Review: Black Hammer/Justice League Hammer of Justice # 1: awesome mesh-up

“Who the hell is this dink?” – Gail

As anyone knows who reads my comic book reviews: I love my intercompany mashups. Superman/Spiderman, Batman/Hulk, even Archie/Kiss. It’s all great stuff. When two universes collide, such as Star Trek/Planet of the Apes. It’s generally explained away in a panel or two. Usually, it’s some kind of anomaly that one group has to pass through to get to the other universe, then the action begins as the two sides meet, usually for the first time. But not here. This entire first issue is dedicated to how the universes mesh up. And it’s awesome.

The Creative Team:

Jeff Lemire brings his quirky heroes into a set up where they will meet DC’s quirky heroes. It’s a fun ride too as he opens this issue with Abraham confronting Talky Walky as he is attempting to build an interdimensional travel machine out of Abraham’s tractor. Life can be boring on a farm, especially if you’re not even human and thirst for adventure. Lemire loves to write with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek and the way he brings the Dark Horse Universe into the DC universe…or is it the other way around? He does this so cleverly we’re not sure who’s in whose universe, at first that is, until nearly the end of issue one. But I’m not going to give it away, here, yes, you will find out who is in whose universe by the end of this issue. But it’s so much fun finding out that I want you to see for yourself. Great stuff includes the arrival of the stranger to both universes and Gail’s attempt to become the hero that she used to be.

Michael Walsh’s take on the Justice League is unique, and I think it will appeal to DC fans. There is a Mike Mignola-esque quality here that works well for the Black Hammer universe and it brings out a distinctiveness to the DC characters as we’ve never seen them before. Highlights include the first appearance of Superman and the first villain the Justice League ever faced.

In Conclusion:

Another inter-company mash-up. But this time the two universes don’t collide as easily as in comics past. The way the two universes ultimately collide is clever and amusing. The main characters in both universes have more in common than you know, to the point of meeting “the stranger” in a similar way to their other universe counterparts. We don’t really learn what the stranger wants with the farms in both universes, but that’s part of the fun as we try to guess the motivations of the characters. The stranger turns out to not be what he seems as the dimensional rift is finally breached and we find out…to be continued ***1/2 stars 8.9 rating.

Black Hammer/Justice League Hammer of Justice # 1

Writer – Jeff Lemire
Art – Michael Walsh
Letters – Mike Piekos of Blamblot
Publisher – Darkhorse/DC

About the Author

Richard Boom Richard is the driving force behind Comics for Sinners. His love and admiration for female comic book characters is virtually unparalleled, which immediately explains his biggest 'sin': his Hot Mummy fetish. This sketchbook theme is philogynistic in nature and even the source of his WIP comic book series "The Sisterhood".