Black Science # 11 2014 Welcome, Nowhere: Part 5 pg 11 by Matteo Scalera

Black Science # 11 December 24, 2014
"Welcome, Nowhere: Part 5"
INk over pencil on 10x14 art board
Writer: Rick Remender
Pencils & Inks: Matteo Scalera (Signed lower right)

As the Pillar counts down towards its next jump the Dimensionauts are besieged by an endless wave of horrors. Can they hold out long enough to escape, or will one of them have to remain behind and pay the ultimate price? Join RICK REMENDER, MATTEO SCALERA, & DEAN WHITE, as they bring the second chapter of the smash sci-fi hit series to a close!

I love this issue and how it relates to the future Black Science issues.

A powerful tool created by an arrogant science is able to “punch” holes through dimensions. With this tool, an unsuspecting group comprised of two children, saboteurs, genuine friends, and strangers have been zapped into dimension after dimension of unimaginable horrors, death, revelations, and infinite possibilities. Yet no matter the different dimension, no matter the different paths taken, the children lives are at risk.

Everything seemed like a cluster of bleak confusion when Black Science #10 concluded. Each “new” version of Grant would be convinced that they knew the way to save the children, save them all. Just like the dimensions, Grant’s self-confidence results in a circular events: he fights through to save the children, only to have someone else in the group die as a result, and then another version of Grant shows up to bicker. Neither version wins and something dire happens.

Black Science #11 reaches into all that confusion and pulls out all of these seemingly unconnected parts together. Somehow, all of the pertinent versions and characters are in the same spot at the same time. It’s all gearing up into something big as a Grant version decides that they have to go to the center of it all to save themselves.

Following Black Science can be so intense that it almost feels like you are a part of this rag tag group. Even though certain events that should be definite like death can be different in an alternate dimension, the deaths still feel finite. There is still this hopelessness and despair that permeates the panels. Even with the deep desperation, the reader can still be amazed by what this team has created in terms of “alien” worlds. Worlds and civilizations that are so bizarre and unique yet still contain recognizable elements. There are families, greed, corruption, power struggles throughout all the dimensions.

Grant had this lofty idea initially to use the pillar to answer all of mankind’s questions and solve all of the problems of the universe. He assumed that multiple dimensions would hold number of possible answers. It seems like he didn’t factor in that maybe all of the other dimensions are just as screwed and desperate for solutions as humans.