Quantum and Woody now and then
or, why it wouldn’t work without one or the other
It can’t be a coincidence that the comic starts with the both of them as kids. In fact, it’s needed in order to not only to justify their attitudes towards each other, but also to show their own flaws and strengths. Eric is capable of handling himself but he’s insecure, sheltered and gets into trouble because he can’t say ‘no’ to his friend Woody. Woody is irresponsible, has big issues with authority, but he sees things from a bigger perspective and is not as stupid as one would have assumed if one only had seen him as an adult.
And since they haven’t seen each other for fifteen years, this affects how they behave, as all they know is how the other one was as a kid.
We get to see how Eric gets his hopes crushed, as the world really doesn’t work the way he believed it did. We get to see Woody lose his mother to addiction and how he grew up losing pretty much everything. Eric’s life is still pretty much the same, but for Woody it’s a way out. Sure, it is more unreal for him and he can’t commit to it in the same way as Eric who goes into the extreme in his seriousness once he’s talked into it. He knows that, just as before when Woody made him carry his neighbours “dead” dog, it will lead into trouble but he can’t say no. He really can’t.
The flashbacks keep progressing too and get closer and closer to “real-time” as well as they reflect what happens. Only when something is needed we get the flashbacks. If we hadn’t seen how Woody almost lived on the streets, we might have cared but we wouldn’t know how this affected him. We wouldn’t know his family issues nor would we know just how messed up Eric’s life really was. While they might still be searching for a purpose, they might at least have found a place—something that only is made clear through the “then”-flashes.
And as the last time, the cancellation of Quantum and Woody was criminal to say the least.
