beneath the flashy, attention-grabbing veneer, he’s still got the heart of a hero. Eric may not be as perfect as he wants to be, but his determination makes up for that. And at no point does Eliot Rahahl lapse into the sort of Odd Couple shenanigans that may be standard for this book, but would feel completely inappropriate for the situation.
The artwork here is particularly strong. Francis Portela does fine work with the layouts and characters, and is especially good at depicting the emotion on the faces (even with Quantum’s mask obscuring Eric’s face). But we’ve got to throw out an MVP award to Andrew Dalhouse. Colorists are often among the unsung heroes of comic books, but he does a masterful job here -- cold blues to depict the blackout-stricken city, hot oranges and yellows of the fire, and truly beautiful work blending and juxtaposing the two. The book really looks great.
There’s a nice cliffhanger, one that seems to indicate that even though Quantum and Woody is not one of the major titles in Harbinger Wars 2, the events of that crossover just may have significance here regardless. That’s a nice way to handle it. That’s how you do a crossover right.
Blake M. Petit, whose last major crossover was a Doritos Locos Taco, has been pontificating about pop culture online for over a decade. You can follow him at BlakeMPetit.com and, if you're feeling generous, check out his books on Amazon.
