Comic Review: Black Science Volume 2

    The first volume of this science fiction series (read my review here) thrust the reader into the mad dimension hopping world with little regard.  You had to pick your way through the various characters and their back stories with little help.  A mad scientist, his lover and partner, his kids, his estranged wife, his sleazy boss (?), his mysterious assistant, etc.  And the tech?  What is it?  What does it do and what does it mean?  I had a hard time following it at first, partially because so much was happening, and partly because some of the characters looked a bit too similar.

    The art in volume 2 seems to have improved a bit (it was already good), and the various characters have taken on a bit more distinctiveness.  The color pallet is beautiful, and I really like the hazy look of the Native guy’s Black Science flashback.

    Volume 2 feels a bit less feverish, a bit easier to read and follow.  The pace is still breakneck, with plenty of twists, action, danger, and high stakes.  And the overall theme, or plot of the book becomes more apparent.  There seems to be a building dimension war, with variations of characters from each reality trying to grab power, right wrongs, and what have you.

    My earlier sense that the Pulp/30s/50s vibe of the comic’s design belies its 70s bitterness has grown.  I have very vague recollections of a TV show called Otherworld, which kind of freaked me out as a lad.  This comic reminds me of those feelings.  As well as stuff like The Star Lost, UFO, The Quiet Earth, and other, more pessimistic and strange science fiction.  The characters are all complex, and most of them are kinda bad.  It’s even hinted at that in the multiverse, our protagonists might not be the ‘good’ versions.  In fact, they might be the villains for much more virtuous counterparts.  Or not.

    As happened at the end of volume 1, I found myself wishing I had the next volume at hand upon finishing 2.  I want to find out what happens next, and it sucks that I’ve got to wait for…I don’t know, six months or so, for the next volume to come out.  I guess in that sense, it’s kind of like waiting for entries in a film series, where you know it’s coming, but you’ve got to wait.  I’m sure, when it’s all out, I’ll have to give it a start to finish re-read.  So, while this isn’t my favorite science fiction comic on the market right now (East of West, maybe?), it’s very good, getting better, and I recommend checking it out.

Black Science Volume 2: Welcome, Nowhere
Author: Rick Remender
Artist: Matteo Scalera
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-63215-018-9

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: East of West Volume Three

    Xiaolian is no longer content to let events happen on their own.  As she and the other leaders of the new world try to navigate quickly shifting loyalties and dangers, Death continues the search for his child, the Three Horsemen are coming, and the Endless Nation is on the march.  War is coming, and things are about to get very hairy.

    With volume three, it feels like most of the chess pieces are on the board, and the great game is in full swing.  Events happen fast, blood hits the floor, and Beast walks.  This is a story that barrels forward like a freight train.  It’s intensely readable, visually striking, and a visceral, gut punch of a tale.  An epic for the ages.  This is the kind of thing you feel lucky to discover and immediately want to rush right out and make all your friends read.  Well, this is the best way I can do that.  Read East of West.  It’s the business.

East of West Volume Three
Author: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-63215-114-8

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: East of West Volume Two

    In the second volume of Jonathan Hickman’s alternate-Western/Sci-Fi operatic epic, more deadly troubles are revealed, more hell comes a knocking, and Death pays a price for a little info.  The politics of the weird world grow more and more strange, as nations build for the coming war.  All the while, Death’s kid sits, deep inside a cyber-dungeon, waiting for the time when he can rise and become an instrument of apocalypse.

    By this stage in the story, there are so many threads, so many characters.  It really does feel like a grand epic.  Not only is it big storytelling, writ on a huge, Western inspired canvas.  But it’s also high emotional drama about families, dynasties, rivalries, revenge, and zealotry.

    East of West revels in the format, telling a massive, cinematic, operatic story in lush color and stark imagery.  I can not wait to see how this tale develops.  If the ending can live up to the beginning, this should stand alongside other great epics with no shame.  It’s a must read, and another reminder that companies outside of the Big Two are producing some swell graphic literature.

East of West Volume Two
Author: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-60706-855-6

My review of volume 1 is here. 

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: East of West Volume One

    A little Alternate History never hurt nobody.  The first volume of East of West starts with an introduction to the world, a world where the States did not come back together after the Civil War, where things got mighty weird, mighty fast.  Then it throws us into the fire.  The Three Horsemen have risen…Wait, what?  Oh, yeah.  Death has started his solo career, and he’s got his own thing going.  We’re introduced to various ideas, both of the alternate world, which has a generally Western vibe, and to the overall plot.  It seems Conquest, Famine, and War are itching to bring it all down, but Death doesn’t want to play their game.  There’s some kind of cult devoted to the Horsemen that infects the halls of power.  And in what would have been California, in New Shanghai, someone waits for Death.  Someone who might just change everything.

    While steeped in the flavor of classic Westerns and Alternate History Science Fiction, there’s something operatic about this comic.  By the time it gets rolling, the orgiastic violence and sweeping speechifying is something to behold.  Death is a cool character, and his two companions Crow and Wolf are fun.  But it’s when Xiaolian comes into her own that things get interesting.  I think that’s the point where I started to really, really dig this series.  Now, I can’t wait to find out what Death & Co. get up to, what kind of hell Xiaolian is going to dish out.  And just what’s going on with all these conspiratorial cultists.

    The series is exciting.  A page turner.  I’ve been reading a lot of comics for various reasons lately, and reading this reminds me just how great a page turner can be.  As I’m reading it, I can also see some parallels between this series and Pretty Deadly (and to a degree, Saga).  But where I think Pretty Deadly gets everything wrong, this series gets it all right.  When the moments of extreme drama happen, it’s earned your emotional investment, not simply told you that you should feel something.  When Death and Xiaolian show their metal, and you start to understand what you’re reading, I felt giddy like when I listen to a swelling piece of Beethoven or Wagner.  And it looks nice.  The art is pretty darned good, and the panel work excellent (though, I'm a sucker for semi-contained, structured panels).  I can’t wait to see what happens next, and recommend you join me in my journey.  Heck, Volume One is only 9.99, so give it a try.

East of West Volume One
Author: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-60706-770-2

-Matthew J. Constantine