I have no idea why it took me so long to read Black Hammer. I’ve had the Library Edition for a couple years now, I’ve seen it on a lot of people’s must reads, the concept sounds right up my alley and I even follow Jeff Lemire on Instagram. I have no idea what the hold up was. A couple days ago I decided to dive into it.

I read the entire Volume 1 in one sitting.

I could not put it down.

Black Hammer has officially replaced Saga as my favorite graphic novel.

If you’ve never heard of it, Black Hammer follows a group of old superheroes who get stuck on a farm … somewhere. And they can’t leave the town. The story is about the characters, who they were, who they have become, and how they are handling this isolation. Some better than others. It’s dark, horrific, heartbreaking, yet fun, and funny. The whole gambit.

The art is amazing. I love the shift from back story, this almost Golden Age DC comic feel to the gritty real world in the current timeline. The Para-Zone is an insane, other dimension that reminds me a lot of Interstellar, and it’s design and concepts are so cool. The characters feel real and wholly relatable, even the robot Talky Walky and Martian Barbalien. You can feel the influences of DC characters like Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Shazam and Raven, but as opposed to rip offs, they are more like a homage to the greats that came before them.

The pacing in this book is wonderful. I’ve mentioned this before: stories that don’t feel the need to explain EVERYTHING in the first issue are just better stories. Nothing feels rushed and mysteries, especially the Black Hammer mystery, is so much better when information comes to the reader gradually. You still don’t have all the why’s, what’s or where’s answered by the end of the first volume. And it’s beneficial for the creators. You are much more likely to grab the second and third volumes if there are still questions to be answered.

I think if you like Saga and/or the Umbrella Academy you will really like Black Hammer. It has that odd world buliding that seems perfectly normal in it’s universe with a feeling that there’s definetly more out there to explore. Anyway, I could go on and on about how amazing this book is, but really, you should just read it. We have it up for sale in the shop and we’ll have it in the library. READ IT!!!