The Unbelievable Unteens #1 feels special. It’s got an excellent metafictional concept that caters right to people who spend much of their time doing comics things, executed to near perfection by Tyler Crook.
Read MoreBlack 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.
Read MoreBlack Hammer Visions #1 is an understated and somber one-shot story that relies more on emotional character beats than superhero punching, like the best stories in the Black Hammer Universe.
Read MoreBy 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.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — As those who follow me on Twitter have surely realized at this point, for more than a year now I’ve been slowly reading every single Hellboy and Hellboy-adjacent comic at a pace of one chapter (or issue, rather) per day in the order of original publication (catalog them all via #RaisingHellboy). Through this, I’ve also read all the Lobster Johnson volumes. Lobster Johnson is a pulp hero that has larger-than-life adventures in early part of the 20th Century.
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