Re-reading .... Black Science: Vol. 8 - Later the you think

The countdown is almost over!! As I approach those final few issues (the first three of which continue to be sat on my iPad, untouched and waiting to be read), I find myself excited all over again as I bound through the entirety of Black Science at an ever increasing rate of knots.

Black Science vol. 8
Issues 35 - 38

So far, I have completed the first 34 issues, making up the first seven volumes (if you look at them in trade format). Now, if you've just found this and want to start reading my gibberish from the beginning, the links for all which came before are as follows:

Volume 1 - How to Fall Forever
Volume 2 - Welcome, Nowhere
Volume 3 - Vanishing Point
Volume 4 - Godworld
Volume 5 - True Atonement
Volume 6 - Forbidden Realms and Hidden Truths
Volume 7 - Extinction is the Rule

Now, onto the main event....

(As always, spoilers, spoilers, spoilers. Forewarned is forearmed)

The cover for Black Science
Issue 35

Volume 8 of Rick Remender and Matteo Scalara's phenomenal Black Science is entitled Later than you think and, in my opinion, it's a good title for the subject matter. Much like with Godworld, Later than you think gives the dimension jumping full throttle pulp action spectacle a push to the back seat to focus on something of a more introspective matter.

Grant and Sara McKay have been wandering the Eververse alone for the past year since the final events of Volume 7, attempting to find some way in which they can return to their world and reunite with their children. However, we discover right at the beginning of this arc that they have been recruited by a multiversal marriage counselling organisation in order to help them come to terms with one simple fact; their children are dead and all they now have is each other. However, the repair of the McKay's damaged relationship isn't all this group is able to help with as when it's discovered they have a uniquely designed pillar capable to reaching the centre of the onion, Grant and Sara make a last ditch trip to the beginning of the Eververse to find a way to locate their world.

Starting the story waiting for
answers on a new world.

It's occurred to me after having written this last paragraph that it sounds very synopsis-esque. Well, if it is and I've convinced someone to read this series then 'yay' welcome to the party. However, I wrote it this way because a. I don't like to intentionally give away spoilers and b. I'm not sure how long I'd be writing for if I was more descriptive about this arc. Volume 8 is incredibly dense given that it's focus is solely on two characters, with not a single panel feeling wasted and every page filled to the brim. However, this is no bad thing as I'm seriously in awe of watching these two characters; one the severely damaged lead and the other who has long been the objective at the end of this journey, as they had to sift through their respective pain to find much needed common ground.

Sara's path not travelled!

I felt that this arc is truly Sara's arc as we got to see all the different layers to her with greater focus than the relatively obscure benchwarmer of the last couple of arcs. Seeing her get the chance to look at the road less travelled was a nice touch, certainly something I bet we are all guilty of thinking about from time to time, even if it didn't have the effect that Brenda desired. Speaking of whom, Brenda was another nice wrinkle to the lore of Black Science as we discover her lineage and discover that doppelgangers are not always guaranteed. However, even during this re-read, I thought her final actions were quite a surprise and for a moment wondered if we'd been watching an alternate version of the pair we were expecting.

Reconciliation?

Of course, this wasn't the case leading into the next instalment as we found the McKay's checking into an empty hotel on a desolate planet before attending a wedding. Now, I recall that this really unnerved me on the first read as I had not been able to correlate how they got to here from where they were. However, on this occasion, I did wonder if this was more of a shared dream sequence, in a similar vein to the Godworld adventure. In fact, there is an early reference to dreams being a method of seeing of realities which find of confirmed this to me (although I could still be wrong). However, regardless of the where's, why's and how's, I found this second issue of the arc to be so heart warming as we were introduced to everyone whom made Grant and Sara who they were and they slowly learned about each other and themselves again.

It was from here that I thought Matteo Scalara and Moreno Dinisio made their presences known during this arc as, while they (as usual) gave us stellar art in issue 35, the pencils and colours looked so much softer than some of the previous issues. I wonder if this is maybe to imbue that more warm, gentle and loving atmosphere of bringing this couple back together. Nonetheless, this entire issues looks fantastic with a gorgeous array of faces (the bride and groom look amazing in this) and (as usual) bizarre locales such as the below.

A parent's gotta do what a
parent's gotta do.

From this point, Later than you think's plot takes a similar direction to the Godworld arc as Sara and Grant leave their time of 'introspection' and return (mysteriously) to Brenda in order to discuss how they can find their children and how the Eververse is being destroyed. I have to admit that I must not have read this issue properly the first time round because, while it has gone from subtly implied to overtly mentioned about the destructive properties of the Pillars within the Eververse, I was actually as stunned as the McKay's when finding such a proportion of worlds had been destroyed.

Look who it is (again)!

Of course, I feel this only confirms the impending end of the series as why else would Remender destroy so much of his story telling playground. It also seems to increase the urgency of both the McKay's and Brenda's objective as well as explain their newly-discovered daughter's viewpoint to give up on the maybe of finding their kids to save what's left of the multiverse.

However, as the series has progressed, I've always liked the character of Grant McKay and, after becoming a father myself I've found I tend to agree with most (though maybe not all) of his decisions. Therefore, how the issue ends with the McKay's choosing to forsake the greater good in favour of their children totally rings true with me as I'd probably do much the same thing. And so, Grant and Sara drill their way (in a spectacular Scalara visual) to the centre where they encounter a rather familiar face.

It seems some rivalries have
been going since the beginning.

It is with him, the original Grant McKay, that we finally learn the truth about life, the universe and everything (sorry, I had to use that line!). I'll be honest that I'm not sure how I feel about the final issue of this arc as, while it's interesting to finally get an understanding of how all the pieces fit together (such as the meaning of the other dimensions and the programming of the 'avatars' within said worlds), I'm in two minds about the revelation of these 'Angels' (as Sara puts it, and which Scalara's art certainly hints at) rather nefarious plans.

That said, it seems that Grant and Sara's presence was not to that plan, resulting in the Centre facing the dangers of their outer layers and the Prime Grant facing down his own nemesis in Prime Kadir. It was here that I found myself wondering, if all choices are subconsciously programmed into the avatars, did the Prime Grant programme the McKay we all know to achieve the seemingly impossible and reach the centre? Or did the our Grant somehow achieve free will and make his own way here?

And look who's back!

Either way, his action looks to have caused the end for the centre, although fortunately for Grant and Sara they don't get to share its fate as they are rescued last minute by their kids. So, the gang is all back together again.

And so, we reach the end, and I've got to admit that I really enjoyed this tale which, while it was a relatively quiet arc (compared to many of the others),felt kind of like a coda to what I would probably call the second act of the series (Volumes 5-7). Fortunately though, this is not in the Endgame yet, because that's up next.

As of right now, after reading the entire series of Black Science all together in anticipation for the final few issues, I am absolutely pumped to see how this all ends. Can the Anarchist League of Scientists save the multiverse? Will they all be together at the end? Who will live? Who live die? Who will come back? I really can't wait to dive in to these final five issues.

Especially that final one, because the cover of issue 43 looks amazing!!