Black Science #2

By Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera and Dean White

Black Science hit hard with action in the first issue but uses the second issue to expand a little more on the story. This issue picks up right where the last left off; with our group of scientists moving from one off the wall dimension to another. After using the first issue to introduce the reader to main character, Grant, this issue shows us more of his traveling companions and co-workers.

This new world they have been teleported to is in the middle of a war between what looks like WWII Germans and techno-native American Indians. Unfortunately Grant is hurt and the others have about four hours to get him help, since he is the only one of them who really knows how the machine works. This premise is an excellent way to build these little side characters that we only saw a glimpse of at the end of the last issue. This group of people has such diverse opinions and attitudes that it seems like using teamwork to help heal Grant will be no easy feat. These other supporting characters have most of their basic attributes fleshed out proficiently by Remender in this issue and sets things up quite well for the next issue.

Even if this may be considered a character building or story narrative issue, it still flows incredibly well and looks gorgeous. Any comic that opens with two pages of panels involving rolling and smoking a joint while discussing their success building a dimension jumping machine is a pretty good start in my book. The art is still the star of this book even with pages of flashbacks or narrative dialog every pages manages to draw you in as you read. All of the characters are designed well and you can easily tell them apart, which seems to be a reoccurring problem in comics. The real fun in any sci-fi comic is seeing the crazy designs the artists come up with and the little teases of the techno-native Americans in this issue were enough to make you interested for the next issue.

After such an intense first issue this issue was necessary to expand more on the characters and their predicament they seem to be stuck in. It’s a common stereotype that character or world building issues can seem sluggish or boring but Black Science handles it very well. Everything flows at a smooth and reasonable pace that makes this issue pretty easy to digest in one read. Black Science is on a roll and there is no doubt there are still plenty of great things to come from this team of creators. It’s nice to sit and enjoy early issues of a series like this because even though this is a good start, you get the feeling that we’re only just scratching the surface.