Dark Horse Comics 2018
Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Wilfredo Torres
Coloured by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot
A thousand years in the future--a collection of superheroes, inspired by the legendary heroes of Black Hammer Farm, must band together to save the planet from an authoritarian regime. A young Martian must find a way to reform The Quantum League to save the world while solving the riddle of what happened to the great heroes of the twentieth century.
I have remarked how similar this has been to the old (pre original COIE) school of comics and Jeff keeps on expanding that here. Just the fact that one man is being responsible for not only telling some of the best, most interesting, creative and compelling stories around but to create an entire universe complete with timelines as he is well that’s ambitious. We are so used to “a” company doing this and to see one man do it this way, the right way to introduce new characters, teams, villains etc, is simply mind boggling, though it should be. We are programmed to believe it takes a village and that the myriad of useless titles are necessary. Jeff says nope I can do this in consequential series of mini-series and have each tie itself into the one before and create a perfectly functioning, immensely interesting new superhero universe.
I marvel at the way Jeff is able to structure this book. There could be a bit much of the then and now but it feels just right for what we are seeing. It could have either under or over explained things and yet we get the gist thanks to some very well thought out placement of the segments. Speaking of segments the way the transitions flow is exceptionally well done and a joy to see. With the opening here we get that sense of hmm what is going on here and that keeps us moving through the book. While this may have an automatic fanbase it is still a great way to introduce a new arc and make it new reader friendly.
I really like what Wilfredo is doing with the artwork on this one. It has his own unique style and yet it feels like it could be the golden age material it fits perfectly and it is in a lot ways as mesmerising as it gets. The utilisation of the page layouts is wonderful to see, that two page spread for example is marvellous, then the angles and perspective we see in the panels shows off this impressive eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination on display here is delightful and makes this far more enjoyable than I had thought it could be. When we see the backgrounds utilised it makes a world of difference in our perception of that world and era so when we get a page with none at all it makes me sad. Dave is one of the industry’s premiere colourists and his work here matches what we see in the linework and writing to a T.
I am intrigued with the story at hand and with Hammer Lass. If this whom I believe it to be well then her use of that hammer has indeed given her this immortality that is unexpectedly fun. However it is the introduction to my favourite Martian that is the catalyst for this arc. I wonder why and dismiss it because Jeff will write this with his usual panache and flair, which just means keeping me on the edge of my seat and guessing. Still the characterisation is incredible and by the end of the issue you are left with little doubt that you’ll be here for the long haul.
The Black Hammer universe continues to grow, evolve and come to life before our eyes with strong writing, characterisation, story development and pacing with the interior artwork to match.