Indie Comics Review: BLACK HAMMER REBORN #11
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Caitlin Yarsky
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Reviewed By: Derek McNeil
Summary
Black Hammer Reborn #11: Black Hammer’s family finds themselves trapped in bizarre limbo land in which they meet some familiar faces from the skies of Spiral City.
Positives
Black Hammer Reborn #11 opens with a flashback to issue #4, where Colonel Weird apparently killed Lucy Weber’s family. This cuts to her husband and daughter emerging from a portal. They head for the nearby town of Rockwood, where they meet Abraham Slam. It turns out that Weird has actually sent them to the world in which the heroes of the original Black Hammer series now exist. Abe tells them:
This time it’s real. Dragonfly used all of her power to make Rockwood real and populated it with the people we know. She gave us a real home
Unsurprisingly, Abe is not exactly happy about their arrival. He likely anticipates that their presence might complicate their new, contented lives. Or perhaps even might end up with them having to return to their old lives. Abe also asks them not to do anything to break the illusion for Golden Gail or Sherlock Frankenstein, who do not remember their previous lives.
Positives Cont.
Both Gail and Sherlock are shown to still be nine-year-olds, just as they had been at the end of Black Hammer: Age of Doom. That raises some interesting questions about their existence in this world. Twenty years have passed in Spiral City since then, so why hasn’t any time passed here. Or perhaps it has, but Dragonfly has made it so that the heroes aren’t aging on this world. If so, is this Rockwood set up so that no one ages or changes as well?
If Abe if Abe wasn’t upset enough about Elliot and Rose’s arrival, things get even worse when Joe arrives. Especially because Inspector Insector arrives. And it’s at that exact moment that the police also arrive. While he may be able to explain Lucy’s family, a humanoid insect is another matter. And will Abe be able to keep Insector hidden from Gail and Sherlock?
It’s great to see Lucy’s family alive and reunited with each other. It makes me wonder where Lucy’s eventual reunion with them will occur. Will they return to Spiral City, or will Lucy come to them? Perhaps all the heroes will be returning to Spiral City to participate in the upcoming Black Hammer: The End series. Or perhaps Lucy and family will settle down in this version of Rockwood after the current threat is dealt with.
Negatives
I do have a slight grievance about the image on the cover by Caitlyn Yarsky. It’s a great-looking cover featuring young Sherlock and Gail. However, they are shown getting ready to launch a poor cat from a catapult. Luckily, this does not happen in the actual story. But between this and the image of Joe Weber using his inherited electrical powers on another cat, I have to wonder if either Lemire or Yarsky has something against felines. Let’s not make animal cruelty a recurring theme here.
Verdict
Lemire’s Black Hammer books never disappoint, and Black Hammer Reborn #11 no exception. I look forward to seeing how this series wraps up next issue, as it sets the stage for Black Hammer: The End.
