Samurai Jack: Quantum Jack #1
IDW
Written by Fabian Rangel Jr
Art by Warwick J. Caldwell
32 pages for $3.99
Solicit: A ruthless biker gang ambushes a royal envoy. The name of their leader? SAMURAI JACK! From the team that brought you HELENA CRASH comes an all-new take on the legendary wandering samurai that is completely different and yet surprisingly familiar! Wait, what? How is that even possible? YOU GOTTA READ SAMURAI JACK: QUANTUM JACK TO FIND OUT!
Jack is back but you might not recognize him. Unless you squint and let your eyes go out of focus a little. Namwolf and Space Riders writer Fabian Rangel Jr gives us a different vision of Jack as the baseball bat wielding leader of a biker gang in a post-apocalyptic future. But this alternate Jack is starting to realize all might not be as it seems.
Rangel applies the hyper-speed wacky story telling we’ve come to love from his other projects to Samurai Jack and the results are wonderful. The art by Warwick Caldwell certainly isn’t aping the hard edged, simple geometric style of the Samurai Jack cartoon but instead reminds me of Adventure Time via Paul Pope. It’s a safe choice to pick an artist that can mimic the style of the cartoon but I love Caldwell’s take on Jack in this alternate world. He packs the issue with wonderful panel after panel of robot and mutant dismembering fight scenes full of insane detail. Turns out Rangel is an artist too and supplies a bad-ass variant cover for the issue too.
Warwick Caldwell’s insane art is reminiscent of Rangel’s artist on Space Riders Alex Ziritt and really brings this story home. My only problem with the issue is IDW lists this as a 32 page comic but there’s only 20 pages of story. Quantum Jack is an insane read that captures the spirit of Samurai Jack perfectly while introducing readers to another insane art talent.
Rating: Huge BUY IT!
————
Matt Baum is the producer, co-founder, and co-host of the Two-Headed Nerd Comic Book Podcast. He is short and loves to talk.
