DCnU: Quality Watch

Yesterday I found two all-new Quality Comics standards in the pages of my Wednesday haul. The stunning spread below featured the unexpected return of the War Wheel (times two!) in the pages of Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #4. The War Wheel has always been a bane to the Blackhawks and first appeared in Quality Comics' Blackhawk #56 (Sept. 1952).

I have a real soft spot for this book, its lead character, and for the Creature Commandos. Ironically, this book's story is linked to others written by the creators of the next series I'm going to mention, The Ray. S.H.A.D.E. played a central role in all of Palmiotti and Gray's post-Infinite Crisis series, including those that dealt with the Freedom Fighters.
   

The War Wheel returns in spades, flanked by an army of G.I. Robots, in Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #4. Art by Alberto Ponticelli. 

And DC unveils the first major reinvention of a Quality property with four-issue limited series, The Ray. I was pretty hesitant about this, and disappointed that they chose not continue Ray Terrill as the character. But this version is in the hands of Palmiotti and Gray, who know their Quality stuff. They wrote the most recent Freedom Fighters series and the two preceding Uncle Sam series.

Lucien Gates is the DCnU's Ray, written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, and drawn by Jamal Igle and Rich Perrotta.

READ AT COSMIC TEAMS:

  The Ray IV • The Ray I, II, III • Freedom Fighters