The main Black Hammer series returns April 18th with Black Hammer: Age of Doom #1, and it’s even more gloriously weird than fans are used to.
The new “season” is again written by Jeff Lemire, with art by Dean Ormston, colors by Dave Stewart, and letters by Todd Klein, and it picks up right where season one left off. Lucy Weber has become the new Black Hammer, and she claims to have solved the mystery of where the heroes are and how they can get home.
And then, in true Black Hammer fashion, shit gets crazy.
Lemire has taken everything great about the series and cranked it up to eleven. He takes the story to even weirder places, and builds this universe out even further. We’re fourteen issues in and still glued to every page, wondering what’s going to happen next. That’s pure talent on Lemire’s part, to keep his audience engaged that strongly. And of course, in addition to creating an engaging story, there’s Jeff’s greatest strength: his ability to write interesting, complex characters. Each one of the heroes has a strong personality of their own, along with deep emotional baggage. Six unique, compelling characters; six unique, compelling reasons to keep reading.
Meanwhile, Dean Ormston and Dave Stewart are still crushing it. Their combined artwork is the perfect aesthetic for this world, and they keep getting better with each issue. Ormston’s characters and settings feel familiar, yet slightly off, mirroring the plot and making it feel even creepier. All of the emotion that Lemire writes into the heroes is amplified ten-fold by the art team, along with Todd Klein’s powerful lettering. And now that the story is going to even stranger places, the whole team will have the chance to really get crazy and try new things. We get a taste of that in this issue, and it’s delicious.
If you love Black Hammer, you’re going to love Age of Doom. It takes a great story to even greater heights, raises a ton of more questions, and keeps you wanting more. The series already has a “Best New Series” Eisner under its belt, and at this rate, it’s got “Best Continuing Series” in its future.
