Black Hammer Annual #1

Black Hammer Annual #1 

Writer: Jeff Lemire

ART:
Nate Powell (pages 1–4, 10, 16, 23, 29, 32-35) with colors by Dave Stewart
Matt Kindt (pages 5–9) with colors by Sharlene Kindt
Dustin Nguyen (pages 11–15) with colors by Dave Stewart
Ray Fawkes (pages 17–22)
Emi Lenox (pages 24–28) with color by Dave Stewart
Michael Allred (pages 30–35) with colors by Dave Stewart

Letters: Todd Klein

Publisher: Dark Horse
 
Lemire taps a veritable artistic menagerie for this giant sized Black Hammer annual, the first in the slow burning but incredibly intriguing series’ run, and it pays off in spades.

Typically, an annual issue, especially a first one, is meant as a kind of jumping-on point for new readers but Lemire and artists here kind of eschew that, offering up instead a cornucopia of takes on the series lauded and varying aesthetics and narrative underpinnings all of which are typically nailed in regular issues of the series but are here, too in a wonderful variety.  

Lemire successfully weaves an interconnected narrative, namely highlighting Col. Weird a kind of passive and powerless watcher as we’ve come to know him who may never save himself no matter how hard he tries. Gail, a tragic hero amongst tragic heroes, whom tragedy strikes again. And, Madame Dragonfly, whose humanity is tapped into again as she feels ever-so-slighted all serve to flesh out an issue that features fantastic action scenes, character building and more of the beautiful and foreign Para-Zone.

The artists mostly live up to the task too, anchored by Stewart’s colors in most cases they provide a dizzying mosaic of takes on Black Hammer’s world and its downtrodden inhabitants – including a featured and mysterious cosmic fright. Fawkes is perhaps the weakest link, unfortunately, as a lot of the impact of Barbalien’s tale is lost in the looseness of it all, awash in a pulpy but unrealized display. However, Kindt’s and Allred’s offerings are beautiful, nostalgic and punchy in keeping with the Golden Age world it’s paying homage to.

Ultimately, this giant and delightfully indulgent issue serves to flesh out both the world our heroes lived in, and fought for, before meeting their untimely farm imprisonment as well as the inhabitants themselves. It’s not an issue for new readers like some might expect, but it is a hell of an issue for what was probably the best new comic of 2016.