By Larry Jorash — Zafram! The wonderful world of Black Hammer smashes back into shops this week. Fans of the franchise have had the wonderful anthology series, Black Hammer Visions, to hold them over, but this new book marks the return of a main comic for this world of superhero homages, masterminded by Jeff Lemire. As the title implies, Black Hammer herself (or Lucy Weber) is once again the focus.

Black Hammer Reborn #1 follows Lucy Weber during two times in her life, essentially — the era of the series’ launch (which is revealed to have been 1996, for maybe the first time) and also a more current day, 2016. Instead of fighting crime, Lucy 2016 is now a do-it-all working mother looking after her family, having essentially retired from any responsibilities as a super-powered vigilante. Between flashbacks of a thrilling, silver-age reminiscent fight sequence set in ‘96, we meet her new family and new daily life struggles. For returning fans, this will most certainly be a change of pace, while for new readers it offers a fantastic jumping-on-point that will both orient and entertain.

More newness to be found in Black Hammer Reborn #1 includes Caitlin Yarsky joining the team as artist…and she absolutely slays it. Her line work is superb, clear in a way that enables the reader to easily follow sequences from room to room, street to street without a huddled mess of objects, despite the interesting amount of detail in each of the book’s scenes. It’s just really crisp and good-looking art, brought to life by skilled sequential storytelling of the highest order. Yarsky’s art is well complimented by letterer Nate Piekos of Blambot! and colorist Dave Stewart, both veterans of past Black Hammer comics. Stewart’s color work is noticeable from page one, especially for those of us who have followed the other series in this world. His stylistic tendencies to highlight scenes with a sense of alternating brightnesses are uncanny; having been on the franchise from not only the beginning, but also across an array of mini-series. Also noticeable in this issue are the transition pages, where the lettering and color sequences are unmistakable to returners.

In the name of full disclosure, I should also note at this point that Jeff Lemire is my favorite writer in comics. So with that in mind, I unsurprisingly found this comic to be a total treat. Superhero comics by their very nature are dressed-up soap operas in which the characters have superpowers, and watching our hero handle the realities of home life in this book — while also experiencing a side of this world only seen briefly in the past — was fascinating. I’m also impressed by how Lemire and co. adapted Black Hammer into something new. The original story with the mystery on the farm was always going to be tough to follow, and it was a wise creative decision to avoid rehashing it, to use it instead as a foundation to do something entirely new but still grounded in relationships and emotions that feel real.

Overall: Black Hammer Reborn #1 is a welcoming introduction for new fans and a fun reinvigoration of the world for long time readers. On a deeper level, it’s an exploration of the internal struggles of daily life play out with superheroes. 8.5/10

REVIEW: Black Hammer Reborn #1

Black Hammer Reborn #1
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Caitlin Yarsky
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
The Eisner Award-winning superhero saga returns in this ongoing series picking up twenty years later with new series artist Caitlin Yarsky. Now, it's twenty years later, and Lucy, and the world, have moved on. Living in the suburbs of Spiral City, Lucy is married and has children. But all is not blissful. Her marriage is falling apart, her job has reached a dead end, and for mysterious reasons, she hasn't picked up the hammer in years.  But, as her domestic life begins to crumble, the secrets of the last twenty years, and the reasons Lucy really gave up being Black Hammer, begin to resurface, threatening her family, and the peace she has tried hard to find for herself.
More Info: Black Hammer Reborn #1

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Larry Jorash resides in Central Florida managing a comic book shop and coaching youth sports. In his spare time he enjoys ice hockey and reading. You will almost never find his hand vacant of coffee. Find him on twitter: (@theREALlarbear)