Black Science, Vol. 7: Extinction is the Rule

Black Science

by Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera (Illustrator), Moreno Dinisio (Colorist)

The Eververse collapsing under its own weight. The Dimensionauts, a ragtag collection of heroes, scientists and anarchists from countless alternate realities, must band together and head towards the center of the Onion, the infinite-layered construct of all there is, was and ever could be. Grant McKay created the Pillar to save the world with science, now he must use it to save all worlds, all of creation, or doom reality itself to oblivion.

RICK REMENDER and MATTEO SCALERA continue the mind-bending pulp sci-fi series with another chapter of fast-paced action, gripping drama and trippy visuals.

Collecting Black Science #31-34

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Fantasy, Comic Book

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2018

About the author

Rick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the writer/co-creator of many independent comic books like Black Science, Deadly Class, LOW, Fear Agent and Seven to Eternity. Previously, he wrote The Punisher, Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another awesome volume of pulp SF with fantastic art. It's almost non-stop action from start to finish; I think my heart rate's still elevated twenty minutes after finishing it. There's some great, funny one-liners scattered throughout, as well, which I always appreciate.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sob quietly in the corner for a while, as I've just found out the next book in this series is going to be the last one...

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A direct continuation of volume 6. Everything has gotten so crazy in this book I don't even know where to begin. Pretty much everyone we've met in the past, good or bad, shows up on the McKay's Earth. It all feels like it's quickly coming to a head and will come to an end soon. I expect all balls-out action until the very end.

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The penultimate volume. I'm gonna miss this series - but man-oh-man am I excited for that last book.

This volume is a friggen rollercoaster from the get-go. Non-stop action all the way through - and even with all those crazy fights and all these things coming together - even with the fate of all the dimensions in danger of forever ceasing to exist - we still get some deep thought cuts from writer Rick Remender. And not once does it slow the action down.

And that's what this series is. Incredibly balanced. Even with all the crazy pulped out sci-fi goodness, with all the family drama and all the whacky creatures (both good and evil), it all fits within one another so perfectly...it really is quite a feat of storytelling.

And the art. Holy Christ the art. From page one of this series all the way to now...the art has consistently been top dollar. Matteo Scalera has firmly placed himself as one of my favorite current billed artists in the industry from this book alone.

It's hard to believe that it's shortly all coming to an end. I'm gonna miss picking this one up every month.

[RG · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series has been so werid. It can either be too weird or just perfect. This volume was perfect. I loved how the story progessed, the introduction of more family history. Artwork is still amazing. I guess we're getting torwards the end as I see a resolution around the corner. It might help re reading vol 6 or skimming through it prior to starting this volume.

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Earth and the McKays and co. are under severe threat by
- an intelligent telepathic millipede death cult
- countless people possessed by space ghosts that can jump from body to body
- possibly one of the most lethal witches in fiction
- mega cross-dimensional capitalist council of Mr Blocks
- Kadir the man that caused it all at the start, who loves/wants Sara, the mother of Grant's kids, and his ex-wife
-oh and massive monstrosity that likes to explain in gratuitous explicit detail what it will do to you before using your still-live body to incubate its young!
.
Now you're thinking ...Damn, you should be reading this?
.
Despite all this hoo-hah at the end of times, it proves to be too much going on and seems rushed, especially across just 4 comic book issues. Overall the story is saved by some great continuity and surprising reveals.
.
7.5 out of 12.
.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continues the non-stop action of the previous story arc and is even more balls-to-the-walls action-packed as all of our heroes are reunited and almost all of the beings they've encountered are smashed together in an all-out battle royale in this dimension. It's fun and ridiculous, but this time the action was much messier, more confusing, and rather inconsistent.



Remender also needs to stop it with the over-the-top, unnecessary narration that served to distract and water down the whole experience. It's something that's constant throughout the series but was really noticeable here. This was the weakest volume so far but still got me excited for the big series climax.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, I have proven that I am addicted to Black Science. Really liked it for the moves toward plot resolution (this is the penultimate collected volume). Not as big a fan for the voice-over philosophy narration, which feels a bit cobbled-together. I also struggled with the action portrayed in the art (had some difficulty telling what occurred in the action sequences), and with keeping track of who-is-who in the multiverse (occasional alternate reality versions of the McKay team surface and resurface wildly). Still, "really liked"!

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[CS · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

Tropes I Hate:

1) Ex-wife marries nemesis of her ex, only to come swooping back to her ex's arms when he reappears.

2) @sspulls (seriously, when did Pia become a super genius?)

3) Technobabble when not done convincingly.

4) @sspulls (seriously, when did Shawn not die?)

5) D-bag protagonists with weepy excuses for them being d-bags (God, I hate Grant, maybe more than Rick Grimes!)

6) @sspulls (seriously, does anyone in this effing comic series ever DIE and stay DEAD?!)

I can't even remember when I liked Black Science Volume 1, because everything afterwards has been a trainwreck of "Let's throw this in the pot now because we don't have a clue what we're effing doing and I need more money for all this pot I want to smoke".

Remender and Team: Please tell me what recreational drugs you use because I am pretty sure I need whatever you're on to write this mess.

My Personal Recommendation (which means absolutely nothing and you can tell me to blow it out my rear):
If you haven't read any Black Science, don't start.

[Scott Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic story in which the versions of our protagonists from last volume continue through and team up with various friends from around the eververse to deal with the multiple invasions of their earth. Lots of people die, much sci-fi action occurs, and in the end it's uncertain what the actual result was. It could be that everything is annihilated (this world, not the eververse) it could be something else. It's frustrating enough it cost the volume a star from me because I felt like the ending turned the whole thing into kind of a beautiful mess.

[Valéria. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celkom fajn koniec, aj keď nie úplný.. fialové monštrum sa s hláškami rozbehlo ešte viac, Chandra milujúca Kadira predvedie žiarlivostnú scénu, Pia zomrie, ale vlastne nezomrie (ako to je už v celej sérii) a všetci zomrú ale vlastne nezomrú a čakajú má posledné dve knihy, v ktorých to dúfam skvele uzatvoria.

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overly simplistic emotions irk this arc.

World: Art is amazing, always has been. The world building is good. It’s a continuation of the last arc and changing the setting with new little pieces here and there and some backstory is good. All the pieces coming together is fun.

Story: Frantic and relentless pace much like the series. The action and the sequences are top notch and it’s a ride. The stakes are insane and the emotions are raw and high. I will say that Sara and her turn emotionally was rather fast and honestly but too convenient for my taste. This series has always had quick emotions but it’s been earned, this one not so much. The end was good and emotional but there are instances where the emotions felt of.

Characters: Strong character moments but also too convenient moments. Mum comes to mind and her turn was a bit half baked. The stuff with dad is great and is a wonderful but very fast punch in the gut.

Two more books. Should be good.

Onward to the next book!

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another action-filled, explosive collection. Frankly, it's all starting to wear me out, but I guess I'm on this ride until the end...

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se define el camino al final. Un tomo a pura acción y emoción, aunque vuelve a pasar que al tratar varios personajes o hasta idénticos pero de distinta dimensión, la lectura es entre mas confusa y compleja.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rollercoaster ride fron start to finish, i dont want this book to end. The story is getting better and better, and the artwork and especially the colors, are among the best you will ever see.

[Koen Claeys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feels like the big finale .... but it isn’t ! Up to volume 8 !

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Black Science volume slowed down a bit at parts but still insane crazy shit is happening.

This chapter feels almost like the final part. Everything from every single story comes to a head here. All the characters ever in this series return and it's a huge blowout style war. Plenty of great moments for Nate, Pia, and even Grant. Of course more deaths occur, alot more, and a major twist at the end puts us in a "So what now?" situation cliffhanger.

I really dug a lot of this volume. I think my favorite part was actually the very start and end since it help reflect on things. I also think the art still is amazing with some fight scenes that are freaking mindblowing. There are some pacing issues as some things slow down to a halt on big action moments that should have been in another part. But overall this series is not running out of steam yet as we head into the final two volumes. A 4 out of 5.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It doesn't have a ton to do with the story so I'm not spoiling anything here, but Remender inadvertently perfectly sums up the social-media age with this quote spoken by Grant: "Only the insecure, narcissistic, and sociopathic strive for the spotlight, begging for the applause of strangers."

This story is just bat-shit awesome, the art has really stepped up to be pretty incredible, and I love it when we get to see actual character growth that isn't ham-handed or heavy-fisted but rather organic and displayed naturally through the story.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Violent, nihilistic crap. Surprised I finished this series but somewhere after several 1oo pages of violence and frequent confusion I wanted to see where it ended. With Plato and a couple "deep thoughts" and blatantly nihilistic. What a waste.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review isn't just for the this particular volume of Black Science, but for the entire nine-volume series, since I read it all in one go, and honestly, the entire thing is so consistent in its writing, artwork, tone, pace and quality, that it becomes fairly difficult to tell were one chapter ends and another begins.

I came to Black Science as an ardent fan of Rick Remender's Low, a series so sublimely good that it's earned me a huge amount of goodwill with Remender. So it was that i dove into Black Science, not knowing what it was about, but fairly certain that I would have a good, if not great time. And I'd say that, ultimately, is what I got. A good, but not great time.

The story is kind of a hyperactive mash=up of Lost in Space and Quantum Leap, with Grant McKay and his League of Anarchic Scientists jaunting endlessly through the Eververse, an infinite onion-like structure of alternate realities densely layered upon each other. The tech that enables this is the Pillar, a supertech-widget McKay invents so that alternate realities can be plundered for their resources, but the whole thing goes sideways and he and his team and his family are stuck in a super-perilous mission to survive as each alternate reality they visit is more hostile than the last. The further they go, the more they realize that they might not just be putting themselves at risk...they might be endangering all of reality itself.

First, the good. Remender and artist Matteo Scalera work very well together, and the amount of imagination put forth in this is terrific. Each new world is a blast of fresh images, ideas and story hooks. In the first half of the story, especially, the world-building and destroying on display is a thing of wonder. And Scalera's art seems perfect for this particular story. It's a little wild and stylized, but for this tale, it works rather well.

Now, the bad. What works so well in this story also works against it - the wild energy and loopiness often comes at the expense of continuity. You ever get that feeling in Heavy Metal stories that the story itself just kind of lurched forward a bit because they've only got 4 pages left to tell 6 pages of story? Yeah, that happens all the time in Black Science. Sometimes, it's "Wait, where did McKay get that suit of armor from?" And sometimes it's, "Wait, how did a huge plot point happen entirely off-stage?" This gets really distracting in the second half of things, especially when we have parallel stories that offer little to no visual cue that we're jumping from one story to the next. It doesn't help that for much of this, we've got three female characters who look almost identical to each other, and while Scalera is a fine artist, he's got about four facial expressions on him, so sometimes telling certain characters apart becomes difficult. And when different versions of those same characters from other dimensions begin bumping into each other, you kind of throw your hands up and keep reading on the hopes that eventually when Remender has to stop and catch his breath, he'll explain exactly what is going on.

Ultimately, this is a good-ish series. It's far better in the first half than the second, and the ending, to be honest, feels like a huge cosmic-level cop-out. A lot of McKay's exposition makes you wonder if Rememder is using Black Science to work through some mid-life crisis of his own. But at least Black Science feels like a story for the sake of a story, and not an elaborate storyboard pitch for a Netflix adaptation, which is more than can be said for many graphic novels coming out these days. If only Remender and Scalera had throttled back just a little bit and didn't try so hard to be the anarchists they are depicting.

[Doug Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

By Volume 7, most people should be fully indoctrinated in Black Science. It is this weird, pulpy, Lost in Space kind of story.

In this volume, the whole Eververse is in danger, and it is up to the McKays to save it. (That feels like one of the most understated summaries for this series, but I don't want to give away too much.) A lot of plot lines come to a head in this volume, which is partly why I enjoyed reading it. For some readers, that may end up being a downside. If you are only casually reading Black Science, I could see you getting lost. I read the graphic novels, and I may have benefited from skimming Volume 6 before I read this one.

There are two things about Black Science that keep me coming back to it. One is the scientific ruminations and philosophical debates Grant McKay has inside his head. These internal dialogues are key to the comics format, but I really like how Rick Remender uses them to talk about science or philosophy while echoing or enhancing the ongoing story, and I always find them fascinating. This has one of the better ones, during Issue 32, where Grant is thinking about the purpose of life and good and evil in the context of the right to live and extinction. With the Eververse in trouble, this dialogue reminds us how these discussions are always important in all times and all dimensions, giving the questions a kind of universality that I really dig.

The second reason I buy these comics is I love the art of Matteo Scalera. He has a style that is pulpy and weird and atypical of most mainstream comics. The storylines and multiple dimensions give him plenty of weird to draw. He is at his best bringing to life some of these strange aliens, especially in single page panels and splash pages. Sometimes I have a difficult time following familial characters. Matteo's art can be the visual equivalent of Tolkien's dwarf naming, which leaves me wondering whether I'm looking at Pia or her mother or Rebecca. This volume didn't have that problem for me, though. I found it the easiest to keep track of those three characters.

One of the only dings to the graphic novel isn't the novel itself but where it fits in the story as a whole. At one point, I found myself wondering how long Rick intends to keep this going, or if he has a conclusion in mind. Because of the Onion/Eververse always perpetuating itself, I could see this going on forever, but at this point I think I'd like to think we are moving toward something, some kind of end to the story. I don't want to get to the point where it's just another dimension and just another crisis. But again, that's not a knock against this volume but a question of where this story is taking us, as readers. I'm sure wherever it is, it will be weird.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tras el sexto volumen en donde finalmente se había desatado el desastre multiversal que llevaban mencionando y tratando de evitar desde el principio, llega el séptimo tomo a forma de extravaganza psicodélica de acción, mientras el equipo de Grant trata de arreglar todo el desastre que causaron.
Cuando saltas de dimensión en dimensión es normal que te hagas de muchos enemigos, lo que no es muy normal ni deseable es que todos estos enemigos, regresen aquí para atormentarte y destruirte. Por un lado tenemos al monstruo morado que habla puras sandeces asquerosas y que me hace reír mucho. Los zirites, parásitos transdimensionales de almas. Los Dralns, anfibios-serpientes-telépatas que alaban un culto de la muerte interdimensional. Kadir y el señor Blokk. La bruja Doxta, etc. Todos esos enemigos haciendo un desastre en tu tierra no se ve nada prometedor y así es como concluye el volumen seis y como arranca el volumen 7.
Este tomo cumple adecuadamente con todo lo que uno podría pedir de esta historia. Tenemos desarrollo de personajes, y eso llega a través de la esperada confrontación entre Kadir y Grant que también tiene una revelación sorpresiva. Pero también hay pequeños momentos en los que Pia, Nate y Sara son construidos.
Tenemos demasiada acción. Desde la página uno y hasta el final, el tomo es una extravaganza psicodélica de acción. Recordemos que Nate, el hijo de Grant, estuvo varado en una dimensión con súper héroes y se volvió uno de ellos. Pero también hay muchos personajes más igual de extraños que también tienen habilidades curiosas que elevan la acción de este tomo.
El final del volumen no me quedó muy claro, pero tengo una teoría y estoy casi seguro que en el octavo tomo todo eso quedará claro. La historia ya fue confirmada que terminará en el noveno volumen. Fue bueno que decidiera retomar esta historia este año porque me tocará ver el final cuando salga y he disfrutado mucho desde el cuarto volumen hasta este.
Si quieren leer algo interesante, serio, y psicológico de ciencia ficción, no podría recomendar más Black Science.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will likely be the last volume I read in this series, generally due to personal taste.

Overall, the story has gone in a direction I'm not enjoying. What the characters are doing with the core concept feels limited and narrow given it's an "eververse" of endless possibilities. Too much of a big bad to foil and not enough exploration of strange places. On the other hand, the interpersonal stories of all the characters and their relationships with each other is well-fleshed out and definitely the strength of the series. Everyone's relationships and identities are explored through the events that happen.

The comic also has a habit of running an important narrator dialogue at the same time there is an important character dialogue happening from cell to cell. I find this confusing and hard to follow - too much information being imparted at once.

The artistic style is also a good match for the content and story style. While I won't keep reading this series, it's not because it's bad, just not for me.

[Doug Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I burned through another volume of this (two in as many days). I don't feel like repeating myself too much after my review of the last volume because I feel more or less the same. This has all the satisfying twists and turns and backstories that are keeping this ongoing story interesting. In fact, now that I consider it more carefully, I don't think an ongoing (and modern) graphic novel series has ever so naturally paced. On one hand, yes, it tends to linger on plot points and very little "real" progress is made in each volume. But on the other hand, these volumes are full of conflict and resolution and character growth and development that doesn't feel crammed into 2 panels of a page. It feels real, which is ironic considering how insanely creative and diverse this universe is.

Anyway, can't wait to crack open the next volume. I'll try to wait until tomorrow, but no guarantees.

[Abigail Pankau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continued Mad Science, dimension-hopping. Our protagonists finally stop fighting amongst themselves long enough to solve one problem; unfortunately another problem immediately popped-up in its place. And then they just make it worse.

A large part of this series is everyone fighting everyone else about which person gets what *they* want and only thinking about themselves. Too many people thinking they are "in love" with another, but it looks more like ownership than actual love. All the in-fighting (and lack of actual communication) means no one ends up getting that they want and just make everything overall worse.

I'm going to keep reading the series, but I hope there is an end to the series soon because it's just getting ridiculous.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this felt like a potential end for the series and not just another climax in a larger arc, but that speaks to the writing of this series. But given how things seem to come to a head in this book with many different antagonists from across the story gathered in one place, then you'll understand why anyone would think that this book is coming to an end.

But the actual resolution remains quite surprising because it sets up the next (final?) arc for the series as the threat goes beyond individual antagonists in the Eververse but more the dangers created by the Pillars themselves.

I just hope the McKays get through this in the end. This series continues to remind its readers that no one is safe for long, especially among our named characters.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Science, Vol. 7: Extinction is the Rule
As zany and intense and dystopian as (im)possible! Can’t wait for the next issue.
#31 – “The world will break your heart – but it gets to – it gave you one in the first place.”
#32 – “I’m not smart enough to fix this. But what I’m going to do to ANYTHING that threatens my family – THAT doesn’t take smarts.”
#33 – “Plato reflected on parallel realities, resulting in Platonism. Platonism proposes that the outer layers of reality are IMPERFECT shadows of a heavenly nucleus. While there is one CORE reality that is PERFECT.”
#34 – “What if I told you we could go to a world where nothing bad EVER happens?” – McKay (flashback, famous last words!)

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Matteo Scalera carries Black Science with the explosive action sequences and gorgeous layouts. But the story continues to be tonally messy and inconsistent. Remender opts for a rather over-the-top approach that utilizes Scalera's talents well, but unfortunately leads to a story that is frenetic in its telling.

This volume features the McKay family dealing with a millipede looking death cult, more witches, and capitalism. It's pulpy sci-fi at its best, but rambling nonsense at its worst. Probably will finish the series for completion sake, but I'm not optimistic that this series will end in a way I find satisfying at this point.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the “resolution” of this arc going back to around Vol 5 definitely feels like a possible series ending, which makes me a little worried about how Remender is going to swing a conclusion of greater impact in two final volumes before the series wraps. This one feels arguably more hurried than the last, packing a lot of action into just four issues. The framing narrative felt compelling but there’s a sort of “Rick & Morty” energy at play given all the stake raising that seems to keep happening (not just worlds at stake, but now distorting reality and pulling a whole timeline out of the multiverse?).

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Science is essentially the Fantastic Four on acid and I'm down for it! In this volume secrets are revealed, lives lost, and worlds are destroyed. The McKay family is trying everything in their power to reunite but fate has other ideas. Remender throws everything at this family and they continue to persevere. Matteo Scalera's art is top notch here. This volume is emotional and twisty and makes me want to read the next volume immediately. Overall, the great series continues with another very good read.