“Black Hammer ’45” #1

In this issue, men go on a mission.

Story by Jeff Lemire and Ray Fawkes
Written by Ray Fawkes
Illustrated by Matt Kindt
Colored by Sharlene Kindt
Lettered by Marie Enger

From the World of Black Hammer comes a truly gripping tale of war and intrigue! During the Golden Age of superheroes, an elite Air Force crew called the Black Hammer Squadron was formed to fight the Axis powers. Facing occult threats from the German side, this team must save a family of scientists from the Nazi’s. But the mysterious and dangerous Ghost Hunter is hot on their trail.

“Black Hammer is the maddest, most brilliant comic I’ve read in years.” —Mark Millar (Kick Ass)

The Hammerverse continues to expand with the publication of “Black Hammer ’45” #1, a comic that offers some surprising and needed novelty to this stable of books. “Hammer ’45” stands out from the Hammerverse on duel fronts, the technical and narrative, in a way that has me curious to see the reaction from the readership at large. This difference is noticeable from the standard Matt Kindt cover, with its noticeable crease down the spine area. As a digital reader it creates an ongoing textual disconnect and echoes the thin hardcovers of the Little Gold Books Disney used to put out. The content is also noticeably distinct as “Hammer ’45” isn’t paying homage to the history and aesthetic of superhero comics. The creative team of writer Ray Fawkes and artists Matt and Sharlene Kindt have built an homage to old war comics. Captain Hammer Hawthorne and his Black Hammer Squadron bear some resemblance to superheroes, but the world they exist in and their interests are their own. Looking over the collections of old war comics by Yoe Books, “Hammer ’45” feels right at home next to them with that extra Hammerverse twist to things.

While the book has different aesthetic and emotional interests compared to other entries in the tapestry of the Hammerverse, it is clearly smack dab in the middle of it. Golden Gail makes an appearance along with members of the Liberty Squadron. The mission the Hammer Squadron is sent on ties into the history of a member of the Farm. “Hammer ’45” at the start appears to be threading the needle between the ability to stand on its own legs and tie into little bits in pieces of the meta series.

As “Black Hammer ’45” #1 threads the needle between novelty and story world cohesion, it is worth noting the major first that has happened: for the first time a Hammerverse book isn’t being written by co-creator Jeff Lemire. The always productive Lemire is co-credited with “story” with series writer Ray Fawkes. This arrangement makes for yet another point of comparison between it and the Mignolaverse, and like that series it is an overall successful transition. Ray Fawkes’s script, in particular the use of internal monologue-retroactive narration, is a good example of how writers can find different areas of interest and ways of doing in the same narrative space. The recollections of a senior, veteran, Captain Hawthorne tie past and present together as he and his surviving squamates remember the final mission of the Hammer Squadron in the waning days of WWII in the European theater. With this narration Fawkes captures a similar feel to the boredom and depression back on Lemire and Ormston’s Farm, only laced with years of regret and grief.

The water colors employed by the Kindts give the book a very unique look, but the core narrative everyone is telling is a standard men on a mission story. The Hammer Squadron, a diverse group of soldiers that are akin to the Tuskegee Airmen crossed with the Blackhawks, are sent deep into Austrian territory to rescue the interned Greenbaum family of scientists – an echo of the real Operation Paperclip. Time is of the essence as the Russian vanguard known as the Red Tide, a squadron of mecha led by Aleksandra Nazarova, are marching from the east to claim them as well. The Nazis aren’t out of it yet with Oberst Klaus von Lowe aka the Ghost Hunter, a sorta supernatural Red Baron type, is hunting the Tide and Squadron as well. The use of Hawthorne’s narration helps give this book some emotional meat, establishing motifs of regret, fate, among others in the premier issue. The opening pages of “Hammer ’45” play out like Saving Private Ryan in reverse. The skill of the creative team in this issue is such that if “Hammer ’45” were a more straight forward men on a mission tale like The Guns of Navarone, the book would still be well worth the read. The first issue does an excellent job setting up the plot, characters, and emotional stakes of the Hammer Squadron.

A more straight forward narrative may also allow for those unfamiliar with, or used to, the watercolor work of Matt and Sharlene Kindt to more easily understand and bond with the work. The Hammerverse has seen a bevy of artists, but none quite like these two. As a fan of their work in books like “Dept. H,” “Hammer ’45” feels like a clear extension of that work. The art itself feels formally restrained, in a good way, as it stick to the mold of Golden Age war comics. Pages are not turned up to eleven in that graphic style of Michel Fiffe. The closest this issue gets to a splash page are a pair of panels that take up two thirds of the page, which makes the sense of scale in those images land. Otherwise pages are a pretty traditional puzzle of squares and rectangles. The standard layout do not make this a quick read, Fawkes script and Marie Enger’s lettering do a great job of working with the art to pace things out.

Matt Kindt’s inks are not simple and clean. They are the opposite, they wander and blow out in little spots. All of which is smart cartooning on his part as he uses these little lines to make evocative expressions balanced with Sharlene’s colors. Panels have a certain muddy quality to them, that feel appropriate for the memories of Hawthorne. Actions and moments are well persevered, but faces smudge a bit. As Captain Hawthorne enters his plane, the Kindts frame it as a quintessential hero shot, but the way the color and ink interact make Hawthorne almost anonymous.

At the start I mentioned the appearance of a crease on the cover, and how it made for a textural disconnect. The textures captured in the high quality scans of Kindt art is what has me most fascinated by the book. It makes you want to hold the paper stock in your hand and feel it. You notice how the high and low spots on the paper absorb Sharlene’s palette in different ways adding an extra bit of depth to the page.

“Black Hammer ’45” #1 is well worth the read, but there is one shortcoming in spots the lettering by Marie Enger. Like the art, it can be a little mushy in spots that makes glanceable information hard. Pinch to zoom is an easy fix, but that doesn’t exist physically. This isn’t a constant problem but sprouts up enough to be noticeable in an otherwise excellent read.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – The Hammerverse continues to expand with an exciting new miniseries that is refreshingly different from other entries.