Review: Black Hammer Volume 1

Black Hammer is one of those books that enthralls you.Â It beckons you in, tantalizing you with the nebulous situation of six stranded superheroes.Â Those heroes are a diverse re-imagining of various iconic heroes.Â However, far from being derivative, these heroes have been given unique backstories and personalities in the Black Hammer universe.Â Their current situation unfolds with deliberate pace, interspersed with stories that give you more background on these six characters and the missing seventh for which the book is named.

First is Golden Gail, an elderly woman now trapped in a child’s body.Â Â She is a tribute to Shazam, so much so that she eventually shares her power with her “Golden Family”.Â This Golden Family is a new generation of heroes. She hopes that they will take up her mantle so that she might retire.Â However, when danger threatens, Gail once again takes up the mantle of Golden Gail and is transformed into a nine-year old girl with amazing power.Â Now she is trapped in this body on an isolated farm straight out of The Twilight Zone.

Next is Abraham Slam, an aging hero who shares characteristics of Wild Cat and Captain America.Â Incredibly skilled in boxing, Slam has defended Sprial City for years but finds he is out of touch with the new generation of heroes and their fantastic powers.Â However, responding to an existential danger to Spiral City, he leads the last heroes of the world.Â Now he finds himself the defacto leader of this band of heroes and the farm they inhabit.Â Unlike his other heroes, he enjoys this new life and it’s change of pace.

Colonel Weird is an Adam Strange character whose stream of consciousness commentary is off-putting and upsetting.Â One is never quite certain what is wrong with Weird but you know he’s not all there.Â What has happened to him to make him this way and what is his role in this unfolding story?

Talky Walky is a unique character who shares characteristics with Red Tornado.Â She is a synthetic life form who struggles with the “organics” around her.Â I believe she harbors a secret love for Colonel Weird and unlike all of the others is the most intent on trying to find solutions to the situation our heroes find themselves in.

Barbalian, Warlord of Mars, is a re-imagining of Jon J’onzz, The Martian Manhunter.Â Barbalian prevents the martian people from attacking Earth after a space probe lands on the planet.Â Angry, the Martian leaders order Barbalian to Earth so that he might investigate the “blue planet”.Â However, the same trait that caused him to be unwelcome on Mars is sadly an impediment here on Earth.Â He is gay.Â This small twist adds and incredible amount of depth to this character and makes his isolation on a small farm in a small town fascinating and heartbreaking.

Madame Dragonfly is an amalgam; a troubling conjunction of Morgan Le Fay and Swamp Thing who lives in mobile hut that reminds me of the House of Mystery.Â She is ancient and has incredible power.Â She definitely has an ulterior motive but each turn of the page only teases at her motivation and leaves you wondering if you really want to know what it is that she intends.

Finally there is Black Hammer.Â He was the greatest of heroes, the Thor of this world.Â He is missing, presumed dead, and yet his hammer remains in the last place he was seen.

The creator of this tale, Jeff Lemire, holds onto you with this slow burn story which ratchets up the tension with each page turn.Â Layer upon layer of intrigue is expertly added to the unfolding story line.Â I don’t think they exist in the same universe, but the artwork is oddly reminiscent of the artwork in Hellboy and BPRD.Â Both books are published by Dark Horse Comics and as I read this book I found myself pondering the possibilities of Hellboy existing alongside the heroes of Spiral City.Â This book is a masterpiece of storytelling.Â The artwork takes this story and adds its own dimension, defining the mood and tone for this unfolding tale of suspense and possibly horror.Â Â This is one of those must reads for fans of comic books.Â Go out and get it as soon as you can.

Writing – 5 of 5 Stars
Art – 5 of 5 Stars

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Writing – Jeff Lemire
Art – Dean Ormston, David Rubin, Dave Stewart
Letters – Todd Klein

Author Profile

Nemesis

Nemesis is a poet, writer and author of the upcoming novel The Long Game. He is a writer of science fiction and supernatural thrillers. Besides novels and short stories he writes for UK based ASAP Comics developing new stories for Level 8 and OPSEC. Nem is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and tries to bring those experiences into his writing.

He lives and works out of his home in Riverside, California with his wife and three children. When not writing he enjoys reviewing comic books and graphic novels for ComicCrusaders.com and living the Southern California life with his family.