‘Black Hammer’ returns with a new art team in June

Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s Black Hammer series will return later this year with a new ongoing series, Black Hammer: Reborn, but Ormston won’t be drawing it.

Instead, artist Caitlin Yarsky will join Lemire for the first four issues of the new series, which picks up 20 years after the events of the previous story arc, Age of Doom. Dave Stewart will color it. Malachi Ward and Matt Sheean will then draw issues #5-8.

The new series will focus on Lucy Weber, who took up her father’s mantle and became the new Black Hammer. But what happened to Ormston? Don’t worry — Lemire revealed in his email newsletter that Ormston is drawing a sister title to Black Hammer: Reborn, which will focus on the character Madame Butterfly. He said it would launch later this year.

“Black Hammer: Reborn is everything we have been building towards for the last several years and it really is the culmination of everything we’ve done in Black Hammer to date. This series has it all; Black Hammer, Skulldigger, Doc Andromeda and Sherlock Frankenstein all play major roles. Oh, and of course lots of Colonel Weird, too,” Lemire said. “Even better, we have Caitlin Yarsky leading the way.  Dean Ormston and I are very excited to welcome Caitlin to the Black Hammer Universe and to the modern adventures of Lucy Weber. Caitlin’s artwork is amazing, the way she does facial expressions and breathes life into the characters is really going to blow fans away.”

Here’s the full description from Dark Horse:

In 1986, Black Hammer and the rest of Spiral City’s greatest superheroes seemingly died defeating the cosmic despot known as Anti-God and saving the world. But one woman refused to believe they were truly gone: Lucy Weber, the daughter of Black Hammer.  Learning that her dad had sacrificed himself to save the other heroes, Lucy soon took up the mantle of Black Hammer and carried on the legacy of her father as the world’s greatest superhero.

Now, it’s twenty years later, and Lucy, and the world, have moved on. Living in the suburbs of Spiral City, Lucy is married and has children. But all is not blissful. Her marriage is falling apart, her job has reached a dead end, and for mysterious reasons, she hasn’t picked up the hammer in years.  But, as her domestic life begins to crumble, the secrets of the last twenty years, and the reasons Lucy really gave up being Black Hammer, begin to resurface, threatening her family, and the peace she has tried hard to find for herself.

“Illustrating for the great Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston is an absolute dream come true. It has been such a joy to depict Black Hammer’s emotionally complex characters, relationships and beautifully surreal settings,” Yarsky said. “I’m thrilled and honored to join this legendary team of storytellers. In fact, I’m still pinching myself.”

Lemire and Stewart will provide the first issue’s variant cover, which pays tribute to one of the greatest comics of all time, Thor #337:

The first issue arrives in stores June 23.