Previously Black Science had drifted into some weird territory. Issue 19 got kind of strange, focusing on Grant McKay as some sort of amnesiac hermit living three years alone in an alien dimension. Now with his memory restored he begins hunting for his missing children and crew in an attempt to bring it all back home. Unfortunately for him the Dralns (an alien race determined on destroying every world in the Eververse) has begun to take over. He starts to see their destruction in every world he visits, soon realizing that everything is his fault (if he hadn’t realized before). Now McKay has to make it right and become the hero that he was at the beginning of this adventure. His failures are put behind him and it’s time to kick ass and go back to their restored dimension sans a couple of crew members.
This issue is the fourth part out of five of the “Godland” chapter of this comic, which all takes part after the crew is separated in a massive Pillar explosion a few issues back. Really this mini-arc gives Remender the opportunity to flesh out Grant and his issues (his many, many issues). We have seen him as a remorseful, resentful, and all around sad man, but this is finally his chance to redeem himself. Although he has pretty much failed many of those around him (especially the ones that he let die), but no matter! Grant will save the day! Well, Remender never lets things get that cut and dry, there’s always going to be some tragic twist to the story that will leave us questioning our humanity. That’s why we read his books right! To read something that’s fun but makes us think and/or feel sad, he’s pretty good at it.
It’s kind of weird, when I first started reading this comic I was so excited by the “World An Issue” kind of episodic feel that the first arc had. It saw the adventurers jumping from world to world and having these mini adventures of the sort that you would watch in a 22 minute episode of Jonny Quest or something. But as the Eververse spirals more and more out of control we begin to see the similarities in every dimension the crew visits. This idea is finally fully realized when in this issue Grant revisits one of the first dimensions that they were stuck in, the one where they found the Shaman and his magical wrist device. Grant is metaphorically starting over, trying to find his people, but he is also literally starting over as he jumps through these familiar worlds that are now completely wasted by the Dralns. It’s an interesting choice, but it’s fun to see things come full circle. Even if the Dralns aren’t the most badass villains in the series, I mean they’re like green shrimps with big mouths, not entirely intimidating.
Regardless, this issue serves as a transitionary issue between arcs, or at least that’s how I feel about it. There’s definitely a lot of action in this issue, but I still feel like we’re just building up to the next part of the story, which will hopefully blow me away. Both Black Science and Low feel as if they’re coming to a close, but honestly that’s how I felt about Fear Agent when I read it for the first time, but then shit got crazy. Well, both BS and Low are already pretty crazy comics, so I’m excited to see where they go from here.
Score: 3/5
Black Science #20 Written by: Rick Remender Art by: Matteo Scalera Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 (Print), $2.99 (Digital) Release Date: 2/10/16 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital