By Toren Chenault — The Black Hammer Universe is filled with superheroes. When it debuted in 2016, it was clear from solicits that writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dean Ormston wanted to change superhero comics with Black Hammer. And that’s exactly what they did. I worked at a comic book shop for most of 2018 and part of 2019. The first Black Hammer trade was one of the books I sold the most. I would pitch it to comic readers and say “Imagine if Watchmen expanded into a full-blown universe. But was a bit more modern.” And that would work most of the time. But to be honest, most of the sales came from people who had never heard of the title or read any of Lemire’s other work.