How to Fall Forever (Black Science)

The fish people have boobs. Why? They are not mammals. They are not even proto-mammals. It isn't even like they appear for very long, and I'm pretty sure that Rick Remender isn't trying to get us to buy the book on the basis of the sex appeal of its fish people. Why, then, do the fish people have breasts?

Rick Remender's return to the Pulp-SF territory of Fear Agent is a welcome one, and another great series continues Image's transformation from the worst comic publisher ever, pushing nothing but Spawn spinoffs and Witchblade-The Darkness-Youngblood type crap (with little to recommend them except 'super-collectible' platinum foil variants and the fact that every other issue is a rebooted 'super-collectible' 1st-issue), into a pretty damn good one, under Robert Kirkman's iron-fist. Matteo Scalera's artwork is reminiscent of the work of European artist Mastantuono (whose book Elias the Cursed was released a couple years ago by Humanoids); his versatility and imagination match up well with Remender's fantastic conceptual detours, and of course, the violent, sometimes horrific shocks he writes so well.

One of the best thing's about Fear Agent was the narrative freedom, as Remender created an atmosphere that straddled irony and earnestness and allowed the reader to accept every crazy twist as it came, without scoffing or criticizing, embracing the story and characters without pretense. He opens those same doors of possibility in Black Science, as punk-rocker turned not-so-theoretical physicist Grant Mackay and a group including his two children, his assistant/lover Rebecca, and his hostile boss Kadir, end up on a rudderless trip through the endless variations of reality, most of them ridiculously dangerous and utterly alien, thanks to an act of sabotage that unexpectedly activates their reality traversing device called 'the Pillar'. Unable to repair the controls that someone on board is responsible for destroying, they are helpless to stop the Pillar as it punches through each new 'layer' of stacked realities they dub 'The Onion'. This is not quite 'prime' Remender, however. The character are not cohering the way they did in Fear Angent, and the captioned meditations and philosophizing that worked in that series isn't particularly successful here. We don't need to be privy to Grant's every doubt and fear and guilt, and since the reader doesn't know what they think of him yet, it feels like over-sharing. Letting the plot reveal the characters is harder, but more effective. The action moves quickly, anyway. With all the developments of volume 1, especially the stunning conclusion, I'm looking forward to volume 2. Highly recommended. (82/100)

Black Science Volume 1: How to Fall Forever collects the first six issues of this series.

This has been described as ‘pulp SF’ by some reviewers/comic book critics, but I’m not sure if that is really correct, as many of the ingredients of this story are mostly drawn from more modern-era SF. Here we have a team of scientists, family members and business backers who are trying out a new cross-dimensional transport-device, with the usual results, leading to a series of adventures on parallel-Earths, which include non-human Earths, alternate-history Earths, and futuristic-with-lots-of-aliens Earths (or cough ‘Star Wars’ cough Earth).

We have seen this sort of stuff before, but it is handled well here, better than most examples, in fact. Here is the usual post-modern mix of characters and genders, with women and children taking more active roles than would have been found in most ‘pulp-era’ SF.

The artwork does not appeal to me at all, but it does depict the alien extremely well; unfortunately, the humans look pretty alien too, or at least Euro-cartoony (or British 1950s-60s children’s comics, which is pretty much the same school if you know your history).

Just to show exactly what I thought of it, I will shortly be setting off (from the Elephant & Castle) for Shepherds Bush library to borrow the next five volumes.

Black Science is really outstanding! Rick Remender takes a simple sci-fi concept of world jumping with a family and twists it with danger and excitement! Innocent children on the line, a brilliant invention, and corporate interests are all at stake as well as the lives of a scientist's family. Remender is a truly entertaining writer taking big concepts and applying them to real situations and inner monologue. Black Science is hyper fast paced, action packed, with thoughtful commentary on the working man.

Remender takes on the value of scientific achievement if it costs the lives of those around you. Black Science's first volume is entitled How to Fall Forever, which perfectly entails the sinking feeling the protagonist faces as he realizes all those he cares about are at risk over his obsession with discovery and invention. It's quite the clever metaphor for Black Science.

The art is perhaps the true star with lush space worlds and vivid colors throughout, Black Science is a gorgeous comic. Image Comics really has some unique books to offer. I'm glad I read Black Science. It's fun and fresh with a modern take on old science fiction concepts.

Grant McKay is kicking himself in the butt because he delved into Black Science and now his kids and fellow travelers are about to die because he’s in a dimension of frog monsters that enslave fish monsters and he can’t get out unless he brings back fresh water to power the pillar before it explodes. Moral: Only the arrogant try to master the laws of the eververse. Grant is an arrogant jerk but he at least realizes it, making him an interesting character, as are the others (pretty much all of whom are jerks, including the kids).

The pillar finds destinations about as reliably as the TARDIS so McKay and his kids and his unhappy boss are soon stuck in a war zone. The war is between Europe and American Indians. McKay’s group can’t leave because the pillar has been sabotaged. One of the story’s plot points is the uncertain identity of the saboteur. Another is provided by the various alliances formed between people in McKay’s group. Still another is McKay’s rapidly souring relationship with his kids, who just don’t understand how cool it is to be shot at in an alternate dimension. Well, they’re just kids. What do they know?

To find his way home, McKay needs to find some spare parts, which gives the series an excuse to bounce McKay & Co. from universe to universe. And since there are an infinite number of Grant McKays in the eververse (all of whom make a botch of the pillar), the series sets up the possibility of Grant repeatedly saving himself from … himself. Or maybe not, given the cliffhanger ending.

In the meantime, the book is filled with flashbacks. They provide useful information but the jump cuts are too often confusing. And despite the art’s distinctive style, some of the characters resemble each other too closely, making it difficult to know who is doing what. On the other hand, I like the renditions of the various aliens.

Wow... just wow. Black Science has completely blown my socks off. Somehow, this comic had completely escaped my notice, until I happened to notice it on sale at Comixology this week. The artwork and premise intrigued me, so I checked out this first volume - and it vastly exceeded my high expectations.

Black Science is a brilliant piece of illustrated fiction that reads like a young boy's imagination put to paper. Though the writing is superb, I have to give credit first and foremost to the art. It's impossible for me to describe just how well the penciler and colorist have brought the concept of this book to life. Every page is filled with fantastic, weird, colorful creatures and landscapes of the alien, inter-dimensional worlds that the characters traverse. Without this excellent artwork, which is among the best I've ever seen, this book would fall flat. Instead, the exceptional work that's been done elevates this comic to new realms of the sci-fi genre, transporting the reader to these bizarre, wonderful places where beauty and danger coexist at every turn.

As for the writing, the story is excellent, and the characters are deep, fun, and diverse. Of special note, however, is the pacing. The pacing is what sets this book's writing apart... it's excellent! Somehow, the writer manages to keep things moving at a pace that always seems breathless, yet never becomes monotonous through the seemingly nonstop action and peril. I think the way he achieved this was by expertly weaving the character development and plot exposition into scenes that are rife with action.

The best way to describe Black Science is "Inventive". Not only are we exploring incomprehensible worlds with the characters that stretch the very limits of our imaginations, we're also constantly surprised by what each of these worlds brings. You won't see any "little green men" on these alien worlds, but multitudes of curious critters, ghastly monsters, technological wonders, and parallel universes with fascinating alternate timelines. Black Science is constantly refreshing, and one of the best books I've ever read.

I was really, really surprised to find that Black Science was actually a pretty good comic because I’ve read Rick Remender’s Marvel stuff like Uncanny Avengers and Captain America and HAAAAATED them so much. Well, it seems his comics outside Marvel are the place to read good Remender!

But I’ll qualify that statement: I haven’t read any of his other Image comics (yet) so this might be a one-off, and Black Science is good in that it’s a brainless and very obvious – but entertaining – action/adventure sci-fi story. What it isn’t is original, layered, challenging or particularly deep on any emotional level. It’s on-par with Speed essentially, but, boy, watching that bus drive non-stop sure was exciting, eh?

Grant McKay, an “anarchist scientist” (read: nonsense), builds a dimension-hopping device called The Pillar – and it works! As Grant, his kids (!), his mistress, his security guy, and a couple others, along with his evil boss, the snarling, bitter suit Kadir, gather for a test flight, something goes wrong and they’re stranded in another dimension – and don’t know how to get home. They gotta keep jumping through the Eververse until they make it back. It’s basically Lost in Space crossed with Quantum Leap with some Sliders thrown in. See what I mean about unoriginal?

We’ve all heard Arthur C. Clarke’s quote about magic being science we don’t understand yet (more memorably paraphrased by the bodacious Chris Hemsworth as Thor) which is why I think we have that title: Black Magic = Black Science. But Grant calling what he does “anarchist” science is just silly. Political philosophy has no correlation with science on any level – science is empirical, politics is not. There are no “forbidden ideas” in science just knowledge we haven’t discovered yet. It’s an annoying detail that plays into the ridiculous obsession Image have with publishing comics starring “rock star” scientists from Nowhere Men to Chrononauts. We get it, nerds are in – but it’s so naff to pose like “I’m an anarchist scientist, yeah!”. Blech. For a comic starring genius scientists, it all comes across as quite dim.

The characters are all archetypes: the tough guy security chief, the villainous suit, the hot mistress, the angry, ignored kids, the father who just wants to do right by them - whatever! It doesn’t matter in this comic though because it’s all about the fast-moving story and the fantastical figures we come across. The frog tribesmen in one dimension, the Native Americans with robot suits fighting WW1-era Germans, and the Star Wars-esque aliens in the desert are the real focus as our cast have to survive amongst them.

The story is simple: each time they jump, they need to get something – fresh water for The Pillar, medical supplies for someone who’s hurt – before The Pillar jumps them to the next dimension, so it’s a bit like reading a video game with different missions for different levels! But therein lies its brilliance because the characters are familiar enough so you know their kind immediately so you’re more easily drawn into the swiftly-moving tale which Remender and artist Matteo Scalera manage to keep the pace up on. I did find the villain’s motivation for doing what he did incredibly weak but once again I’ll say that we’re not dealing with a very sophisticated plot: everything is geared towards throwing this group into one action/alien scenario after another, so it’s forgivable.

Remender effectively uses flashbacks so that they’re not intrusive or awkwardly in the way of the action but complements it, acting as breathers in between the excitement so it doesn’t wear you down reading too many Indiana Jones-type chase sequences in a row. They also develop important points in the overall story so it’s a more satisfying read.

Scalera’s art is excellent for the most part. My biggest complaint – and it’s the same for all of his comics – is that a lot of his male characters’ faces are much too similar. Their mouths, eyes and head shapes all look alike, especially those angular noses! Grant looks like characters from Dead Body Road and Indestructible Hulk. The female characters are hard to distinguish too with the mistress and the daughter looking disturbingly similar! Otherwise, the action is conveyed well and the alien landscapes are absolutely wonderful, especially with Dean White’s superb and vivid colours.

Black Science Volume 1 is an effortless, entertaining action/adventure comic that’s enjoyable for purely superficial reasons. It lacks a lot of things but makes up for it in simplistic fun – and sometimes that’s all you need from a comic.

Black Science is one of my favorite Image books right now. There – I said it. Not so much because it’s by one of my favorite writers in current comics Rick Remender, but because it’s everything I love about comics in one setting. It has high end action, lots of crazy science fiction (a note Remender is good at), and plenty of crazy twist and turns to keep you interested. It’s an ode to Pulp comics like Doc Savage and Remender makes no apologizes for it. I know I usually start my reviews with a rudimentary introduction, but what the heck? Cut to the chase because that is just what Black Science is as a series; one that cuts to the chaser and doesn’t let go.

BLACK SCIENCE VOL.1: HOW TO FALL FOREVER collects issues #1-6. Grant McKay, leader of the League of Scientist, has finally found a way to use black science in order to travel through other dimensions thanks in part to his invention, The Pillar. So McKay invites his family and the science team to look at his personal achievement and something goes wrong, to which the Pillar warps the crew into another dimension filled with frogs and monster having a war. The only thing Grant and his crew can do is try to stay alive while hopping through dimensions to hopefully get back home, if ever they make it back home.

Remender hits the ground running with this series as Grant and the crew is trying to survive in bad situations with each jump in weird crazy dimensions from fending off humanoid-frogs with electric tongues that live on islands of giant sea turtles, to a futuristic era of Civil War soldiers fighting cyber Indians. And that’s only a small part of what’s to expect. This is a zany adventure series that not only focus on the crazy worlds the McKay crew visit, but the conflict with the crew itself. While the main narrative focuses on the crew staying alive long enough, the book jumps to flashbacks leading up to the current events that help explain things and understand the characters better. Grant has perplexing persona of being a typical scientist, trying to be a good family man, yet has bad habits (like having an affair with another scientist). All the while a plot from one of the scientist to possibly sabotage the project make for a fun and engaging read you want to know what happens next. Remender really sets the bar by using complete creative control to surprise readers every step of the way. If you think Walking Dead defies reader expectations about who might die at any moment, Black Science will give it a run for its money, especially the very end of this book.

A great book is only as strong as the writer/artist team, and Matteo Scalera is the other half that make a beautifully drawn book. His art style is sketchy and loose, but it is utterly detailed and frantic to match the pace. Thanks to colorist Dean White to bring out the detail, every kind of weird sci-fi design you could imagine is in full force under Scalera. This is a beautiful book.

I had no problems with this book. If there were any faults it might be the breakneck pace and Scalera’s art style being a bit crazy at times, but I found them miniscule.

Chalk up another hit from Image because BLACK SCIENCE VOL.1 by Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera is a great science fiction adventure that runs at 100-miles-per-hour and does not let up. And at $10 it’s very safe to try this title out for yourself.

Authored by Rick Remender (creator/writer of Fear Agent and Deadly Class), Black Science is a refreshingly twisted take on the ever common literary theme of time travel. It's been a long time since I've read any science fiction that has cojones and puts just as much emphasis on its characters as it does the science and action of the narrative.

The protagonist Grant Mcckay is a bit of an antihero, on one hand he is the genius charismatic leader of a band of anarchist scientists, on the other hand he's a self centered *insert expletive* who has no real scope for how his decisions may affect others (including his own family).

In Volume 1 Grant and his band of rebel scientists have successfully managed to time hop--a fact that Grant believes will change the universe for the better. However, the machine has been damaged and their time hops are sporadic and uncontrollable. As the clock ticks down between time hops, the reader is filled with the same anxiety as its characters. Where will they end up next? Will the world be friendly or dangerous? Will each new world contain the proper tech to allow them to fix the machine? And finally, who is the traitor that has damaged the machine amongst them?

If a properly written psychotropic dark Sci-Fi thriller isn't enough to convince you to read it, perhaps the artwork will. Penciled by the haunting hand of Italian artist Matteo Scalera , one might easily be forgiven for forgetting to read the words and merely flipping through the images.

www.austinraymiller.com

Title: Black Science Vol. 1: How to Fall Forever
Publisher: Image
Writer: Rick Remender
Artists: Matteo Scalera (pencils, inks, covers), Dean White (colors)
Collects: Black Science #1-6
Price: $9.99

Rick Remender is a familiar name in comics, these days. He's been writing at Marvel for many years and has been doing more and more of his own indie work, as well. He is probably most famous for his run on Uncanny X-Force (Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection Volume 1,Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection Volume 2), and most infamous for his run on Punisher (The Punisher: Franken-Castle). (In my opinion, his work on Punisher - though creative - was the most stupid and unlikeable story to come out of Marvel in that particular year, and easily the worst Punisher story this long-time comic fan has ever read!) Black Science is some of his recent independent work that was produced over at Image. The story is a sci-fi piece set in its own universe. In it, a group of scientists, a security guard, a financier, and a few kids are transported from world to world by "The Pillar" - a device that can break through the barriers of reality and dimensions.

This party of individuals has a serious problem: their device is broken and transports them from random place to random place whenever its timer reaches zero. They can't re-set the timer, so they must ward off whatever hazards their current environment throws at them for as long as it takes for the timer to reach zero. They must be standing near the device when it hits zero or they will miss the transport. They bounce from one bad situation to another - all the while trying to figure out how to repair the device and get home to Earth. Each character is dealing with their own internal issues, and several of the individuals have quarrels and discord between them. Additionally, it seems as though the device has been sabotaged, so everyone is a bit mistrustful of everyone else - except for maybe the kids.

Although I enjoyed the concept of this book, there were a few things I disliked. I wasn't overly impressed with the graphic design and look of the worlds the travelers (or "dimensionauts" as they call themselves) are transported to. Neither was I too impressed with the look of the aliens populating them. For as good as some of the work was that Remender has done in dimension-hopping in other comic books, I would have thought that this aspect would have been handled in a more appealing way. I was also put off by the amount of profanity in the book. It certainly didn't make the book any more appealing, as it was unneeded and seemed out of place, at times. For a bunch of characters who say they want to make the world a better place, these guys sure are a bunch of losers and morally-defunct persons.

The artwork didn't really grab me, either, I have to admit. It was very Euro-looking and stylistic - quite a bit different than what I am accustomed to and what I prefer. The painted colors were a throwback to comics of yesteryear, too. No fancy computer colors or graphic FX to be seen in this book. Everything is old-school. It wasn't ugly or poor work, though. It just wasn't my style.

I really struggled with the score for this book. I liked parts of it, but I didn't really like it as a whole. At the same time, though, I have to admit that I liked the fresh universe and characters and storyline, and the price point just can't be beat at only $10. That's half of what you would have to pay if this book had a big red Marvel logo on the front of it! Even if you buy the book and don't care for it, at least your investment is minimal. At the store's prices you can probably get this book under $7! You may like it more than me. In the end, I settled on the three-star rating for this book. I decided I didn't like it well enough to go seek out a second volume (if one should happen to be printed some day).

Writing: 6/10
Artwork: 7/10
Cool Factor: 6/10
Value: 9/10

Overall: 7/10

I bought Black Science thinking that Rick Remender was Jason Latour, so imagine my surprise when instead of getting a cool story written by the creator of Spider-Gwen, one of my current favorites, I got a crappy marriage of too-edgy-for-you storytelling and racism from the hack who turned Captain America into the kind of guy who collects Nazi memorabilia and The Falcon into a rapist. Everything about this comic, from the dialogue to the plot to the art itself, is supremely pessimistic -- except of course for the stereotypical fun black guy, the laid-back one who makes jokes about child molestation. There's a solid two or three issues collected in this volume that rely almost entirely on racist stereotypes of Native Americans, women are in the story largely as set dressing and to be brutalized (including a bizarrely sexualized frog alien with huge breasts), and beyond all that, the story is just... not even that compelling. Don't waste your time on this one.

First I need to mention I received this book from Goodreads giveaway. It also happened to be one of the best one I received from any kind of giveaways, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Grant McKay, a genius scientist and the founder of The Anarchistic Order of Scientists which aim was to put science above all restrictions (political, bureaucratic, ethical, etc.) made a scientific breakthrough with resulted in creation of The Pillar: a device in form of a... well.. pillar which enables to travel to alternate realities. Anything is possible in different realities which means you can travel to one to find a cure for cancer, a solution for a global pollution in another one, etc. If you remember TV show Sliders, the idea is very similar.

Unfortunately during the routine lab inspection something goes wrong and The Pillar gets broken. It sends a group of people who happens to be near it at that time and sends them somewhere. It also keeps sending poor people into different realities at random time making it practically impossible for them to stop it and go home. I would also like to note that poor reality wanderers keep escaping from a really bad place (think Lovecraft's fantasies coming alive as an example) into a much worse one.

I believe one of the genre's cliches is to start the tale in the middle of action with no explanation of what is going on - I can think of only very few counterexamples. This book is no exception. It took some time before the initial situation became clear with occasional further flashbacks to clarify what happened in the beginning even more. Once I figured what is going on, the plot became really interesting, impossible-to-put-the-book-down type.

The artwork is really good: colorful or bleak - depending on the current situation. My only complaint and question was: what's up with the noses of practically all male heroes? They all look like a creation of an artist whose only sculptural tool was an axe.

As I already mentioned it was very hard to put the book down and I found myself thinking about it after I was done with reading. For this reason the final rating is 4.5 stars. I am now also on a hunt for the next installment of the series.

Having heard the buzz for this series for a while, I finally managed to get ahold of this trade encompassing the first six issues of Black Science.

Having been a fan of Remender's work with the Uncanny X-Force, my expectations were very well placed in his abilities to craft an engrossing story.

Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. While it can be hard to review a trade of anything due to its limited exposure of a larger storyline (usually 4-6 issues per trade), Black Science did a good job introducing the characters and weaving an interesting plot through past, present (and future per issue 5!).

The benchmark for any initial trade is whether or not you feel compelled to continue to follow the story when you reach that last panel. In that regard, Black Science succeeds in spades!

There seems to be so much to explore here, and my curiosity has gotten the best of me, as I will continue to follow this title for the foreseeable future, I recommend you do the same!

(Note: I took one star off for art that while awesome, gave me a hard time deciphering what was happening sometimes. Especially telling the characters apart when they had their suit helmets on.)

The writing in this comic is great. Like many people say, it is very pulpy, seemingly coming from an old tradition of one and down stories that tie together a larger continuing narrative. Matteo Scalera's artwork is fantastic and contributes an enormous amount to the grit and feel of the book. Things look bleak in one issue and they will look bleaker in the next, but this is not a book that is dark just for the sake of being dark. Remender does a good job in conveying three dimensional characters. Definitely worth checking out.

Grant McHugh finds a way through black science to break the barriers of reality. But he does not expect those realities to be so full of chaos. As he travels to get back to the "pillar" to go home, he find that it has been destroyed but by who? Grant and his team are lost. To get home, they must travel through forgotten and ancient dark realms.

This is pulp fiction mixed with science fiction. It compels you to keep reading this fantastic adventure. The artwork is gorgeous! This is a comic I won't forget and plan to read the next volume.

Disclaimer: I received a digital galley of this book free from the publisher from NetGalley. I was not obliged to write a favourable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

There's really nothing wrong with this starting point to what looks like am possibly groundbreaking and wonderfully unlimited series. Rick Remender has left all of his options open in these stories and they look to play out perfectly: the worlds, the possibilities, the quickly detailed character types and drama - it's all bubbling over the sides here! For $ 9.99 (per typical Image first volume) you really can't loose (unless you're not into Sci-Fi... then stay away... unless you're coming in for the drama - which is pitch perfect, in my opinion - then stay around).

Wow! This was getting incredible reviews across the web so I purchased it based on this fact. I read tons of graphic novels and this one just doesn't do it for me. It was average. The art was below average. I'll put this on eBay and pass on volume 2.

This science fiction comic book takes us on a trek across various dimensions/realities by the invention of a Pillar, the idea being that the scientists will be able to transport resources from other dimensions to benefit the Earth.

The bunch of characters include Grant, his children, his lover, his sponsor and a couple of others there to flesh out the story. As could perhaps be predicted, things go pear-shaped and they end up trying to get home, some characters dying along the way. The characters interact reasonably realistically, arguing and empathising.

The artwork by Matteo Calera is quite good but I found the frames too colourful for my liking and sometimes it was difficult to see what was intended.

Enjoyable enough but it is not a book that I would have bought and I am not interested enough in what happens next in subsequent volumes.

The story is contrived, jumping from place to place, and the characters are quite thin. Worst of all, characters often die, before we have any emotional connection. This reduces death's impact, and makes just plain not care.

Lost among the alternative universes - it's a pretty good premise. Pretty much anything can happen, anywhere, including meet-ups with your alternate selves, also lost among the many worlds. Add in a distinctive visual style - well, the potential was there, but really didn't do it for me.

I suppose it was the retelling of WWII, with Germans vs. high-tech Native Americans brandishing laser tomahawks. I mean, I'll do my part toward suspension of disbelief, but I expect the writer to meet me half way. Given so many truly exceptional comics out there, I have no reason to come back to this one.

-- wiredweird