Quantum And Woody: The Goat #1

James Asmus - Story+Script

Tom Fowler - Story+Pencils

Allen Passalaqua and Matt Milla - Colors

Dave Lanphear - Letters

 

Quantum And Woody has had  a slightly difficult last few chapters, because of an arc that didn’t sit quite right with most readers. Thankfully the original team on this volume of Quantum And Woody being James Asmus and Tom Fowler, are finally back for another adventure. Unfortunately, the results leave something to be desired here. This is not another tale featuring the titular heroes stumbling through misadventures. This chapter is formally entitled Quantum And Woody: The Goat. The goat is the star of the issue, which makes for an interesting obstacle due to the fact that the animal is unable to talk. This story has all the makings of a classic great issue with Asmus and company, but ends up falling short of the mass potential in which the story contains.

 

The tale revolves around the origin of The Goat, and is peppered with jokes and absurdist humor along the way. The highlight of the tale revolves around the very beginning, when the relationship between The Goat and his keeper is explored. There is a stunning piece of showmanship in the beginning that has sets ideas on fire in the way that only a Grant Morrison comic book would do. There are many interesting ties to the main story revolving around the two heroes, and some setup around the villains that also should engage readers. Another extremely interesting piece about the issue, is the way that the story mirrors the origin of Quantum and Woody themselves. Author James Asmus is saying some interesting things by comparing his main characters to a goat. Ultimately, the tale lacks that driving force to keep things interesting, as it is extremely unclear where the stakes are. There is no particular joke that will sweep readers off their feet here, just a few well timed chucklers. This is still by no means a bad coming, just and underwhelming one in the script department.

 

Fowler does impressive work around the script for this installment. The vibrant facial expressions coming off of each character are a pleasure to observe. The sequential scene aforementioned with the mess of ideas is the highlight of this tale. It shows that goat playing a bevy of different roles that are all incredibly engaging to observe within the issue. Each scene is completely dynamic, as so many different things are all happening at once. The comedic timing sells some of the wilder jokes that are less grounded in reality than some of the others. The moments of great emotion that overtake the goat in the beginning of the tale is very silly, and completely embraced by Fowler to the fullest.

Asmus and Fowler have something really special on their hands with Quantum And Woody: The Goat, but end up just missing their respective marks as creators. Hopefully the next installment of this title will kick a new off arc in style.