Quantum and Woody

"Quantum and Woody" is an award-winning comic book created by Christopher Priest and Mark Bright, and published by Valiant Comics between 1996 and 1999. Advertised as "the world's worst super-hero team," "Quantum and Woody" was a superhero comedy, detailing the adventures of Eric "Quantum" Henderson and Woodrow "Woody" Van Chelton, former childhood friends who are now bound together by circumstance.

The series gained a dedicated fanbase online, aided by Priest's participation on USENET, but was canceled for sales reasons in mid-1998; the last issue was #17.

In 1999, Valiant resumed publishing the series. As a marketing promotion, instead of continuing where the series left off with #18, they released issue #32, as that was the issue that would have been released that month if the series had never been canceled. The next month, Valiant resumed regular numbering with #18. Four months later, Acclaim Entertainment shut down its comic book publishing division in anticipation of a bankruptcy filing after suffering heavy losses from its video game division; "Quantum and Woody" was canceled for a second time with #21.

The rights to "Quantum and Woody" are currently owned by Valiant Entertainment, Inc.

ynopsis

QUANTUM & WOODY is "the world's worst super-team", a dysfunctional version of BATMAN & ROBIN -- polar opposites handcuffed to one another in a twisted take on "The Defiant Ones," as the pair stumbles across a comedic action/adventure.

Quantum & Woody is more like M.A.S.H. than Perfect Strangers. It is a sophisticated, multi-faceted drama about two best friends.

Creators

The characters "Quantum & Woody" were created by Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright for Acclaim Comics (formerly Valiant Comics)

tory

ERIC (“Quantum") is a decorated Army tactical officer. Every move this type-A, African-American makes is planned with precision. His self-styled battle uniform contains dozens of sophisticated surveillance devices and defensive weapons.

WOODY ("Woody") is a goofy white guy with a guitar (but no band), whose idea of detective work is hanging a suspect out a window. He carries a nine millimeter and a Zippo lighter.

And they're stuck with each other.

Investigating the suspicious helicopter crash that killed their fathers, Eric and Woody are the victims of a high-tech industrial accident. Their bodies are turned into pure energy, and the stylized metal gauntlet they each wear is now the only thing keeping them in one piece. These gauntlets cannot be removed, and Eric and Woody must slam them together every 24 hours, to reset their energy matrix – or their atoms will break apart and their bodies will fade away.

Eric takes the code name "Quantum" to work undercover and find his father's killer. Woody wants to avenge his father's death, too -- but code names are stupid; people can call him "Woody." Together, they embark on a funny, "Lethal Weapon"-style action-adventure that takes two unlikely partners, and turns them into best friends. Quantum & Woody don't have "super powers" in the way the "Fantastic Four" do. But their bodies are now pure energy, so it makes them pretty much invulnerable (at least to traditional bullets); They have some energy-based abilities, and the gauntlets have some powers too.

Origins

Two former friends... reunited by tragedy, now linked for life. Eric Henderson and Woodrow Van Chelton never thought they would end up like this. Each seeking his fathers' mysterious killer, Eric and Woody become inextricably linked by two wristbands of incredible power. Deciding to try to use these powers for good, they instead become the world's worst superhero team - Quantum & Woody.

Eric and Woody were best friends... almost brothers. They were inseparable, spending most of their early lives together. Then one day Woody just left... no word, no note, no nothing. When Eric asks why, a classmate intimates that it was probably because Eric is black.

After fifteen years of separation, Eric and Woody meet again at their fathers' funeral. Eric thinks their fathers' assistant, David Warrant, is the man behind their deaths. Finding a pair of metal bands amongst their fathers' inventions, Eric and Woody each put one on and snoop around their fathers' lab.

Trapped in the lab by Warrant, Eric and Woody duke it out, accidentally clanging bands and causing a massive explosion, destroying both the lab and Warrant.

One of the downsides of Eric and Woody's newfound powers is demonstrated to them rather effectively - if they don't touch their power bands together once every twenty-four hours, they'll both vanish. Like it or not... they're stuck together for life.

Woody decides that he and Eric should do something more with their powers than get together once a day to argue and clang their bands together. He suggests they become investigators, but Eric isn't one to go half way... and Quantum & Woody are born.

Quotes

"From the onset, Doc suggested we reverse the likely roles, making the black guy the straight man and the white guy the irreverent funnyman. What I wanted to do was play with themes of race and political correctness, coloring outside of the lines and enjoying the freedom of not being at DC or Marvel. We both wanted the book to have heart. And to have lots of action." - Christopher Priest

"I think a lot of the humor in the first issue came about as a result of my having to write it in a New York hotel room while my laptop (and later Acclaim's loaner laptop) kept dying. I wrote issue #1 out of sequence because, well, first issues are boring. Here's the heroes. Here's their origin. Here's the villain. Yawn. So I mixed it up, moving things around in sequence and separating them with titles, like a blackout sketch comedy (or the Frasier TV show, for you younger kiddies). The humor was a mean-spirited irreverence in the vein of David Letterman and Howard Stern" - Christopher Priest

Characters

*Quantum/Eric Henderson
*Woody/Woodrow Van Chelton
*David Warrant
*G.O.A.T.

Awards

1997 Squiddy Award, long established fan awards, for best creative team

The trade paperback "Quantum & Woody: The Director's Cut" was a top votegetter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album for 1998.

External links

* [http://www.xomanowar.com/valiant/QuantumWoody/quantumwoody.html] Quantum & Woody fan page
* [http://www.mdbright.com/AcclaimComics.html] MD Bright on Q&W
* [http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants/Best97.html] Best comics of 1997
* [http://www.carbonatedink.com/words/166/] Carbonated Ink of Q&W