Official Black Hammer Appreciation Thread - New OA on 11/16 0

[Dr Carl]

Black Hammer 13, Page 22: A Hero At Last

Sometimes, we’re called to greatness… by the voices of those that came before us… or, in Lucy’s case, by the call of the hammer once proudly wielded by her father. When we answer that call, as Lucy does, life transforms us, and in a moment we become something new, something grander than we were before. This page ends chapter one of the Back Hammer Universe, but, by introducing us to the new Black Hammer, Lucy Webber, it opens the door to a whole new world of bravery and heroism.

[Dr Carl]

Black Hammer 13, Page 22: A Hero At Last (in pencils)

Sometimes, we’re called to greatness… by the voices of those that came before us… or, in Lucy’s case, by the call of the hammer once proudly wielded by her father. When we answer that call, as Lucy does, life transforms us, and in a moment we become something new, something grander than we were before. This page ends chapter one of the Back Hammer Universe, but, by introducing us to the new Black Hammer, Lucy Webber, it opens the door to a whole new world of bravery and heroism.

[Dr Carl]

Black Hammer 13, Page 17: A Team is Born

Sometimes we’re called together by circumstance, sometimes by fate, and sometimes… well, just sometimes by the courageous words of one Abraham Slam. These nine panels tell the story of how five of Spiral City’s greatest heroes came together to form one incredible team. Not all pages are created equal, as this page proves, and I’m sure we all understand why it’s neighbors were fraught with envy: a heartfelt origin story, check… four heroes each claiming a panel of their own, check… humor coupled with charm, check… and, perhaps most importantly, the sort of heartfelt storytelling and relational interconnectedness we've come to expect from the remarkable world of Black Hammer, check. In the prophetic words of Abraham Slam, shared in the final panel as our page says goodbye, “Together no matter what”.

 

[Dr Carl]

Black Hammer 13, Page 17: A Team is Born (in Pencil)

Sometimes we’re called together by circumstance, sometimes by fate, and sometimes… well, just sometimes by the courageous words of one Abraham Slam. These nine panels tell the story of how five of Spiral City’s greatest heroes came together to form one incredible team. Not all pages are created equal, as this page proves, and I’m sure we all understand why it’s neighbors were fraught with envy: a heartfelt origin story, check… four heroes each claiming a panel of their own, check… humor coupled with charm, check… and, perhaps most importantly, the sort of heartfelt storytelling and relational interconnectedness we've come to expect from the remarkable world of Black Hammer, check. In the prophetic words of Abraham Slam, shared in the final panel as our page says goodbye, “Together no matter what”.

 

[followtheleader]

As much as I loved JLA/BH #1 thru 4, I was really disappointed with #5. 

Ending, interesting.  Removing Gail's ability from old-to-new and vice versa, lame. 

Patrick

[Dr Carl]

4 hours ago, followtheleader said:

As much as I loved JLA/BH #1 thru 4, I was really disappointed with #5. 

Ending, interesting.  Removing Gail's ability from old-to-new and vice versa, lame. 

Patrick

Jeff does his best work when he takes he can take his time to develop characters both on their own and through their relationships with the people around them. Whether it’s his work on Animal Man, Sweet Tooth, Descender, or Black Hammer, if you give Jeff 24-40 issues, he almost always knocks it out of the park.
But, give him five issues and ten characters and the story can feel a little hurried and the ending a little forced. Too bad Jeff didn’t have the chance to let BH/JLA unfold a little more in a 12 issue series, because there were rich moments, but those got mixed in with plot lines that had to move too quickly to fit into a 5 issue arch. 
I have faith Jeff will right the Black Hammer universe in his next series. Too bad this one wasn’t all you and I had hoped for. That happens sometimes, even to the best of writers.
 

[Owsler]

That's an impressive collection Dr Carl. Had no idea Black Hammer had such a buzz about it. Picked up the first issue and SDCC variant because I liked the cover, but the story didn't grab me. Should I slab it?

[Dr Carl]

18 hours ago, Owsler said:

That's an impressive collection Dr Carl. Had no idea Black Hammer had such a buzz about it. Picked up the first issue and SDCC variant because I liked the cover, but the story didn't grab me. Should I slab it?

I’d describe Black Hammer as “warm” right now, as opposed to “hot”. The books are selling at roughly consistent prices (with some going a little high, and others low). Issue 1, unslabbed in VF/NM or better, consistently sells for $20-$30 (regular cover) and $150-$175 (SDCC 2016 cover).

That being said, the entire Black Hammer Universe is licensed to Legendary, a large production studio, who'd like to use these characters to populate interconnected TV and movie worlds. I know Jeff’s been working on the scripts, but it’s a long haul to final production. I’m of the opinion, given Jef’’s skill and Legendary’s desire to market a superhero universe, that this’ll happen, and I’d expect prices to jump when they do.

With that in mind, I’d propose holding off on slabbing now, and once a launch date is announced for one of the Black Hammer projects, I’d slab then.

Hope that’s helpful guidance.

[delt569]

Just completed my Black Hammer 1 CGC SS (Lemire) collection

[Dr Carl]

On 1/20/2020 at 4:21 PM, delt569 said:

Just completed my Black Hammer 1 CGC SS (Lemire) collection

Wonderful! I'm particularly envious of those last two SS 9.8 books (the ashcan and the Moon convention copy), as those are missing from my collection.

(And, my apologies for the late reply. I've been away from the boards for a while and just now found my way back.)