Quantum Leap Issue #5 – “Seeing is Believing” (Innovation Publishing) – Blue Towel Productions

Sam leaps into Hank Briscoe, a reporter with a history of drinking problems in 1957. He meets the young Katrina Mabe while covering a story, and discovers that her destiny to be a key person in NASA is under threat, which will likely have devastating effects on Project Quantum Leap itself. The crux of the issue is getting Katrina’s father Mark to accept that she is telling the truth when she claims to have witnessed a UFO. Sam is able to accomplish this by arranging for Mark to see the UFO himself, and the resulting success also helps Hank find a new lease on life.

Terry Collins – Writer. Rob Davis – Illustrator. Vickie Williams – Letterer. Scott Rockwell – Colorist. George Broderick, jr. – Editor. Created by Donald Bellisario.

Previous Story: The $50,000 Quest (Quantum Leap #4) • Next Story:  A Tale of two Cindy’s (Quantum Leap #6)

Comments:
So I don’t know what’s going on, but this is now the third consecutive story where a big part of what Sam has to do is intervene in somebody’s life so that the Quantum Leap project itself won’t be erased out of history. That’s not a problem, particularly, it’s just repetitive. But what is a problem when it comes to a comic adaptation of this show is that in each of these stories, the situation Sam is trying to resolve isn’t about altering the original history so that the person’s life is bettered somehow; it’s about preventing something bad that, according to history, never happened in the first place.

One of those things was caused by Sam’s arrival itself (that was back in The Infinite Corridor) but the other two, including this one, are just bad things that seem to randomly be happening. “History goes wrong and we have to fix it” was the premise of Voyagers!, if I recall properly. Quantum Leap was about–usually, anyway–“Putting right what once went wrong”. I might be coming across a bit pedantic here but to me this is one to he distinctive features of this show. Sam wasn’t getting history back on track, he was leaping into situations and making them better (usually, anyway).

This story does do that with Hank, but it’s treated as a bit of a bonus, and almost an afterthought. And young Katrina’s life is still just going wrong, off the path that Al and Ziggy and the others deem as being the history that they know. The series that we watched on TV almost never made this mistake (I think there is an exception or two in there), so it’s a bit frustrating that the team behind this comic series keep falling into this pitfall. Don’t they understand the actual promise of the show they were adapting?

Aside from all of this, the issue itself is a pretty decent one. The story is well paced and is easy to read, with the action breezily taking us from one plot point to the other. The art is good with decent likenesses of our characters. The plot does include the ludicrous beat of having Sam sneak into the bedroom of an elementary schoolgirl and take her out into his car in the middle of the night. Of course it’s all for a noble purpose but it’s a good thing that Hank Briscoe didn’t come from 2020s because he might have had some pretty strong stigmas chasing him for the rest of his life.

Oh, the story also includes a full picture reveal of a UFO, a flying saucer basically, and our main characters don’t really bat an eye. Sam will leap into a guy who claimed to see a UFO in season five (Star Light, Star Bright) but that is a while down the track from here, so it’s a bit of a surprise that neither Sam or Al talk about it all after it’s happened.

Who and Where is Dr. Sam Beckett?
Sam is Henry “Hank” Briscoe, a reporter for The Vinton Journal in Vinton, North Carolina, from November 14 to 15 (or so) in 1957.

What does Sam have to do?
Sam has to prevent an incident which will permanently shipwreck Katrina Mabe’s destiny to be a key player in NASA, preventing its decline in the 70s, and the resulting loss of funding to both the Star Bright Program and the Quantum Leap Program. Along the way he also succeeds at salvaging Henry Briscoe’s career, relationship with Nancy Hatch, and indeed his life (by preventing a stroke the man originally had).

What do we learn about Sam Beckett?
Nothing new this time.

What do we know about Al?
Nothing new this time.

What about the experiment?
Without NASA’s continued success, it’d have been unlikely for the Quantum Leap program to be funded.

“Driven by an unknown force…” (God or Time or Something)
No references in this one.

“Oh Boy”
There’s two “Oh boy’s” this issue. The first is just after Sam learns that Katrina Mabe grows up to be Katrina Young. The seconds is at the end after Sam leaps into the next story.

Sam’s Complicated Love Life
Nancy Hatch, Hank Briscoe’s ex-girlfriend, invites Sam out to dinner, but this appears to be more out of concern for his potential alcoholism than it is anything romantic.

The Many Loves of Al Calavicci
Al obliquely references the fact that he’s been divorced more than once.

Other Observations
• When he leaps in, Sam looks in the mirror and says “Oh my God, I’m Clark Kent!”

And it’s true, Hank Briscoe does look like Clark Kent, although Clark Kent does not look like a guy with a drinking problem. And while it makes for a cute gag in the teaser to last issue, the start of this issue, and the cover, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the story.

• Al reference Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Sam doesn’t remember who she is). Down the track in season five Sam will actually leap into Dr. Ruth, and she will guest star in the show as herself.

• Sam sees a picture of Sputnik and says to the editor, “Only good can come out of the United States establishing a space program.” Not everyone agrees, but it’s a sentiment that makes sense for Sam.

• An example of the issue’s good pacing is how it cuts from Sam being given his assignment to covering the spelling bee to wandering in the parking lot figuring out that the worst looking car is his.

• I think it’s a nice moment after Katrina freaks out at Sam and runs away, and Sam says sarcastically, “I did a great job of handling that one,” and Al replies in a way that is supporting and practical: “Who would’ve expected her to react like that?”

• Mark Mabe is a pretty intense guy–he just punches Sam out, threatens his editor and then pulls out a rifle to kill Sam. I guess it at least justifies how scared Katrina is.

• But having said that, when Mark chases Sam into the woods with a gun, I totally get it. Except that he refuses to call the police, he’s totally int he right. Of course then the police show up out of nowhere, conveniently.

• There’s a nice panel where Al is standing in the same pose as Sam’s editor, cigar and all.

• The story not only skips over everyone’s reaction to the UFO, but also to how Sam / Hank got off that kidnapping charge!

Sam Leaps To…
A Tale of Two Cindy’s

Favorite Dialogue
I wouldn’t call it a great outing from a dialogue point-of-view, but I like Sam’s assessment of writing the advice column to the lovelorn:

When it comes to letters like these, sometimes honesty is not the best policy.

The Best Moment
Probably my favorite moment is when Mark sees Sam luring Katrina out of her bedroom into the woods, just because of how ridiculously guilty Sam looks. It’s just nuts.

Previous Story: The $50,000 Quest (Quantum Leap #4) • Next Story:  A Tale of two Cindy’s (Quantum Leap #6)