Will the next jump bring him home?
One of my pet peeves involves comics where you get a better idea of the plot from following promotional interviews than you do actually reading the first issue. Samurai Jack: Quantum Jack is one such case. The premise behind this new spinoff series is actually fairly straightforward. It basically fuses the franchise with Quantum Leap, with Jack being dragged between alternate realities with little memory of the man he used to be. But that premise isn't communicated particularly well on the page. In a way, the silent, minimalist nature of the franchise almost seems to be working against it in this case. Quantum Jack simply doesn't make a strong enough case for itself in its opening chapter.
The cross-dimensional angle doesn't come into play until very late in this issue, so essentially what writer Fabian Rangel Jr. and artist Warwick J. Caldwell deliver here is an Elseworlds-style take on Jack that fuses the franchise with a healthy dose of Mad Max. For a series already steeped in post-apocalyptic elements, it's a pretty natural fit. Rangel and Caldwell create a world that feels at once distinct from Jack's usual stomping grounds and still very much in line with the work of Genndy Tartakovsky. It's one that certainly boasts its own unique sense of visual style.
That style is likely to be a very polarizing one. Caldwell's work is very loose and frenetic compared to Tartakovsky's iconic style. Visually, the comic shares more with in common with something like Adventure Time than it does Samurai Jack. For the most part, that altered approach gives the book a strong flavor and personality. The diverse cast of monsters and warriors and the cartoonish action combine to form a very dynamic, even chaotic story. That said, the lack of environmental and background details does tend to work against the book at times, particularly in the case of one splash image that features Jack attack his enemies against a stark, white background.
Again, it's the inability of this issue to nail down the premise of the series that proves most frustrating. Rangel and Caldwell spend plenty of time in this unusual world, yet they do little to establish Jack's motivations or his relationships with his temporary minions. What's the driving conflict of this series, beyond Jack's need to escape this never-ending loop? What's the point in spending so much time in one location if that location is fleeting and unimportant to the larger narrative? Right now, the series needs a stronger, clearer hook if it's going to keep readers invested for the long haul.
The Verdict
Samurai Jack: Quantum Leap is clearly unafraid to push the franchise in a new direction, and it deserves credit for that. The series has a quirky sense of style that both respects the source material while charting its own course. However, this first issue is light on both plot and dialogue, and it fails to fully establish its premise or make Jack's relationships with the characters in this bizarre world. The series needs a little more in the plot department before it really comes into its own.
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