Comic Info
Comic Name: Black Hammer: Age of Doom
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Dean Ormston/Rich Tommaso
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2019
Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6 Variant
Reprints Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6-12 (October 2018-September 2019). Weird has headed back to Spiral City with Dragonfly, Gail, Smash, and Mark…but a return to Spiral City could damn the world. Crossing the dimensions has unleashed the Anti-God again and stopping the Anti-God might be impossible. With no memories of her past, Lucy Weber is living a life in Spiral City, but Lucy could be the key to saving the universe.
Written by Jeff Lemire, Black Hammer Volume 4: Age of Doom—Part 2 is a Dark Horse Comics superhero comic book. Following Black Hammer Volume 3: Age of Doom—Part 1, the series features art by Dean Ormston and Rich Tommaso. Issues in this volume also were included in Black Hammer Library Edition—Volume 2.
There have been a lot of post-modern comic books. The idea of examining comics within comics isn’t a new idea, but Black Hammer has a really strange toe-the-line approach to it that still makes it compelling.
The story in this volume has both reflexive and classic comic book telling. The Weird storyline involving comic book creators and unpublished “ideas”. It is meta and more out there than some of the previous issues which were more a reflex on the ideas of comic book creation (by recognizing the world of comics). It feels rather in line with Morrison’s run in Animal Man.
Black Hammer: Age of Doom #12 Variant
The second part of the book is more of a traditional comic book storyline. It is almost a relaunch of the comic book series which initially featured the character in a fake world of the Farm, but now they are in a fake version (or at least warped version) of Spiral City. It becomes a rather traditional comic book storyline, but it also feels like a solid conclusion to the storyline.
The art of Dean Ormston and Rich Tommaso helps the comic book. The nature of the art is intentionally simplistic, but in its simplicity, it creates a connection to many of the earlier comic books it is emulating. It might have been nice in the world of the creators to see a variety of different style of comic book art like classic 1990s art, art from the Golden Age, etc. (but that also would start to venture into Alan Moore’s Supreme territory).
Jeff Lemire has a plan for Black Hammer, but this largely feels like an end for Black Hammer. The characters have found a sense of peace (even if it is somewhat fake). If Black Hammer ended with this volume, I would be satisfied, and I hope that Lemire’s big-picture plan doesn’t ruin a solid story by dragging it out too long. Black Hammer 4: Age of Doom–Part 2 is followed by Black Hammer 5: Reborn—Part 1.
Related Links:
Black Hammer 3: Age of Doom—Part 1
