Black Science Review: Rick Remender’s Reckless Sci-Fi Gem
A full review of Black Science, Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera's breakneck dimension-hopping sci-fi about a reckless scientist and the family he drags across the multiverse.
By Web Admin
Some comics ease you in. Black Science throws you off a cliff on page one and expects you to build the parachute mid-fall. Written by Rick Remender with art by Matteo Scalera and colours by Dean White, this Image Comics series ran from 2013 to 2019 across 43 issues, and it remains one of the most propulsive science-fiction comics of the 2010s. It is a story about a brilliant, arrogant scientist who cracks dimensional travel and immediately loses control of it, dragging his team and his children across a hostile multiverse. Here is our full review.
Remender is one of modern comics’ most reliable creators of ambitious, emotionally messy genre fiction, and Black Science may be his purest adrenaline rush. But it is not just spectacle. Underneath the ray-guns and alien vistas sits a genuinely uncomfortable story about a bad father trying, too late, to be a good one.
What is Black Science?
Black Science is a completed, creator-owned science-fiction series published by Image Comics between 2013 and 2019. It runs 43 issues, collected across nine trade paperbacks and two oversized hardcover editions. Volume 1, “How to Fall Forever,” gathers the first six issues and costs around US$10, which is the standard bargain Image entry point.
The premise centres on Grant McKay, a self-styled “Anarchist scientist” who builds a device called the Pillar, which lets its user punch through the membranes between parallel dimensions. When the Pillar is sabotaged, Grant, his research team, and his two kids are flung uncontrollably from one reality to the next, unable to steer and unable to stop. Each jump lands them somewhere more dangerous than the last.
The story: consequences at terminal velocity
The genius of Black Science is its structure. The broken Pillar keeps yanking the cast to a new dimension roughly every few pages, so the book never sits still: one moment it is a frog-people war, the next a Native-American-and-German-Empire alternate history, then a horror world of predatory fungus. It is relentlessly inventive, and Remender uses the format to keep raising the stakes without ever letting anyone catch their breath.
But the movement is not just kinetic showing-off. Every jump strips away another of Grant’s illusions about himself. He built the Pillar to prove he was right and to escape his failures as a husband and father, and the multiverse keeps forcing him to watch the cost of his recklessness fall on the people he loves. It is science fiction as moral reckoning.
The theme: a bad father’s apology
At its core this is a story about fatherhood and consequence. Grant is selfish, unfaithful and vain, and the plot never lets him off the hook for it. His arc — and the arcs of his children, Nate and Pia, who are dragged into a nightmare by his hubris — give the spectacle real weight. Remender writes flawed people better than almost anyone in mainstream comics, and Grant McKay is one of his most memorable: easy to admire, impossible to trust, and painfully human.
The art: Matteo Scalera and Dean White
If the writing is the engine, the art is the reason to buy it in print. Matteo Scalera draws with a loose, kinetic, almost scratchy energy that makes every fight and every fall feel dangerous. Dean White’s colours are the secret weapon — lush, painterly and wildly varied, giving each dimension its own palette and mood. Together they make the constant world-hopping legible and gorgeous instead of confusing. This is a book where the art alone justifies the cover price.
Content warning: this is a mature book
Be clear-eyed here. Black Science is for adults. It contains graphic violence and gore, strong language, some sexual content, and a steady undercurrent of infidelity, guilt and death, including danger to children as a recurring source of tension. The tone is bleak and anxious by design. It is never gratuitous, but it is intense, and it is not a book for younger readers.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Relentlessly inventive, high-concept sci-fi
- Stunning, painterly art from Scalera and White
- A genuinely affecting story about flawed parenthood
- Completed series — a full arc with a real ending
Cons
- Very fast pacing can feel disorienting early on
- Bleak, anxious tone throughout
- Mature content: gore, language, peril to children
Where it sits in Remender’s career
Rick Remender spent years writing high-profile superhero runs at the big two — Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and more — before pivoting hard toward creator-owned work at Image, where he could tell longer, riskier, more personal stories without the constraints of shared-universe continuity. Black Science launched right at the front of that wave in 2013, and it reads like a creator finally cutting loose. The recklessness of Grant McKay is not accidental; it mirrors the ambition of a writer betting on his own ideas.
That context matters because it tells you what to expect. Unlike a company-owned title that has to protect its characters for future stories, Black Science is willing to kill, maim and permanently change its cast. Nobody is safe, and that constant sense of jeopardy is a huge part of why the book stays gripping across all 43 issues. If you have enjoyed Remender’s other Image work, or you are curious why so many top comics writers eventually go creator-owned, this is a perfect case study.
How it compares to other Image sci-fi
Image has become the home of ambitious creator-owned science fiction, and Black Science sits comfortably among its best. Here is how it stacks up against the usual comparisons we hear from readers.
| Series | Vibe | Length | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Science | Frantic multiverse survival | 43 issues, complete | Adrenaline and guilt |
| Saga | Space-opera family drama | Ongoing | Newcomers to indie comics |
| Prestige hard sci-fi | Cerebral, slower | Varies | Idea-first readers |
For more like it, browse our best Image Comics and best sci-fi graphic novels guides, and see why Saga is our top recommendation for indie newcomers.
Which edition should you buy?
Because the series is complete, you have good options at every level of commitment.
| Edition | Collects | Approx. price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume 1 paperback | Issues #1-6 | ~US$10 | Trying it out |
| Premiere hardcovers | Two volumes each | ~US$25 | Showcasing the art |
| Complete collection | The whole run | ~US$60+ | Best value binge |
Start with the cheap Volume 1 paperback to see if the pace suits you. If it clicks, the oversized hardcovers do Scalera and White’s art real justice.
AmazonCheck price on AmazonThe verdict
Black Science is one of the best pure science-fiction comics of its generation: inventive, beautiful, and surprisingly heartbreaking. It asks a lot of you up front — the pace is brutal and the tone is dark — but it rewards that patience with a complete, cohesive story that actually means something. It earns a place in our Indie & Image hub and on our best graphic novels shelf, and we recommend it to any adult reader who wants sci-fi with a pulse and a conscience.
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Science finished?
Yes. The series ran from 2013 to 2019 and concluded at 43 issues, so you can read the entire, self-contained story from start to finish.
Do I need to read anything first?
No. Black Science is a standalone, creator-owned series with no continuity homework. Volume 1 is the front door.
Is Black Science suitable for teens?
We would steer it toward adults. It contains graphic violence, strong language, some sexual content and recurring peril to children, all of which place it firmly in mature territory.
Is it confusing to follow?
The opening is deliberately disorienting, dropping you mid-crisis, but it comes together quickly. The distinct art and colour palette for each dimension make the constant jumping easy to track.
Same creator, different genre? Read our Seven to Eternity review for Remender’s fantasy epic, or line it up against the classics in our best graphic novels guide.
