Black Hammer #1

Script: Jeff Lemire
Art: Dean Ormston
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Todd Klein
Publisher: Dark Horse

Recently, I've been reading about the demise of pre-Code genre comics and Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and how that paved the way for superhero comics to be as overwhelmingly dominant as they are. And one of the effects of near-omniprescence that capes had is that we've seen a lot of works deconstruct the genre. With the release of books like Simonson's Thor and Moore's Swamp Thing that started picking apart the genre in the early 80s, there's now a few generations that have grown up with metatextuality as an ever-present aspect of comics readership.

Black Hammer seems to be in a similar tradition to books like Watchmen, Empire, Rising Stars, Irreedemable, Lemire's own Plutona, etc. While every single one of those works is acclaimed and appreciated by a lot of comic readers, I feel some degree of fatigue towards this type of book. I'm a big fan of cape comics but truth be told I'm not holding my breath for another book that breaks down the genre's tropes.

So, I did go into this expecting a work about Big Ideas but fortunately, it seems that Lemire is more interested in hissmall  cast of characters. Black Hammer follows a group of former superheroes who have spent 10 years stuck living on a house outside of a small town. The circumstances that lead them there are not fully explained but Lemire does a great job establishing what the dynamic is like between them, even showing us a glimpse of how they interact with the rest of the townspeople. Black Hammer #1 doesn't posit a big thesis nor does it fully flesh out the in-universe story of these group of superheroes but the writing does enough to draw you in with a more intimate tale.

The art is outstanding in this book, Ormston and Stewart have crafted one of the best drawn books in recent memory. I'm a big fan of Dave Stewart's work in general. I can't think of anything smart to say about him, he just elevates every comic book he works in and has done so for around 20 years now. The book has some lighter colours but it is still drenched on those signature ochre tones from his work in Hellboy. I wasn't as familiar with Dean Ormston but I really enjoyed his art as well. His thin lines complement Stewart's palette really well and allow a variety of facial expressions to be reflected throughout.

It's hard to judge this issue in the strength of its story, since Lemire doesn't show us a lot of the characters' past or drops many hints about their future, but he does enough to craft intriguing relationships between them. The real strength of the book lies on its gorgeous art, Black Hammer has some of Stewart's best colouring work and Ormston's art isn't far behind.