Random Ravings 10 - I Worship His Shadow

So what media have I consumed recently? Something big...

Black Science Deluxe Edition Volume 1 - The Beginner's Guide To Entropy

As time has moved on and I have got older, my comics purchasing has changed. Sure there is still the regular weekly dose of "2000 AD" and monthly "Judge Dredd Megazine",  but there are almost no US comics where I now purchase individual issues - like many I've shifted to getting the trade paperback collections. Where in the early days these used to be somewhat sporadic and could stop with next to zero notice - leaving readers hanging - it's now a normal occurrence to see entire runs collected in this form as a second revenue stream. I have the entirety of "Astro City", "Fables" and "Ex Machina" sitting on my bookshelf rather than in a long comic box.

What's also become prevalent in recent years is the rise of oversized hardback collections of a particularly notable title. I used to be somewhat dismissive of these thinking "I can just get the trades", but just in the last twelve months or so I've been drawn towards them more as a fantastic way to show off the beauty and skill of the artwork - plus they look great on a shelf.  The huge DC "Absolute" editions are generally excellent but very pricey, so I have splashed out on just two of those so far - the complete "V For Vendetta" and Neil Gaiman's "Sandman Volume 1". There were other similar sized things from independent publishers, but nothing has caught my eye.

More affordable are the Image Comics "Deluxe" versions, originally pioneered by Ed Brubaker across his multiple collaborations with Sean Murphy. Larger that the monthly comics or the trades but no where near the heft of the "Absolute" format, they look incredibly inviting. Image has extended this formula to a number of their other popular series and I've been tempted enough to pick a few up, mainly based on whether I think the story / art is worthy of the extra investment.

The "Judge Dredd" comic is shown over the "Airboy" hardback to illustrate the size difference

However recently having perused a couple of digital editions of the monthlies and liked what I saw, I purchased the first deluxe edition of "Black Science" a creator owned SF series by Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera. When it arrived in the post I discovered that this was a different order of magnitude from the other hardbacks:

(Monthly comic vs "normal" Deluxe vs "Black Science"

This is almost the size of the "Absolute" books, which I was not expecting (but much less expensive). It's a weighty tome, containing the first sixteen issues of the comic plus background material. Rather than trying to consume it in one go, I limited myself to a single issue a night, so I had time to absorb the big concepts within...

So the question now is was it any good and does this story justify the larger size?

I can honestly say the answer is a resounding yes...

"Black Science" is like a dark, violent pulp version of the old TV show "Sliders". Anarchistic scientist Grant McKay has spent his life working on the "Pillar" - a device that will allow travel through the infinite alternate worlds of the Eververse. Since everything is possible somewhere in the layers of what he terms the "Onion", Grant and his team plan to trawl the dimensions for the solution to all the planets ills. A cure for cancer, unlimited clean energy, faster than light travel - it's all just a hop away.

While celebrating the completion of the project, the device activates unexpectedly, grabbing McKay and his team plus his two children, a security guard and  Kadir, an old college rival. Flung randomly into the increasingly dangerous worlds of the Eververse, the "Dimensionauts" need to try and find a way back home to their own universe. The problem is something is wrong with the Pillar. The homing beacon and timer have been smashed, maybe sabotaged. They cannot control their destinations and with the Pillar now powering up at unpredictable intervals, on every different world they could be stuck for an hour or a week or forever...

The thing is, the further they get into the Onion, the more they discover that they are not the only ones travelling the dimensions. After all, in an Eververse of infinite possibilities, there must be alternative versions of themselves - alternate version of the Pillar - which means in some places they get there first and in others their alternate selves did - and things did not always end well with the locals. Life may have developed very differently too - in fact their first jump brings them to a layer where intelligent amphibians with electrical energy powers are the dominant species - and they are *not* friendly.

There is much, much more to this, including exactly what all this travel is doing to the Eververse, and Remender keeps the twists and turns coming. It's very fast paced. Anything goes. No one is safe from the terror and violence and characters can die suddenly. A lot of the backstory is also told via flashbacks across multiple chapters, which means that revelations about character relationships or the reasons behind their actions or agendas take time to develop. All of the main characters are flawed in some way. Grant McKay is cynical, obsessed and self-absorbed. Kadir obviously has a big chip on his shoulder. Grant's daughter Pia is not as helpless as she first seems. No one could be called one-dimensional or black and white. What helps with this is that each chapter is narrated by the internal monologue of a different member of the team, so you really get inside their heads, their hopes and fears and so on.

As for the art? Well it's just beautiful, especially on this larger scale. I've not seen any other comics with work by Matteo Scalera, but after reading this I will definitely be looking out for them. Some of the pages are simply stunning. Surreal alien landscapes, bizarre creatures and frantic action - Scalera manages to make it all look effortless. Sometimes the pages are jam-packed with detail and sometimes there is a quiet calm with a huge double splash page of the vast scenery. There is a hint of Jim Cheung in some of his art, but with a more angular pointed style. I also really like the paint splatter effects that occur throughout the book, as if the artist was working so passionately that the brush was flinging ink everywhere. What really makes it work though is the colours by Dean White and others. Sometimes there are more hues on display in one page than in entire issues of other series.

Remender, Scalera, and White have created a universe full of mysteries that are only beginning to be explored in this first collection. What lies at the heart of the "Onion"? How can the team get home and what is the nature of the true threat they face? All extremely interesting questions. As far as I know this storyline is set to run to around a maximum of 40 issues, so answers will be coming. I'll certainly be there for the second volume.