This week has been a bit of a down and up week in that order. It all started with my being hit with a bug, taking me out for an extended weekend (and not in the dinner and a movie manner).
Fortunately, the only way was up from that point forward and my comic reading certainly followed that trend as I somehow managed to follow through with the challenge i had set myself just as last week ended.
Black Hammer Library Edition Vol. 1 is the collection of the first 13 issues and the Giant-Sized annual of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormiston's Black Hammer series, about an eclectic group of superheroes who find themselves trapped on a farm near a small town after they hold the last line of defence for Earth against an all-powerful Anti-Monitor like being. Now though, they've been trapped here for ten years and while some have accepted their fate, others wish to leave and more still seek to find them.
I've come to realise in my long years of reading that a comic's quality is subjective (i know, stop the presses!!). Over time I have found both comics which i originally didn't enjoy turn me around (see Vanguard for that one) as well as give me great enjoyment first time round that no longer do it for me (I have no examples here, although Secret Warriors may be the best that comes to my mind). The point is, like Ted Mosby's weird looking shirt (or was it his cowboy boots?), tastes change over time.
A part of me always hoped that would be the case with Black Hammer. Having read this collection last year between the beginning and end of my COVID related break (I.e. when the first lock down occurred in the UK), I recall not being terribly fond of this series. This is another reason for the down and up week because at the beginning, because I really wasn't enthused to re-read this series if it turned out to read exactly the same.
However, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much better this collection read second time around. Even as I think back on it now, I struggle to figure out why I've had a complete one eighty on this series because I don't feel that it has changed anything since the first read. However, the only reason I can think of is that the series' slow burn pacing put me off (as I obviously expected it to get right to the point at break neck speed like it is a Michael Bay film).
Not that it reads any faster now compared to then. Black Hammer is first and foremost a mystery as we follow its cast of characters stuck in a place aftr 10 years and their (generally) continued difficulty of how to live with it. As we do this, one or two of the characters continue to investigate how the group ended up on this quiant little farm and how they can escape. Based on this, Black Hammer's pacing is nothing if not relaxed. There are no car chases, no fist fights (save for the flashbacks to the cast's past life, but even they seem few and far between), simply a group of people playing the hand of cards that they've been dealt.
However, it is this slow burn, almost leisurely, trip through the world of Rockford (the name of the nearby town) which I found most compelling this time around. Sure, the first two issues were still far too slow for my tastes, but this time the remainder of the book was far more intriguing as I found myself wondering how and why these six heroes had ended up here and (for some) in the form they were in.
About halfway through the series, a conversation crops up about the nature of this place with Bardalien referring to it as 'Purgatory.' Now the more I thought of it, the more this made sense because it felt like some sort of punishment for many of the characters due to their defeatist attitudes within their respective superhero careers prior to the encounter with the Anti-God. As a result, this made me think of Lost (although maybe a lot less convoluted), as the characters may be on a journey to find themselves again in order to come together to leave this place.
Of course, I had an alternate theory as I reached the end and it was related to the Marvel series, WandaVision. I say this because I began to notice story points which looked very similar to that recent TV series; a sleepy town, an inability to leave, Superheroes in hiding, and some other moments which I won't spoil. The point is, I found myself wondering if this is less purgatory than it is a dream for one character hoping to discard their personal pain at the expense of the Hell the other characters must face.
I've probably gone on a bit with wild theories but the point of it is that the series has really hooked me with the mystery surrounding it, not to mention the torment the characters face. I find myself shocked that I missed it all the first time but better late than never I suppose.
The art too looks really creepy and unsettling and works perfectly for this slightly 'off' world. Dean Ormiston's art on this series reminds me so much of Dave Gibbons' Watchmen with its very traditional design and page layout (e.g. the nine panel grid). The only difference of course being the style itself, although while Watchmen always seemed harsh to me as well as traditionally silver-age in its style due to the era in that it was created and released. Black Hammer feels like the same kind of thing, with its style and even it's colouring being very reminiscent of Watchmen, it comes across as a deconstruction of Superheroes but from less of a 'Marvel Knights' look and more through the lens of a horror comic.
I've rambled for a bit here now, so I'll probably just sum up. A year ago, I read Black Hammer and didn't think it was my thing, but now I wonder if it simply struggled to live up to the hype I continued to hear about it. Now, a year later, this collection only has to match or beat my initial impression of it and I think it has certainly managed it in spades. Black Hammer's first collection was a good read and I'm now very eager to get the second and see where the story ends.
And if that isn't an example of how tastes change then I don't know what is.
Oh, and before I forget...
Of course, it could always be that I just didn't 'get it' and besides, I thought this was Black Beacon's only real flaw. Otherwise, Ryan had seemed to produce a really interesting concept and had presented it as a truly compelling mystery. It also had some seriously gorgeous art from Sebastian Piriz which was just a joy to look at. Unfortunately, the 'flaw' weihai heavy on me, making this just an OK title in my eyes. I'm still seriously intrigued about where Black Beacon goes, and RKL has earned himself enough goodwill with me from his entire bibliography that i will want to see how it ends. However, I might just wait for the trade with this one.
So that's another week over and, given how it started, 15 issues of two comics being read is a good effort in my opinion. That said, I was able to make a bit of time on some of my own projects as I went back to refine some of the initial outlines for my ideas (as well as put together a new one). All being well I can make more time to do more refinements next week, and maybe even plot this new idea.
That said, next week is a big week for me as a BIG review finally reaches the top of my tray. With all my attention and free time going to be focused on that, it's unlikely I'll do or read anything else, leaving little to ramble about here. But we'll see about that.
For now though, with my own thoughts on Black Hammer out of the way, I'm going to go listen to the Wednesday Pull List's episode on the subject!!
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