Comic Review: Black Hammer: Age of Doom #1 (Dark Horse)

If you like reading creepy books, and apparently I do, since I keep reviewing them, you will love Black Hammer, Age of Doom from Dark Horse.

Issue #1 has a front cover that sets the tone immediately: dark, with a haunted house, bodies floating in a dark sky, and eyeballs in the universe above. Hmmm.

Jeff Lemire continues his Black Hammer creation line with this new title, and Dean Ormston (with Dave Stewart on colors) ‘does the art’.

Thankfully for new readers like us (you and me), there is a synopsis on the inside front cover to get us up to speed for issue one. To summarize, there is a new Black Hammer, Lucy Weber. Trapped on a farm, with other superheroes, Lucy has been under the spell of Madame Dragonfly. Until now! And now, she is transported away from the farm, to a bar, if you want to call it that…. and what patrons!

This is one strange read. it is so ‘out there’ and creepy, it calls to mind the storytelling techniques of David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks). There are odd characters all around, some of them seem insane, but who’s to know? Especially when some of them float 10 feet off the ground, and others are made of unearthly materials? And what about the punk rockers??

Without giving away any trade secrets, this is one compellingly odd read. If you are up for ambiguously directioned storylines, and a feeling of impending doom amidst an imaginative setting, this is the one for you! PS: It’s the continuation of an Eisner Award-winning superhero saga.

Dark Horse Comics: Black Hammer, Age of Doom #1 for 27 pages of content. Not rated, but let’s say M for Mature Horror