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Black Hammer
Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral
From the Eisner-award winning Black Hammer superhero fantasy comes this collection of three stories and a universe guide tied to the world of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston's hit comic book series.
A Lovecraftian teen decides she will do anything to make herself ''normal'', a bizarre witch guides her guests through her house of horrors, and an all-star slate of guest artists illustrate a bizarre adventure with Colonial Weird on the farm. Also featuring a complete world guide to the Black Hammer universe and its characters.
Collects: Black Hammer: Giant Sized Annual , Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise , World of Black Hammer , and material from Free Comic Book Day 2019 .
A Lovecraftian teen decides she will do anything to make herself ''normal'', a bizarre witch guides her guests through her house of horrors, and an all-star slate of guest artists illustrate a bizarre adventure with Colonial Weird on the farm. Also featuring a complete world guide to the Black Hammer universe and its characters.
Collects: Black Hammer: Giant Sized Annual , Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise , World of Black Hammer , and material from Free Comic Book Day 2019 .
128 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 2019
About the author
Jeff Lemire
1,293 books3,727 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
October 6, 2019
Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral collects Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual, Cthu-Louise, World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia, and the Horrors to Come Free Comic Book Day special.
Streets of Spiral collects a few miscellaneous Black Hammer tie-ins. The Giant Sized Annual features a Colonel Weird adventure, drawn by many guest artists. Cthu-Lousie tells of the titular character and her troubled relationships with her family and classmates. World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia is a Who's Who type of feature and Horrors to Come is a preview type feature from Free Comic Book Day.
None of this stuff is essential but it's all entertaining if you're a Black Hammer fan. It doesn't advance the main plot of the book at all but fleshes out the background quite a bit. So Doctor Star is apparently called Doctor Andromeda now and the Doctor Star trade has been reprinted as Doctor Andromeda. I'm wondering if someone at DC took offense.
Black Hammer continues to be Jeff Lemire's love letter to the DC universe. While not essential, it expands the Black Hammer universe. 3 out of 5 stars.
Streets of Spiral collects a few miscellaneous Black Hammer tie-ins. The Giant Sized Annual features a Colonel Weird adventure, drawn by many guest artists. Cthu-Lousie tells of the titular character and her troubled relationships with her family and classmates. World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia is a Who's Who type of feature and Horrors to Come is a preview type feature from Free Comic Book Day.
None of this stuff is essential but it's all entertaining if you're a Black Hammer fan. It doesn't advance the main plot of the book at all but fleshes out the background quite a bit. So Doctor Star is apparently called Doctor Andromeda now and the Doctor Star trade has been reprinted as Doctor Andromeda. I'm wondering if someone at DC took offense.
Black Hammer continues to be Jeff Lemire's love letter to the DC universe. While not essential, it expands the Black Hammer universe. 3 out of 5 stars.
November 3, 2019
So, I’m reading all of the dizzying array of comics out of the Black Hammer world invented by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston and this is yet another of these spin-offs, a kind of Lovecraftian fun pulpy romp for Halloween. Lemire can be sober as we know from Essex County, but this ain’t sober. This volume collects Black Hammer: Giant Sized Annual, Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise, World of Black Hammer, and material from Free Comic Book Day 2019. The more you read the more you see that this larger project is a tribute to the history of comics, every aspect they can think of, every type of character and style and genre. This is a horror one.
The first piece is set in the fifties, a kind of Archie comics idea where Betty becomes Gail with goofy fifties-style dialogue:
“Good ol’ Rex Pacer is gonna show the world that Spiral City belongs to us!”
It features a one-eyed huge amoeba-like creature that attaches itself, Chthulu-like, to the faces of victims, smothering them. A Lucha Libre interlude drawn by Matt Kindt featuring Abe Slam as new champ, defeating the one-eyed monster is fun. Anything goes.
There’s a weird time travel adventure with Colonel Weird on the farm drawn by other farm comics guys such as Nate Powell and Tyler Crooks.
Finally, there’s a story of Dragonfly and Jack Sabbath, a ghost who thought he had been dead for centuries but finds he is ALIVE! In a comic book. . . called The Incredible Unteens. Dragonfly performs a “prescience spell” to see Sabbath’s future and CLIFFHANGER!: He will somehow be connected at some point in the future to Black Hammer! Whoa! Very funny take on comics cliffhangers to get you to buy the next issue. Or not. But I will! Pretty funny throughout, actually.
Art in separate issues by Ormston, Mike Allred, Tyler Crook, Nate Powell, and others.
The first piece is set in the fifties, a kind of Archie comics idea where Betty becomes Gail with goofy fifties-style dialogue:
“Good ol’ Rex Pacer is gonna show the world that Spiral City belongs to us!”
It features a one-eyed huge amoeba-like creature that attaches itself, Chthulu-like, to the faces of victims, smothering them. A Lucha Libre interlude drawn by Matt Kindt featuring Abe Slam as new champ, defeating the one-eyed monster is fun. Anything goes.
There’s a weird time travel adventure with Colonel Weird on the farm drawn by other farm comics guys such as Nate Powell and Tyler Crooks.
Finally, there’s a story of Dragonfly and Jack Sabbath, a ghost who thought he had been dead for centuries but finds he is ALIVE! In a comic book. . . called The Incredible Unteens. Dragonfly performs a “prescience spell” to see Sabbath’s future and CLIFFHANGER!: He will somehow be connected at some point in the future to Black Hammer! Whoa! Very funny take on comics cliffhangers to get you to buy the next issue. Or not. But I will! Pretty funny throughout, actually.
Art in separate issues by Ormston, Mike Allred, Tyler Crook, Nate Powell, and others.
October 29, 2019
This collects a bunch of the one-offs from the Black Hammer universe.
The standout is Cthu-Louise. It follows Cthu-Lou's daughter around as she is continually picked on. It's both heartbreaking and horror along the lines of Carrie.
The Giant-Size Annual follows Colonel Weird as he travels throughout the Para-Normal chasing this weird eyeball thing. It's not bad as a jam issue to allow other artists to play in the Black Hammer universe.
The World of Black Hammer is a straight up ripoff of the format of DC's Who's Who from the 80s and 90s. But given that everything about Black Hammer is a homage to other comic characters, it's fitting here. There's not much new in this if you've already read all of the Black Hammer comics.
Finally is the Horrors to Come FCBD special which alludes to events in Age of Doom.
There's some interesting stuff here, but it's more of a checkout from the library than a must have for your collection.
The standout is Cthu-Louise. It follows Cthu-Lou's daughter around as she is continually picked on. It's both heartbreaking and horror along the lines of Carrie.
The Giant-Size Annual follows Colonel Weird as he travels throughout the Para-Normal chasing this weird eyeball thing. It's not bad as a jam issue to allow other artists to play in the Black Hammer universe.
The World of Black Hammer is a straight up ripoff of the format of DC's Who's Who from the 80s and 90s. But given that everything about Black Hammer is a homage to other comic characters, it's fitting here. There's not much new in this if you've already read all of the Black Hammer comics.
Finally is the Horrors to Come FCBD special which alludes to events in Age of Doom.
There's some interesting stuff here, but it's more of a checkout from the library than a must have for your collection.
September 23, 2019
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
Writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dean Ormston have created an excellent hit comic book series with their Eisner-award winning Black Hammer superhero story about a group of heroes mysteriously warped to a sinister farm, isolated from their reality and stuck pretending to be living normal lives. Like many other comic book series, there are one-shot single issues that are released alongside the original run to either explore ideas that weren’t yet introduced in the series, to simply give fans original takes by other creative teams or to deliver more content for fans to relish in their downtime. These stories are often left uncollected in volumes and never read by those who don’t hunt down single issues but Dark Horse has now released a volume to bring these Black Hammer stories all (mostly) together in one place.
What is Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral about? This volume collects three stories and one universe guide that exposes the world of Black Hammer. Black Hammer: Giant-Sized Annual follows Colonial Weird on a bizarre time-traveling adventure as he warps his way into the past of many of the heroes, triggering unusual events. Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise follows a Lovecraftian teen who wished she could fit in with all the other humans and is invited to seal a deal with a monster if she is granted normalcy. World of Black Hammer is a world guide that features a myriad of artists as they illustrate characters and settings within Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s series. And a short story pulled from the Free Comic Book Day 2019 issue invites us to join the witch Madame Dragonfly as she gives us a tour of her house of horrors.
It was a bit expected going in this volume that there would be no logic to the compilation. The purpose of this collection was just that, to collect some of the floating issues that were created before they are forgotten. After all, why not make a quick buck by reselling them in this format? While it might be impossible to connect the dots between the issues, some of the stories had something to offer, without always being particularly impressive. In fact, the encyclopedia section was interesting and definitely a nice resource to have for anyone who needs a reminder or sneak peek at characters or settings of the Black Hammer universe. The annual issue offered a character-centric story that highlighted the oddness of Colonial Weird and reminded us of his suspicious nature while we reflect on his role on the destiny of our heroes.
The other stories in this volume were, unfortunately, subpar and barely brought anything new, besides having different writers and artists giving their take on characters that were initially only drawn by Dean Ormston. Without the substance, this volume essentially allows the reader to appreciate the different artistic styles and visualize the universe through different lenses that would have otherwise been impossible to imagine. While the included world guide is where the most artists were invited to work on, there was barely enough art to really display their talents. The art in Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise is where a completely different style was utilized but ultimately turned out too bubbly and cute to convey the strangeness and danger that was intended with the foreseeable plot twist.
Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral is a collection of unrelated Black Hammer comic book issues lacking in storytelling appeal and presenting too many different artistic style for any kind of appreciation to be given.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
September 25, 2021
A drab collection of four forgettable Black Hammer one-shots. One involved a student initiating violence and death in a school, and I found that most unappealing. Another was just a Who's Who with lots of spot illustrations and dry recap text. The other two aren't worth mentioning.
February 28, 2021
The main reason I don’t care for traditional superhero comics is because of how expansive their universes are. It’s exhausting to contemplate it all, the spinoffs, the reboots, the mash ups, etc. One of my favorite things about these books was that it was an unconventional superhero story told perfectly beginning to end in four graphic novel volumes. But then, of course, it had to go branch out. And then, of course, the completist in me demanded reading more. And so here we are.
This volume is essentially one large promo, it features three stories with the gang, each done by a different artist and lamentably none of these artists are the great Dean Ormston, though his name is on the cover. And then there is a very thorough who’s who character guide. From, the most enjoyable aspect fo this was checking out the way different artists imagine the characters. I love that sort of thing and always read the supplemental materials for it. All the original four graphic novels have those.
So Is it fun? Yeah. It is fun. And a lot of the art was pretty good or at least interesting. But it isn’t really a necessary addition to the canon in any way and it’s a far cry from the quality of the original books.
This volume is essentially one large promo, it features three stories with the gang, each done by a different artist and lamentably none of these artists are the great Dean Ormston, though his name is on the cover. And then there is a very thorough who’s who character guide. From, the most enjoyable aspect fo this was checking out the way different artists imagine the characters. I love that sort of thing and always read the supplemental materials for it. All the original four graphic novels have those.
So Is it fun? Yeah. It is fun. And a lot of the art was pretty good or at least interesting. But it isn’t really a necessary addition to the canon in any way and it’s a far cry from the quality of the original books.
Read
September 18, 2019Black Hammer has always felt a little like Astro City: a self-contained superhero universe, with characters and concepts that tribute DC and Marvel lore across the decades. But whereas Astro City is explicitly an anthology series, Black Hammer’s ongoing title(s) and spinoffs appear to building towards some end point*. So this book, which collects three single issue stories plus an encyclopedia, is the most Astro City-esque Black Hammer volume yet. The stories are all quite good. First we go back to the farm for an artist-studded journey with Colonel Weird. Then there’s the Cthu-Louise issue, a charmingly dark slab of teen angst. I'm increasingly intrigued by the supernatural corners of the Hammerverse. The FCD story is more obviously set-up, but David Rubin’s art is terrific as always. Finally, the encyclopedia doesn’t reveal much new information, though it’s a welcome document and reminder of just how expansive this world is. And it feels like there’s so much more Lemire has planned, so many more nuggets of superhero history he can mine. I actually wouldn't mind seeing him write more single issue stories like this - it'd be fun to read little 22-page character spotlights. Then again, the miniseries are coming along fine, and that seems to be the format Lemire prefers. Either way, I’m still loving Black Hammer. One question, though: when did Doctor Star become Doctor Andromeda?
*The 2013-2018 Astro City Vertigo series did have a sort of overarching plot, but it was hardly intrusive to the short stories that comprised the vast majority of the issues.
*The 2013-2018 Astro City Vertigo series did have a sort of overarching plot, but it was hardly intrusive to the short stories that comprised the vast majority of the issues.
October 30, 2019
Its a mix of a few short stories in the black hammer universe. Giant sized Annual is O.K. Cthu-Loiuse is one of the better stories. Encyclopedia is not a story but is fun to look through. And finally "horrors to come" is just OK. tally it up and you have a O.k. book. It is worth a read sure, but it is pretty light on the details... atleast for now because I think once black hammer is done, then this book potentially could have some cool facts to look back on
April 13, 2020
Weird to read a book and wonder why it exists. This didn't really enlighten anything from the Black Hammer universe but I guess the character cards in the back make it worthwhile? I was disappointed that this wasn't more interesting.
April 2, 2020
A real mish-mash of unconnected stuff from the world of Lemire's Black Hammer. This is pretty inconsequential, as most of these volumes outside of the main series have been.
September 3, 2020
A nice little intro to Black Hammer' 45, set in world war II and bringing in a character we already know, who came and went very abruptly, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. The artwork isn't as good as the main series, but it's ok...
"Welcome home, Louise. Now you are normal. Now you are just like everyone else."
I thought this was going to be a TPB, a collection of 5 or 6 comics but it is a one-shot. For what it was it was good, there was no real time for character or plot development, not too sure what the moral was but I enjoyed it. The art elwas different to the main Black Hammer series but it wasn't too different. Worth a read...
"Wowie Zowie. What a punch"
August 5, 2020
This seemed like all fluff and filler.
November 5, 2019
Also known as "All the other Black Hammer bits that wouldn't fit in the other trades", Streets Of Spiral collects a FCBD story, an annual, a one-shot, and an encyclopaedia. So it's a bit of a mix-up.
The Annual follows Colonel Weird as he follows a monster through time and space; it's fun, but it's mostly just a whistlestop tour of all the Black Hammer favourites culminating in a super sad ending. Jeff Lemire grabs as many friends as he can for this issue, giving them all a little story to join in on, but there's a reason this has been relegated to this collection and it wasn't collected with the rest of the series.
The Cthu-Louise one-shot is the most fun. Like Sherlock Frankenstein, the focus on the villains of the Black Hammer universe is often even more tragic than the heroes, and poor Louise's plight is one we can all identify with; she just wants to fit in, but she's got a Cthulhu head. I know that feel, girl. The ending's a nice twist, especially since it seems like it's also going to be super sad, but it's oddly uplifting. Emi Lenox's art is alternatively super creepy and super adorable, which works perfectly here.
The encyclopaedia issue fleshes out the world, but like the Secret Files & Origins issues that DC used to do, it doesn't really give us anything we don't already know, other than a glimpse at some of the characters that Lemire might use elsewhere later down the line.
And the Free Comic Book Day story is too short to really have an impact on anything, to be honest. It's just Madam Dragonfly being a cow, and kind of bridges the gap between the first Black Hammer series and Age of Doom, but again, there's a reason it's in here and not in the main series.
If you need more Black Hammer in your life, there are a myriad of other mini-series that will probably be more fun for you. But if you've read all those and you still want more, Streets Of Spiral might be enough.
The Annual follows Colonel Weird as he follows a monster through time and space; it's fun, but it's mostly just a whistlestop tour of all the Black Hammer favourites culminating in a super sad ending. Jeff Lemire grabs as many friends as he can for this issue, giving them all a little story to join in on, but there's a reason this has been relegated to this collection and it wasn't collected with the rest of the series.
The Cthu-Louise one-shot is the most fun. Like Sherlock Frankenstein, the focus on the villains of the Black Hammer universe is often even more tragic than the heroes, and poor Louise's plight is one we can all identify with; she just wants to fit in, but she's got a Cthulhu head. I know that feel, girl. The ending's a nice twist, especially since it seems like it's also going to be super sad, but it's oddly uplifting. Emi Lenox's art is alternatively super creepy and super adorable, which works perfectly here.
The encyclopaedia issue fleshes out the world, but like the Secret Files & Origins issues that DC used to do, it doesn't really give us anything we don't already know, other than a glimpse at some of the characters that Lemire might use elsewhere later down the line.
And the Free Comic Book Day story is too short to really have an impact on anything, to be honest. It's just Madam Dragonfly being a cow, and kind of bridges the gap between the first Black Hammer series and Age of Doom, but again, there's a reason it's in here and not in the main series.
If you need more Black Hammer in your life, there are a myriad of other mini-series that will probably be more fun for you. But if you've read all those and you still want more, Streets Of Spiral might be enough.
May 4, 2020
(3,5 of 5 for something which feels like filler for The World of Black Hammer)
I started to pick up where I left the Black Hammer "universe". I didn't much like the main series, but I did enjoy Sherlock Frankenstein and Doctor STAR. And this collection of one-shots and characters catalogue was next on line. Well, maybe only Cuthu-Loise is the only good thing there, plus occasional Rubín's and Crook's art. I didn't enjoy it much above that. I do believe some folks which like the whole thing ma enjoy it more, but I just wanted to finish it and move to the real thing.
I started to pick up where I left the Black Hammer "universe". I didn't much like the main series, but I did enjoy Sherlock Frankenstein and Doctor STAR. And this collection of one-shots and characters catalogue was next on line. Well, maybe only Cuthu-Loise is the only good thing there, plus occasional Rubín's and Crook's art. I didn't enjoy it much above that. I do believe some folks which like the whole thing ma enjoy it more, but I just wanted to finish it and move to the real thing.
October 1, 2019
This feels like an instance similar to when bands used to be made to put out albums partly made of cover songs and b-sides when they didn't have any new material. I get this is supposed to whet a readers appetite for various plot lines in the Black Hammer universe but it just feels like what it is, forced "story."
January 2, 2020
Meh, the writing on this one didn't change my life. The guest work by Dustin Nguyen was gorgeous, as usual... but it just didn't feel right here, in what I had enjoyed specifically for its old school comic feel. The only part I truly enjoyed was the Cthu-Louise story, which was really satisfying.
March 26, 2020
3,5/5. A nice add-on to the series for the hardcore fans. It has three nice stories and a full encyclopedia of the characters, place, villains and more. Not the best of the series by far, but just a fun read, experimenting with a lot of collaborator.
November 8, 2019
Collects a few of the loose issues unavailable in the other trades, but the real draw is the little encyclopedia which collects all the important characters and places in the comic’s universe.
December 9, 2019
It's totally a grab bag of standalone pieces, but the art is great, the humor is there, the love of comics shared between creator and reader. Loved it.
May 26, 2021
Vejškrab toho, co se jinam nevešlo.
FCBD je reklama na chystaný série bez jakékoliv hodnoty pro čtenáře, Giant Sized Annual doplácí na příliš krátké povídky a jediný, co stojí za pozornost, je Cthu-Louis. Ta by ale potřebovala trochu víc propracovanější postavu.
FCBD je reklama na chystaný série bez jakékoliv hodnoty pro čtenáře, Giant Sized Annual doplácí na příliš krátké povídky a jediný, co stojí za pozornost, je Cthu-Louis. Ta by ale potřebovala trochu víc propracovanější postavu.
February 2, 2020
The Giant-Size Issue is a pleasant diversion through time and space for Colonel Weird - the rest of Streets of Spiral can be safely ignored. I appreciate a good encyclopedia, but I'm just not sure the Black Hammer universe is robust enough to support one this early in its existence. And the encyclopedia is easily half of Streets of Spiral. A silly, off-hand Cthu-Louise one-shot can't make up for the lack of excitement here.
November 29, 2021
Reprints Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual #1, Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise #1, The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia #1, and Stranger Things/Black Hammer Free Comic Book Day 2019 #1 (January 2017-July 2019). Trapped on the Farm, Weird finds himself tripping the light fantastic in pursuit of a creature that is jumping through Spiral City on a dangerous path. Cthu-Louise is bullied and abused at school, but she discovers something beneath the surface could hold the key to her freedom. Madame Dragonfly takes you on a tour of the Cabin of Horrors.
Written by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal, Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral is a Dark Horse Comic superhero comic book collection. A spin-off of Black Hammer series, the collection features art by Nate Powell, Matt Kindt, Dustin Nguyen, Ray Fawkes, Emi Lenox, Michael Allred, Dave Stewart, Dave Rubin, Wilfredo Torres, Tyler Crook, Christian Ward, Tonci Zonjic, Lucy Sullivan, Marie Enger, Rich Tommaso, Sandy Jarrell, and Sina Grace. It collects the one-shots Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual #1 (January 2017), Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise #1 (December 2018), Stranger Things/Black Hammer Free Comic Book Day 2019 #1 (May 2019), and The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia #1 (July 2019). Issues in this collection were also included in Black Hammer Library Collection—Volume 1.
Black Hammer is a fun series and every dip into the world of Black Hammer opens more and more of the cleverly crafted homage to classic comic books. In this collection you get expansion on some of the characters (and some time jumping) while also getting a supplemental that was often the only way you could get information about characters in the pre-internet days. While not entirely satisfying, Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral is fun for Black Hammer fans.
This collection is really an addendum to other Black Hammer collections. There isn’t really anything you “need” to read in it as much as it is expansions on stories that already exist. The mean of the collection is the annual which is good for expanding the “world” of Black Hammer and getting to see how the heroes of the farm lived before the battle with Anti-God. It is also a Weird story which allows his character to be expanded while looking at the cast.
The Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise is a fun little story but almost feels more like an Astro City story in its telling. Louise’s world is kind of crappy, and she never chose this direction for herself. The issue explores a villain in a world where the heroes and villains are not the focus of Black Hammer. It is nice to present one rounded character in that it implies that all the characters of Black Hammer are rounded.
The best example of the throwback nature of Black Hammer is The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia. It is modeled off of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and DC Comic’s Who’s Who. These titles were essential in the ’80s for the pre-internet readers to fill in gaps of characters (since you could just look up a character’s bio) and they also gave the key information of when a character first appeared. Here, it is a spoof since that information is readily available to readers at the swift keys of a computer or phone and it is done with all seriousness which much of Black Hammer is.
Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral isn’t necessary if you are a Black Hammer reader, but it is necessary if you are a Black Hammer fan (or a completionist). The collection is a quick read and the stories aren’t overly developed, but they are enriching which isn’t always the case today. It gives depth to the characters and rounds them even if the story is are almost a goof on real comics. Check out Black Hammer and visit Spiral City.
Written by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal, Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral is a Dark Horse Comic superhero comic book collection. A spin-off of Black Hammer series, the collection features art by Nate Powell, Matt Kindt, Dustin Nguyen, Ray Fawkes, Emi Lenox, Michael Allred, Dave Stewart, Dave Rubin, Wilfredo Torres, Tyler Crook, Christian Ward, Tonci Zonjic, Lucy Sullivan, Marie Enger, Rich Tommaso, Sandy Jarrell, and Sina Grace. It collects the one-shots Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual #1 (January 2017), Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise #1 (December 2018), Stranger Things/Black Hammer Free Comic Book Day 2019 #1 (May 2019), and The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia #1 (July 2019). Issues in this collection were also included in Black Hammer Library Collection—Volume 1.
Black Hammer is a fun series and every dip into the world of Black Hammer opens more and more of the cleverly crafted homage to classic comic books. In this collection you get expansion on some of the characters (and some time jumping) while also getting a supplemental that was often the only way you could get information about characters in the pre-internet days. While not entirely satisfying, Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral is fun for Black Hammer fans.
This collection is really an addendum to other Black Hammer collections. There isn’t really anything you “need” to read in it as much as it is expansions on stories that already exist. The mean of the collection is the annual which is good for expanding the “world” of Black Hammer and getting to see how the heroes of the farm lived before the battle with Anti-God. It is also a Weird story which allows his character to be expanded while looking at the cast.
The Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise is a fun little story but almost feels more like an Astro City story in its telling. Louise’s world is kind of crappy, and she never chose this direction for herself. The issue explores a villain in a world where the heroes and villains are not the focus of Black Hammer. It is nice to present one rounded character in that it implies that all the characters of Black Hammer are rounded.
The best example of the throwback nature of Black Hammer is The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia. It is modeled off of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and DC Comic’s Who’s Who. These titles were essential in the ’80s for the pre-internet readers to fill in gaps of characters (since you could just look up a character’s bio) and they also gave the key information of when a character first appeared. Here, it is a spoof since that information is readily available to readers at the swift keys of a computer or phone and it is done with all seriousness which much of Black Hammer is.
Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral isn’t necessary if you are a Black Hammer reader, but it is necessary if you are a Black Hammer fan (or a completionist). The collection is a quick read and the stories aren’t overly developed, but they are enriching which isn’t always the case today. It gives depth to the characters and rounds them even if the story is are almost a goof on real comics. Check out Black Hammer and visit Spiral City.
July 13, 2022
This collection of Black Hammer stories continues to expand the amazing world created by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. But instead of a multi-parter, Black Hammer: Streets of Spiral is a collection of 3 one-shot specials as well as a compendium of major players that comprise the world of Black Hammer.
The first segment takes us back to Black Hammer Farm, before the seemingly finalizing events of 'The Age of Doom'. Floating eyeballs have been a familar sight within the para-zone. In this time bendy story, we find out that one of those ocular creatures has a history with all of the members of the farmstead, not just Col. Weird.
Readers are then introduced to a character with what I think is one of the most creative names in probably the last 25 years of comicdom- Cthu-louise! The featured character is a human/otherworldly squid creature hybrid. In a story that has inspiration in not 1 but 2 episodes of The Twilight Zone, readers will learn Cthu-louise's heartbreaking origin as well as be introduced to her hopeful second chance.
The third segment is not a complete story. It's actually a segment from a Free Comic Book Day offering of (at the time) forthcoming. But it offers glimpses into the future plans of Black Hammer that Lemire and Ormston have in store for the franchise. In a nod to the EC Comics horror anthologies of the 1950s, Madame Dragonfly takes readers on a tour of her infernal cabin of stories.
As for the encyclopedia of all things Black Hammer, it invokes memories of Marvel's Official Guidebook of the Marvel Universe and DC's Who's Who. Yes, it does reveal a little bit of some stories that I haven't read yet. But thankfully it doesn't give away too much.
Along with artwork by Ormston, there's a slew of talent in these pages. Wilfredo Torres (Black Hammer '45), Dave Stewart (B.P.R.D.), Sandy Jarrell (Batman '66), Andrea Sorrentino (Old Man Logan) and personal favorite Mike Allred (Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams) are just a handful of artists that have a literal hand in things.
The first segment takes us back to Black Hammer Farm, before the seemingly finalizing events of 'The Age of Doom'. Floating eyeballs have been a familar sight within the para-zone. In this time bendy story, we find out that one of those ocular creatures has a history with all of the members of the farmstead, not just Col. Weird.
Readers are then introduced to a character with what I think is one of the most creative names in probably the last 25 years of comicdom- Cthu-louise! The featured character is a human/otherworldly squid creature hybrid. In a story that has inspiration in not 1 but 2 episodes of The Twilight Zone, readers will learn Cthu-louise's heartbreaking origin as well as be introduced to her hopeful second chance.
The third segment is not a complete story. It's actually a segment from a Free Comic Book Day offering of (at the time) forthcoming. But it offers glimpses into the future plans of Black Hammer that Lemire and Ormston have in store for the franchise. In a nod to the EC Comics horror anthologies of the 1950s, Madame Dragonfly takes readers on a tour of her infernal cabin of stories.
As for the encyclopedia of all things Black Hammer, it invokes memories of Marvel's Official Guidebook of the Marvel Universe and DC's Who's Who. Yes, it does reveal a little bit of some stories that I haven't read yet. But thankfully it doesn't give away too much.
Along with artwork by Ormston, there's a slew of talent in these pages. Wilfredo Torres (Black Hammer '45), Dave Stewart (B.P.R.D.), Sandy Jarrell (Batman '66), Andrea Sorrentino (Old Man Logan) and personal favorite Mike Allred (Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams) are just a handful of artists that have a literal hand in things.
May 23, 2023
Diese Sammlung an Black Hammer-Geschichten erweitert die erstaunliche Welt, die von Jeff Lemire und Dean Ormston geschaffen wurde. Doch statt eines Mehrteilers ist dies eine Zusammenstellung von drei One-Shot-Specials sowie ein Kompendium der wichtigsten Akteure, die die Welt von Black Hammer ausmachen.
Die erste Kurzgeschichte führt uns zurück zur Black Hammer Farm, vor den scheinbar endgültigen Ereignissen von "The Age of Doom", schwebende Augäpfel waren ein vertrauter Anblick in der Parazone. In dieser zeitlich gekrümmten Geschichte erfahren wir, dass eines dieser Augenwesen eine Vorgeschichte mit allen Mitgliedern des Hofes hat, nicht nur mit Colonel Weird.
Dann wird den Lesern eine Figur vorgestellt, die meiner Meinung nach einen der kreativsten Namen in der Welt der Comics trägt: Cthu-Louise! Die Hauptfigur ist eine Kreuzung aus Mensch und überirdischer Tintenfischkreatur. In einer Geschichte, die nicht nur von Episoden der Twilight Zone inspiriert wurde, erfährt der Leser Cthu-Louises herzzerreißende Herkunft und erfährt von ihrer hoffnungsvollen zweiten Chance.
Das dritte Segment ist keine vollständige Geschichte, es ist eigentlich ein Ausschnitt aus einem zum damaligen Erscheinungszeitpunkt bevorstehenden Free Comic Book Day-Angebot und bietet einen Einblick in die Zukunftspläne von Black Hammer, die Lemire und Ormston für die Franchise auf Lager haben. In Anlehnung an die Horror-Anthologien von EC Comics (haben Tales from the Crypt herausgebracht) aus den 1950er Jahren nimmt Madame Dragonfly die Leser mit auf eine Tour durch ihre höllische Hütte voller Geschichten.
Die Enzyklopädie von Black Hammer erinnert an Marvels Official Guidebook of the Marvel Universe und DCs Who's Who. Ja, es verrät ein wenig von erst später erschienenen Geschichten, Figuren und Teams, die ich noch nicht gelesen habe, aber zum Glück wird nicht zu viel verraten.
Die erste Kurzgeschichte führt uns zurück zur Black Hammer Farm, vor den scheinbar endgültigen Ereignissen von "The Age of Doom", schwebende Augäpfel waren ein vertrauter Anblick in der Parazone. In dieser zeitlich gekrümmten Geschichte erfahren wir, dass eines dieser Augenwesen eine Vorgeschichte mit allen Mitgliedern des Hofes hat, nicht nur mit Colonel Weird.
Dann wird den Lesern eine Figur vorgestellt, die meiner Meinung nach einen der kreativsten Namen in der Welt der Comics trägt: Cthu-Louise! Die Hauptfigur ist eine Kreuzung aus Mensch und überirdischer Tintenfischkreatur. In einer Geschichte, die nicht nur von Episoden der Twilight Zone inspiriert wurde, erfährt der Leser Cthu-Louises herzzerreißende Herkunft und erfährt von ihrer hoffnungsvollen zweiten Chance.
Das dritte Segment ist keine vollständige Geschichte, es ist eigentlich ein Ausschnitt aus einem zum damaligen Erscheinungszeitpunkt bevorstehenden Free Comic Book Day-Angebot und bietet einen Einblick in die Zukunftspläne von Black Hammer, die Lemire und Ormston für die Franchise auf Lager haben. In Anlehnung an die Horror-Anthologien von EC Comics (haben Tales from the Crypt herausgebracht) aus den 1950er Jahren nimmt Madame Dragonfly die Leser mit auf eine Tour durch ihre höllische Hütte voller Geschichten.
Die Enzyklopädie von Black Hammer erinnert an Marvels Official Guidebook of the Marvel Universe und DCs Who's Who. Ja, es verrät ein wenig von erst später erschienenen Geschichten, Figuren und Teams, die ich noch nicht gelesen habe, aber zum Glück wird nicht zu viel verraten.
February 18, 2020
This is a collection of one-offs that enhance, but don't directly tie into, the main Black Hammer continuity. First up is the Giant-Sized Annual which itself is a collection of shorts framed by a Colonel Weird story. Each of the mini stories is done by a different artist, with varying degrees of success. These mainly flesh out some of the backstories of the Black Hammer characters.
Next, Cthu-Louise, the daughter of Cthu-Lou, makes her way through a world that doesn't understand how a girl with a monster head isn't a monster. This is reminiscent of the classic Twilight Zone episode "Eye of the Beholder".
The third section is the Black Hammer Encyclopedia, with short bios of all the characters seen so far, much like the Who's Who compilations that DC and Marvel occasionally publish. This is a nice refresher for those of us with short memories, and it puts the various timelines into an easily digestible format.
The final story, from Free Comic Book Day 2019, introduces some new characters and situations that will be coming up in future storylines. The Black Hammer universe is a rich one that ranges from superheroes to horror, sometimes serious and sometimes not so much, but always entertaining.
Next, Cthu-Louise, the daughter of Cthu-Lou, makes her way through a world that doesn't understand how a girl with a monster head isn't a monster. This is reminiscent of the classic Twilight Zone episode "Eye of the Beholder".
The third section is the Black Hammer Encyclopedia, with short bios of all the characters seen so far, much like the Who's Who compilations that DC and Marvel occasionally publish. This is a nice refresher for those of us with short memories, and it puts the various timelines into an easily digestible format.
The final story, from Free Comic Book Day 2019, introduces some new characters and situations that will be coming up in future storylines. The Black Hammer universe is a rich one that ranges from superheroes to horror, sometimes serious and sometimes not so much, but always entertaining.
June 9, 2022
Sort of a grab bag of stuff that won't go anywhere else. First up, there's an annual that features all of the regular Black Hammer characters. I actually really enjoyed this issue. There's a decent framing narrative that serves as an excuse to tie together five different short stories, each in their own style. It was a lot of fun, and it lets each character shine. Then there's a Cthu-Louise one off, a sort of spin-off from my least favorite Black Hammer side character, Cthu-Lou. Which I didn't hate, surprisingly. A big chunk of the book is taken up by a Black Hammer encyclopedia, which I didn't bother to read through. But the few entries that I did read I thought were well written enough for what they are. And then there's the Free Comic Book Day material, and I have no idea why it's collected in this volume. Not only does it directly lead to The Unbelievable Unteens, it's also collected in that book. My rating is only for the annual, which I really liked, and Cthu-Louise, which was fine but ended well.
April 27, 2020
3.5 stars
A grab bag of one-off issues of variable quality. Cthu-Louise is my favorite with its mix of cute and horrifying tone and a neat twist ending. The giant annual issue provides further back story on several of the main heroes in an interesting format, but it mostly reaffirms my existing impressions rather than introducing anything new. I generally enjoy anthology issues that shift through a variety of guest art styles and the art in the giant annual is fine, but none of it grabs me as much as Ormston’s or Rubin’s art on the series so far. The encyclopedia section is a fine summary of people and places in the series and I imagine it’s helpful for catching up after a long reading break, but it’s not especially interesting on its own.
A grab bag of one-off issues of variable quality. Cthu-Louise is my favorite with its mix of cute and horrifying tone and a neat twist ending. The giant annual issue provides further back story on several of the main heroes in an interesting format, but it mostly reaffirms my existing impressions rather than introducing anything new. I generally enjoy anthology issues that shift through a variety of guest art styles and the art in the giant annual is fine, but none of it grabs me as much as Ormston’s or Rubin’s art on the series so far. The encyclopedia section is a fine summary of people and places in the series and I imagine it’s helpful for catching up after a long reading break, but it’s not especially interesting on its own.
February 24, 2021
I'm just not into this Universe Lemire has created. It feels like he is trying to do his own version of Astro City but with a horror twist and it doesn't work for me.
There isn't a lot to this collection we have Captain Weird following around an eye creature as he moves through time/space and encounters every member of the Black Hammer team only to end with Weird meeting his past self and the story just ...ending.
Then there is a little horror story of a monster girl being bullied by her classmates and neglected by her parents. It is so odd - why is a monster girl with an octopus head allowed in school? Why are they bullying her (I would be freaked out)?
And the final story ends on a cliffhanger and really doesn't even get started.
Overall - not much fun to be had here.
There isn't a lot to this collection we have Captain Weird following around an eye creature as he moves through time/space and encounters every member of the Black Hammer team only to end with Weird meeting his past self and the story just ...ending.
Then there is a little horror story of a monster girl being bullied by her classmates and neglected by her parents. It is so odd - why is a monster girl with an octopus head allowed in school? Why are they bullying her (I would be freaked out)?
And the final story ends on a cliffhanger and really doesn't even get started.
Overall - not much fun to be had here.
June 18, 2021
Ups and downs in this collection. A fairly large character encyclopedia is impressive in its intentions, but I can’t say that for me personally and is hungry to know every detail about these characters as I am and say some other fictional world like Star Wars or lost. I know what I need to know for another riveting story that moves the general arc forward. None of these really do, as they are admittedly one offs. The Cthulhu Louise thing is an interesting side exploration of identity and belonging and self-worth, issues that are certainly tackled in the overall black hammer arc, and so that’s impressive in a sense but the overall tone and particular artwork style didn’t do it for me. Same goes for the multiple cabin of horrors Pieces. Just a little too corny in the wrong way for me.
August 11, 2021
Quite good! I am at a bit of a disadvantage for notcoming in from the beginning. But the backgrounds of the various heroes are quite good. Golden Gail is my favorite, being an obvious Shazam (or Mary Marvel) archetype character. Which is true of most of the characters with Abraham Slam reminding me of Wild Cat and Captain America, Black Hammer being a lot like Thor, Madame Dragonfly being like Raven from the Teen Titans or Zatanna etc. The world of Black Hammer does seem like somewhat dark and gritty but also has a bit of a whimsical comical slant (as seen with the silliness of some of the names). It is, perhaps, a parody of sorts of the Golden and Silver ages of comics which were rather campy and cheesy. I look forward to reading more in this series.
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