My wife won this book for me on Goodreads and I was so excited to get it. She won this back in November but due to production problems, it was delayed until late January. Man- was it worth the wait... I love Black Science. I had only read volume 1 but I was hooked by the end of the first issue. I actually was about to grab volume 2 when my bride informed of winning this omnibus edition. (And with the official drop date of Feb 9th, I actually got this book before anyone else- HOW COOL!)
When I last left this band of inter-dimensional travelers, they were dropping like flies. The main character had been left for dead, his children were left to fend for themselves and the group picked up a shaman healer, which I must say, if you're going to add a stranger to your group, this is the guy to add. The second and third storylines don't really deviate from this formula.
With its fair share of twists, turns, and shocking deaths, this team seems destined to run out of team members. But, this book is about explorers lost in the multiverse- so there are infinite versions of characters running around and who you think might be of the original earth group ends up being a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Writer/creator Rick Remender kept me on my toes. The idea of Black Science is to breach the limits of physics and the universe using unorthodox methods. Thus, the rules of traditional science do not apply here. Featuring gritty art and dynamic covers by Mateo Scalera, I was transported to worlds unimaginable and I loved every minute of it.
Now to get my hands on the fourth storyline- unless my wife can hit the lottery twice and win the next omnibus edition of this fantastic Image series.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
This volume marks my final selection of science-themed graphic novels that I got recently at my local library when I was on a huge sci-fi kick. Black Science is a lot like the 90s Fox show Sliders, in which a group of scientists created a portal to parallel earths. Only something or someone caused the machine to go wonky and now until they can repair the portal, the scientists, their annoying lab liaison, and a couple of kids who are visiting their dad's lab find themselves jumping from parallel earth to parallel earth when the device infrequently repowers itself. God help them if they arrive on a hostile planet with 24-hours to kill before their next transition.
Out of all of the sci-fi themed books I checked out, this was my favorite. I'm not sure why. The story, like I said, borrows heavily on the plot of Sliders. But I liked that show and this book is what could've happened if Sliders aired on HBO instead of Fox. There's sex, gore, violence, action, and a heck of a lot of plot twists and turns as the team encounters leapers from parallel earths. Plus, just who is behind the sabotage of the interdimensional portal?
One thing I see as a potential problem for this book is that characters die about as frequently as people named 'Stark' or 'Snow' on Game of Thrones. Something's going to have to happen soon to rectify this or there won't be any characters left. But, it's that 'no one is safe' mentality that put me at the edge of my seat and running to my local library the next day to check out volume 2. Sadly, someone beat me to it...
A great offering by Rick Remender (Age of Heroes), whose writing gives this book a modern feel, mixed with the fantastic 50s Weird Science vibe that comes from the art by Dean White (Hulk) and Matteo Scalera (Deadpool Team-Up.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
