Black Hammer #2

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

The first issue of Black Hammer introduced us to a group of superheroes who are mysteriously confined to a farm outside of a small town. The book heavily references golden age superhero comics and there's an exploration of larger themes like time Re-reading that comic made me so much more appreciative of a handful of details that I hadn't noticed at first and I think we might be witnessing something truly special here.

This issue gives some further detail as to what the nature of the former superheroes' constraints but it doesn't try to play up the mystery underpinning the series too much, there's no big reveals. Instead, we get a more intimate book primarily featuring Gail Gibbons or Golden Gail. Back in Spiral City, she could transform to a superpowered girl when she said the word “Zafram!”. We see vignettes of Gail's life from the time she gained her powers through her youth, as she struggled with the use of her powers; and later on her life, where she grew to like transforming into Golden Gail.

Lemire conveys a lot through that sort of exposition-heavy dialogue that's familiar to anyone who's read comic books from the golden age of comics, tying back into those homages to 40s comics while informing Gail's state of mind as she's trapped in the body of a 9-year old. Abraham and Gail's relationship has been the bedrock of Black Hammer so far and it's a very intriguing one, despite presenting as grandfather and granddaughter their relationship is more resemblant of old friends. Abraham is there to support Gail at the end of the day and with the ending of this issue Lemire brings that to the foreground.

There is a couple interesting choices by Dave Stewart here, playing between a darker palette for the “present-day” scenes and a lighter style that resembles early superhero comics, without fully emulating four-color comics. This issue includes a feature at the back with notes by Dean Ormston going into detail about some of the choices he made here. He plays a lot with points of view, and I found it really interesting to read what lead him to choose between a lower vantage point and a higher one in some of these wider shots. Ormston's art is outstanding through the whole book, but I particularly loved that page featuring close-ups of Gail Gibbons juxtaposed against shots of Golden Gail in action, which include not-so-subtle nods to the covers of Action Comics #1 and Dark Knight Returns.

If you were on the fence about Black Hammer after the first issue, I think you should definitely seek this book out. After reading this issue, there are very few comics that I'm as excited about as Black Hammer.