Rick Remender
Rick Remender is an American animator, comic book writer and television producer who resides in Los Angeles, California. As a comic book creator, he is best known
for his work on Uncanny X-Force, Venom, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers, published by Marvel, as well as his creator-owned series Fear Agent, Deadly Class, Black Science and Low, published by Image. In video games, he wrote EA's Dead Space and Epic Games' Bulletstorm.
In 2019, Sony Pictures Television adapted Deadly Class into a television series of the same name, for which Remender served as a showrunner and lead writer.
Career
Remender started out in animation, working on such films as The Iron Giant, Anastasia, Titan A.E. and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. In 1998, he teamed up with fellow animator Harper Jaten to create the absurdist humor series Captain Dingleberry, which, after four issues of self-publishing, was picked up by SLG Publishing. Remender contributed several short strips to Kieron Dwyer's anthology series Lowest Comic Denominator, and the pair went on to co-create Black Heart Billy, again published by SLG Publishing. Black Heart Billy was canceled after two issues in 2000 and collected/finished by AiT/PlanetLar in 2002 to coincide with the release of Remender's first solo writing work, the graphic novel Doll and Creature.Remender continued working in animation, co-creating and directing the Flash animated series Swing Town for Wild Brain Animation. His other work of the period includes inking assignments for Marvel's The Avengers, art for several issues of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the comic book adaptation of Bruce Campbell's Man with the Screaming Brain as well as short comics and album covers for Fat Wreck Chords, a Bay Area punk label. During this time, he also taught comics, animation and storyboarding at the Academy of Art University. In 2005, Remender began working primarily with Image, launching several creator-owned titles such as Sea of Red, Strange Girl and Fear Agent. Later work for Image includes horror series Sorrow, co-written with Seth Peck, and Crawl Space, an anthology series for various works by Remender and his long-time collaborator Kieron Dwyer that was discontinued after its initial storyline XXXombies.
In 2007, Remender moved Fear Agent to Dark Horse and launched two new creator-owned titles at the publisher, the superhero series The End League and the giant robot series Gigantic. At the same time, Remender began working for Marvel as a writer, joining Matt Fraction on Punisher War Journal and staying with the character to launch the new volume that tied in to the status quo resulting from the events of the 2008-09 "Dark Reign" storyline. In April 2009, Remender signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it allowed him to release The Last Days of American Crime through Radical. Further work for Marvel includes Uncanny X-Force and a Captain America volume that featured the storyline where Falcon took over the mantle of Captain America, which was adapted for Avengers: Endgame and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Remender served as a writer on the Electronic Arts video game Dead Space, and was the lead writer for Epic Games' Bulletstorm, released on February 22, 2011. In 2013, he returned to Image, producing a slate of creator-owned titles such as Black Science with Matteo Scalera, Deadly Class with Wes Craig, Low with Greg Tocchini, Tokyo Ghost with Sean Gordon Murphy, Seven to Eternity with Jerome Opeña and Death or Glory with Bengal. In 2017, Remender launched his own imprint at Image, titled Giant Generator, as well as a production company of the same name.
In addition to his work in comics and video games, Remender served as the showrunner on the Sony Pictures Television adaptation of his series Deadly Class which aired on Syfy, but was canceled after one season.
In 2019, The Last Days of American Crime was adapted into a feature film for Netflix. It is one of the rare movies to receive a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In September 2023, it was announced that Remender, through his Giant Generator production company, had signed a three-year exclusivity deal with Image Comics. In October 2023, it was announced that Giant Generator had signed exclusivity deals with 12 high profile artists including Daniel Acuña, André Lima Araújo, Paul Azaceta, Bengal, Roland Boschi, Max Fiumara, Mike Hawthorne, J. G. Jones, Francesco Mobili, Brett Parson, and Yanick Paquette. It was also announced that the imprint would be working on 3 new titles set to release in 2024 including Grommets by Remender, Brian Posehn, and Brett Parson, Napalm Lullaby by Remender and Bengal, and Dust to Dust by Jones and Phil Bram.
In November 2023, the first issue of Holy Roller, a comic written by Remeder, Joe Trohman, Andy Samberg, and illustrated by Roland Boschi, was released and published by Image Comics. Holy Roller about a pro bowler who is forced to quit his dream job and return to his hometown, which he soon discovers has been overrun by Neo-Nazis, leading him to become a trick bowling ball-wielding Jewish superhero.
In October 2024, it was announced that Giant Generator had added Steve Epting, Zeb Wells, and Kalman Andrasofszky to its creator line-up, with each creator working on books that would be announced in 2025.
Personal life
Remender resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.Early work
- Captain Dingleberry :
- *Sideshow
- *Captain Dingleberry #1–6 collected as Captain Dingleberry Unplugged
- ** Issues #1–4 are self-published as Underhanded Comics; #5–6 and the collection are published by SLG Publishing.
- *Captain Dingleberry Sooper Spooky Goth Special
- Murder Can Be Fun #12: "The Ride of Your Life!"
- Lowest Comic Denominator :
- * Issue #0 featured "Hicama!" and "Todd the Really Spooky Goth"
- * Issue #1 featured "Dillrod the Face Fucker" and another installment of "Hicama!"
- * Issue #2 featured the third installment of "Hicama!" and "Spertz"
- Black Heart Billy collects:
- *Black Heart Billy #1–2 also collected as Black Heart Billy
- *Lowest Comic Denominator #3: "Sac, Warrior of Choad"
- *Fat Wreck Chords: Catalog, Comics, Zine #2: "My Heart Bill Go On"
- *More Fund Comics: An All-Star Benefit Comic for the CBLDF: "Anti-Fashion"
- *24Seven Volume 1: "I Love Living in the City"
- Doll and Creature
- * A colorized and slightly rewritten version of the story with a new epilogue was published as Doll and Creature #1–4
- * The new version was subsequently collected by Image as Doll and Creature: Everything Turns Gray
- Night Mary #1–5
- * Collected as Night Mary
- * Collected in ''Crawl Space Omnibus''
As inker
On Kieron Dwyer:- Avengers: The Ultron Imperative
- The Avengers vol. 3 #48–50, 53–54, 57–60
- Terminator 3 #3–4
- Ruule|Ruule: Ganglords of Chinatown #1–5
As penciller
- Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vol. 2 :
- * "The Worms of Madness" collected in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 3
- * "Loops" collected in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 6
- Man with the Screaming Brain #1–4 collected as Man with the Screaming Brain
- The Last Christmas #1–5 collected as ''The Last Christmas''
Image Comics
- Crawl Space Omnibus includes:
- *Sea of Red also collected as:
- ** No Grave but the Sea
- ** No Quarter
- ** The Deadlights
- *Sorrow #1–4 also collected as Sorrow
- *Crawl Space: XXXombies #1–4 also collected as Crawl Space: XXXombies
- *Frank Frazetta's Creatures also collected in The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta Volume 1
- Strange Girl, Jerome Opeña, Nick Stakal, Micah Farritor and Peter Bergting collected as:
- *Girl Afraid
- *Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
- *Paint a Vulgar Picture
- *Golden Lights
- *Omnibus
- Fear Agent, Kieron Dwyer and Mike Hawthorne collected as:
- *Library Edition Volume 1
- ** Also collects the 4-issue limited series Fear Agent: The Last Goodbye published instead of issues #12–15 after the series was moved to Dark Horse.
- ** Also collects the Tales of the Fear Agent: Twelve Steps in One one-shot published instead of issue #16 after the series was moved to Dark Horse.
- ** Also collects the "Nothing to Fear..." short serial from MySpace Dark Horse Presents #3–4
- *Library Edition Volume 2
- *The Final Edition Volume 1
- *The Final Edition Volume 2
- *The Final Edition Volume 3
- *The Final Edition Volume 4
- Put the Book Back on the Shelf: "Nice Day for a Sulk"
- Popgun Volume 1: "The Death of the Midnight Sky"
- Black Science collected as:
- *The Beginner's Guide to Entropy
- *Transcendentalism
- *A Brief Moment of Clarity
- *Compendium
- Deadly Class collected as:
- *Noise Noise Noise
- *The Funeral Party
- *Teen Age Riot
- *Kids Will Be Skeletons
- Low collected as:
- *Book One
- *Book Two
- Tokyo Ghost #1–10 collected as Tokyo Ghost
- Thought Bubble Anthology #5: "Nancy Boy" collected in Thought Bubble Anthology Collection
- Seven to Eternity #1–17 collected as Seven to Eternity
- Death or Glory #1–11 collected as Death or Glory
- The Scumbag #1-14, Andrew Robinson, Eric Powell, Roland Boschi, Wes Craig, Bengal, Francesco Mobili, Alex Riegel, Jonathan Wayshak, and Matías Bergara collected as:
- *Volume 1: Cocainefinger
- *Volume 2: Moonflower
- *Volume 3: Goldenbrowneye
- A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #1-11 collected as:
- *Volume 1
- *Volume 2
- Napalm Lullaby #1-present collected as:
- *Volume 1
- The Sacrificers #1-present collected as:
- *Volume 1
- *Volume 2
- Holy Roller #1-present
Marvel Comics
- X-Men:
- *What If...? (featuring X-Men: Age of Apocalypse): "What If Legion Had Killed Xavier and Magneto?"
- ** Collected in X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse Omnibus Companion
- ** Collected in X-Men: The Age of Apocalyse — Twilight
- *Wolverine: Dangerous Games: "Purity" collected in Wolverine: Dangerous Games
- *Deadpool vol. 2 #1000: "Appetite for Destruction" collected in Deadpool: Dead Head Redemption
- *Uncanny X-Force, Esad Ribić, Billy Tan, Mark Brooks, Robbi Rodriguez, Greg Tocchini, Phil Noto, Mike McKone and Julian Totino Tedesco collected as:
- ** Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection Volume 1
- *** Includes "The First Day of the Rest of Your Life" short story from Wolverine: Road to Hell
- ** Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection Volume 2
- ** Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender Omnibus
- Punisher:
- *Punisher War Journal vol. 2 collected as:
- ** Jigsaw
- ** Secret Invasion
- *The Punisher vol. 8, Tan Eng Huat, Tony Moore, Dan Brereton, Roland Boschi and Jefte Palo collected as:
- ** Dark Reign
- ** Dead End
- ** Franken-Castle
- *** Includes the Dark Reign: The List—Punisher one-shot
- ** The Punisher by Rick Remender Omnibus
- *Punisher: In the Blood #1–5 collected as Punisher: In the Blood
- Dark Reign: The Cabal: "Family Trust" collected in Dark Reign: The Hood
- Thunderbolts #137 collected in Thunderbolts: Widowmaker
- Brother Voodoo:
- *Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1–5 collected as Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural
- *Age of Heroes #1: "A Date with the Doctor" collected in Age of Heroes
- Heroic Age: One Month to Live #1 and #5 collected in Heroic Age: One Month to Live
- What If...? Demon in an Armor + What If...? Wolverine: Father + What If...? Spider-Man + What If...? Dark Reign: "What If Venom Possessed Deadpool?"
- * Collected in Venom by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection Volume 1
- * Collected in Deadpool Classic: Ultimate Deadpool
- Venom vol. 2, Stefano Caselli, Lan Medina, Kev Walker and Declan Shalvey collected as:
- *Venom by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection Volume 1
- *Venom by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection Volume 2
- Secret Avengers, Gabriel Hardman, Renato Guedes, Matteo Scalera and Andy Kuhn collected as:
- *Secret Avengers by Rick Remender Volume 1
- *Secret Avengers by Rick Remender Volume 2
- *Secret Avengers by Rick Remender Volume 3
- *Secret Avengers by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection
- AvX: VS #4: "Daredevil vs. Psylocke"
- * Collected in Avengers vs. X-Men
- * Collected in Avengers vs. X-Men: VS
- Uncanny Avengers, Olivier Coipel, Daniel Acuña, Adam Kubert, Salvador Larroca, Steve McNiven and Sanford Greene collected as:
- *The Red Shadow
- *The Apocalypse Twins
- *Ragnarok Now
- *Avenge the Earth
- *AXIS Prelude
- *Omnibus
- Captain America by Rick Remender Omnibus collects:
- *Captain America vol. 7, Pascal Alixe and Stuart Immonen also collected as:
- ** Castaway in Dimension Z Book One
- ** Castaway in Dimension Z Book Two
- ** Loose Nuke
- ** The Iron Nail
- ** The Tomorrow Soldier
- *Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #1–5 also collected as Winter Soldier: The Bitter March
- *All-New Captain America: Fear Him #1–6
- ** The digital series was first published in print as a 4-issue limited series titled All-New Captain America: Fear Him
- ** Also collected in Captain America: Sam Wilson — The Complete Collection Volume 1
- *All-New Captain America #1–6 also collected in Captain America: Sam Wilson — The Complete Collection Volume 1
- *Secret Wars: Hail Hydra #1–4 also collected as Secret Wars — Warzones: Hail Hydra
- AXIS #1–9, Leinil Francis Yu, Terry Dodson and Jim Cheung collected as Avengers and X-Men: AXIS
- Uncanny Avengers vol. 2 #1–5 collected as Uncanny Avengers: Counter-Evolutionary
- ''Avengers: Rage of Ultron''
Other publishers
- Dynamite:
- *Classic Battlestar Galactica #1–5
- ** Collected as Classic Battlestar Galactica
- ** Collected in Classic Battlestar Galactica Omnibus Volume 1
- *Red Sonja: Vacant Shell collected in Red Sonja: Travels
- *Devolution #1–5 collected as Devolution
- Dark Horse:
- *The End League, Eric Canete and Andy MacDonald collected as:
- ** Ballad of Big Nothing
- ** Weathered Statues
- ** Library Edition
- *Gigantic #1–5 collected as Gigantic
- DC Comics:
- *The All-New Atom #21–25: "Inside Out" collected in The All-New Atom: Small Wonder
- *Booster Gold vol. 2 #13–14: "Stars in Your Eyes"
- The Corps! #0
- * This release was supposed to lead in to a 6-issue The Corps! limited series which ended up not being published.
- * A collected edition was advance-solicited for a 2009 release but subsequently cancelled: The Corps!
- Legion of the Supernatural
- * Three issues were solicited before the series was pulled off schedule.
- * A collected edition was advance-solicited for a 2009 release but subsequently cancelled: Legion of the Supernatural, Volume 1
- The Last Days of American Crime #1–3 collected as The Last Days of American Crime
- Anthrax: Among the Living: "Efilnikufesin "