This chapter definitely surprised me. Looking at the panel closely, it didn't look like a fatal headshot, but he's probably gonna have a nasty scar from it.
The fact Backbone now has the black ooze instead of Nomamoto is interesting. The comment about Nomamoto seeming better makes it seem like Backbone wasn't infected, but that it might have just... transferred. Which has a lot of crazy implications.
Everyone here likes to harp on the characters, but I'm really interested in all the world building details and hints about way more going on in the background. Seriously, the way humanity both worships and fears aliens shows there's SOME bigger conspiracy at play.