TRANS-SCRIBE: Black Hammer Omnibus Volume 2

Tuesday, 19 September 2023

Black Hammer Omnibus Volume 2 - Graphic Novel Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

We’ve previously covered the first volume in the Black Hammer Omnibus series, a book that collected the first dozen issues of the award winning series. A love letter to the superhero genre, particularly the books of the golden and silver ages of comics, the first volume of the omnibus series presented itself as something of a mystery story.

Several heroes who helped to save the world from the evil Anti-God find themselves stuck on a farm just outside a small town, unable to pass a barrier that means their death. Having been there for years, some have resigned themselves to that being their life now, whilst others are still trying to find a way home. When the daughter of one of their dead colleagues arrives on the farm things begin to get complicated.

The first volume ended with Lucy, the new Black Hammer, having gained her father’s powers, and the knowledge of what’s happened to the collected heroes. But now, before she can tell them what’s going on, she’s dragged away to another place, a plane of existence that claims to be part of the afterlife. In order to make her way back to her friends, Lucy will battle through hell, and meet the gods of stories, but all of it pales in comparison to what happens when she’s able to make it back and deliver the truth to the others. Now the fate of the entire universe hangs in the balance, and the heroes have to decide what role they want to play in what comes next.

Black Hammer is a phenomenal series, and this second omnibus collects together all twelve issues of Black Hammer: Age of Doom, the first real sequel series to the first story. Having ended the original Black Hammer on a cliff-hanger, the creator, Jeff Lemire, told some spin-off tales, before finally continuing the main narrative a year later. This book skips those spin-off titles, choosing to focus on the core story. This is a decent move, as the ending of the first volume is one that really grabs the reader, and you end up desperately wanting to know the answers that Lucy has. And whilst we get to jump back into that story straight away, it’s not a quick reveal. Instead, Lemire manages to craft another mystery story, another story that has more twists and turns than your average superhero tale.

Much like with the first volume, Lemire is drawing from things that long-time readers of comics, and those with extensive comic knowledge, will pick up on. Characters are all nods to existing characters that you can find in both Marvel and DC. Black Hammer is a bit of Thor mixed with the New Gods, Golden Gail is Captain Marvel (Shazam), and Colonel Weird is Adam Strange. The love that Lemire had for the genre is so easy to see here, as genre conventions are woven into the narrative, but never mocked nor made nasty. This isn’t a book like The Boys, where it almost seems to hate the genre that it’s sending up and always acts mean-spirited. Instead, this is a love letter to the comics it’s imitating, all whilst crafting a story engaging enough to be considered not only a worthy addition to the genre, but a stand-out example of it.

The second omnibus carries across the same artistic team as the first book, with Dean Ormston and Dave Stewart providing most of the art on the book. The style works well for the story, and it manages to feel both modern and gritty, and also classic old comics. It marries the two feels of the narrative well. There are a couple of issues part way through the series that follow Colonel Weird off on his own very meta adventure that change artist to Richard Tommaso, and the style change is very Jarring. I personally really didn’t like the art on these two issues, and the story does get very weird here too; this is definitely Lemire going a bit Grant Morrison on us. The last two issues included in the collection feature a whole host of artists, as one of them is a guide to the characters of the Black Hammer universe, with character art provided by more than a dozen artists.

Black Hammer has very quickly become a series that has grabbed my attention. As someone who loves comics, and really appreciates the quirky and cheesy nature of classic comics, this book is right up my alley. It feels modern and old at the same time. It’s doing its own thing and making nods to what’s come before. It’s filled with new and exciting characters and stories, but also feels like it could easily slip into the comic worlds we know. Lemire has done a fantastic job at crafting something that’s so enjoyable to read, and this new collection is the perfect way to experience the series for the first time.