Black Science #15

By Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera and Moreno Dinisio

Black Science #15 is the first time you’ll probably ever white knuckle when reading a comic book, like taking a corner too fast, or when you’re watching your favourite team about to score. The ever intense feelings of anticipation and anxiousness in this story are amazing. Our dimension-nauts have been stuck on a futuristic Roman-esque type of world while waiting for Rebecca to fix the pillar. This issue takes a little break in the action at the beginning to give us a little bit more back story on Shawn, who lately has been getting quite a bit of development; a welcome addition that he’s not just some goofy yes-man scientist and someone who wants to do good for life, not just humanity. Grant mentioned in an earlier issue how he was surprised to see the most peaceful man he knows pick up a gun and kill for survival, this little bit at the beginning was nice to further develop a character that, until now, didn’t do much but play a backing support role.

The last few issues of Black Science have given us hints that the jumps that are made between dimensions aren’t random, they follow a path, an order. While the destruction that has been wrought on these worlds may not have been the fault of the group we’re following, they certainly aren’t helping any and this is one of the first worlds that is prepared to fight back, even if it’s for totally different reasons. #15 rates as one of the highest and most intense books in the series so far; with other issues spanning multiple worlds, universes and dimensions, it’s nice to stay in place for a while and watch our characters deal with conflict they can’t just run away from. Seeing Grant fly around on a jet pack dodging flamethrower shooting, plasma blasting, flying futuristic roman centurions was something worth re-reading 4 times due to the sheer epic feel of the whole thing.

The art and colours, they can simply not be given enough praise. Truly astonishing, the issue starts with a full-page of a truly impressive painting of a sun, you can see lines of brush strokes, the grime and grit of the surface behind which this sun is painted. The backgrounds in character close-up panels, the water-colour backgrounds with ink drops and smears that complement the colours. Blue backgrounds with black drops and smaller white ones, orange and red skies at sunset get black and dark red complements: very, very well done. Flying around on jet pack, when taking a break from dimension hopping, was also a sheer delight for the eyes; brush strokes indicating air direction and possible rubble zipping by really give you a feeling that these guys are going quite a bit faster than you think.

This issue’s use of colour between interior and exterior is simply one of the highlights, the subtle blues and very bold reds and oranges take it to a whole different level. Black Science‘s colours have always been impressive, giving the impression of seeing something never before drawn that much more impact, but this issue seemed to focus on two contrasting colour palettes and it’s a pleasure to feast your eyes on.

The cover, also seemed VERY reminiscent of the 1990’s movie The Rocketeer, arms back, head up, blasting off on a jet pack. Not sure if that was intentional, but it made this an even more impressive read. Make sure you pay attention ALL the way to the end, spoiler free as always, but just prepare yourself and don’t yell, ‘WHOOOOAAAA!!’ too loudly. Black Science #16 can’t come soon enough after putting down this book; why can’t a pillar exist to jump to the next issues release? Maybe one day…