Quantum: Rock of Ages

(Dreamchilde, 2003-2004)
™ and ©2003 Philip Clark

Despite the title, Quantum: Rock of Ages is not about a time-traveling church choir. The rock of the title is an actual stone, imbued with unusual properties.

Nick Vargas finds that he has a piece of this stone, the Quantum Silica, embedded in his forehead. Aside from providing him with teleportation powers, the rock has him bouncing around parallel realities, changing into other people. This is intriguing enough to pique the reader’s curiosity, despite the fact that the action originates from yet another reality in which Nazis won World War II. Haven’t we worn out that particular alternate history by now?

The art is generally strong. There are a few places where it is particularly good. The many shades of gray do not blur into a swampy soup, which is a common problem in black-and-white comics that play it heavy on the inks. There’s no colorist on a black-and-white comic, but the credits list Mauricio Mandara as “grayscales.” If we had more Mandaras, we’d have fewer murky messes.

Quantum is a 12-issue limited series. The first issue has enough going for it that it’s worth picking up the next issue to see where it goes.

— Jack Abramowitz

Jump to issue: