Black Hammer #4

Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Dean Ormston
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letters: Todd Klein
Publisher: Dark Horse

Black Hammer, the family drama featuring superheroes mysteriously trapped in a farm, continues with its fourth issue. Lemire's using the first 6 issues to introduce his cast of characters and this week the spotlight is on Abraham Slam, the self-assumed patriarch of the family

Abraham Slam is kind of a stand-in for Captain America with the twist that he actually doesn't have any super-enhancement. He's just a guy who works out. Lemire's characters are similar to Golden Age superheroes but he's twisted them in a way where they make more sense in the world he's writing. Cap feels like he's old but Abe is actually getting old. Lemire is still commenting on previous comics, there's an interaction between Abraham and Black Hammer (the character) which compares the pulpier Golden Age with the sci-fi currents of the Silver Age. However, this feels like a character-driven book thanks to the focalized point of view of each issue.

The tragic underpinnings in the backstories of Barbalien and Golden Gail aren't as present here but we get to see more of the dynamic between the family back at the farm. Seeing these characters interact with each other is my favorite part of the issue. Abe's girlfriend coming over for dinner confines all characters to the house as Abe scrambles to make sure that she doesn't see anything weird like um.. Colonel Weird.

Dean Ormston continues to give an art masterclass, he does a great job depicting a lot of the quieter, dramatic moments and gives a certain gravity to Colonel Weird that really fits the story. All of the characters are constantly in a heightened state of emotions and Ormston's pencils convey that on their own, which sounds easier than it is. Ultimately, Colonel Weird shows up which really goes to show how much these characters care for each other. With the last two pages, the creative team set up what should be some of the main plot points going forward. While the focus on flashbacks concerning each individual character could make the book feel disjointed, between the scenes following a journalist in the city trying to find the lost heroes and the scenes where our heroes interact with the people of the nearby town, the book still feels like it is moving forward and this issue delivers not one, but two! cliffhangers.

I've said this on previous reviews for this title but I'm not as invested in the meta-textual commentary, which this issue has a lot, as I am in the cast of characters. Thankfully, Black Hammer #4 goes a long way to show us a really interesting dynamic between this family.