If nothing else (and I admit that’s selling it short), the first volume of “Black Science” had an unexpected and game-changing twist at its end. After jumping through several words with his friends, family, and co-workers, brilliant scientist Grant McKay met his end crushed under rubble. In his final moments, he begged Kadir -- his boss, and the man who sabotaged the Pillar that has everyone leaping through the Eververse -- to look after everyone now that he was gone. So what was originally a reasonably entertaining take on “Sliders” suddenly morphed into a bastard’s redemption story. I thought it was brilliant and the volume almost made my best-of list last year based on that twist alone. Regrettably, Kadir’s ongoing redemption isn’t the primary concern here. He gets to shine early on in a dramatic rescue, but then subplots about the McKay kids being split off from the group and presumed dead and Grants from other universes start to cloud the title’s focus.
Admittedly, writer Rick Remender does broaden the title’s scope in interesting ways with these subplots. We find out that there are lots of Grants, his friends, and family strewn throughout the universe, as well as Kadirs and worst of all, Blokks. He’s Kadir’s boss and the guy who bankrolled the development of the Pillar in a great many universes it would appear. The presence of all these different character variations throughout the universes lets you know that the story is much bigger than waiting to see if the characters we’ve been following make it home. Remender and artist Matteo Scalera do an excellent job of keeping the action moving at a breakneck pace in several bravura action sequences -- like the Kadir-led escape near the beginning -- that are really quite impressive to behold. It’s a good thing that the story is moving at such a pace, because if it slowed down I’d probably start to dwell more on how the narrative is basically a collection of really bad things happening to our protagonists. Or rather, the reason I stopped reading Remender’s “Fear Agent.” I’m definitely not at that point yet with this series, but seeing more of Kadir and his redemption would be nice.
glickscomicpicks@gmail.com
Comic Picks #297: Star Wars by Kieron Gillen
Comic Picks #296: B.P.R.D. -- The Devil You Know
Comic Picks #295: Bendis at DC
Comic Picks #294: Elfen Lied Omnibus vol. 1
Comic Picks #293: The Walking Dead -- The End
Comic Picks #292: Mage by Matt Wagner
Comic Picks #291: S.H.I.E.L.D. by Hickman and Weaver
Comic Picks #290: Buried Treasures of Manga -- Four Shojo Stories
Comic Picks #289: Kazuo Koike -- Offered/Crying Freeman
Comic Picks #288: Detective Comics #1000
Comic Picks #287: Darth Vader -- Dark Lord of the Sith
Comic Picks #286: Spider-Geddon
Comic Picks #285: Frau Faust
Comic Picks #284: Incognegro
Comic Picks #283: The Apocrypha of Battle Angel Alita
Comic Picks #282: On Horror
Comic Picks #281: Best of 2018
Comic Picks #280: Into the Spider-Verse
Comic Picks #279: Aquaman by David and Johns
Comic Picks #278: Ghost in the Shell -- Global Neural Network
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Otaku’s Anonymous
Uncanny: The ”Unofficial” X-Men ’97 Podcast
Dinner with the Heelers - A Bluey Podcast
Crunchyroll Presents: The Anime Effect
That One Piece Talk