Rumors of the demise of the Black Hammer universe were … well, not exactly exaggerated, but sometimes endings bring new beginnings.
With that in mind, Jeff Lemire returns to a rearranged universe with Black Hammer: Spiral City, which “follows a new cast of heroes struggling to survive in a chaotic new world.” The miniseries also features artwork by Danish comics artist Teddy Kristiansen, who you probably know from drawing The Sandman, It’s a Bird and a lot of other great-looking comics.
“Teaming with one of my all-time favorite artists, Teddy Kristiansen, I knew this book needed to be special,” said Lemire. “It’s a brand-new era for the Black Hammer Universe. New stories, new characters, and a whole new direction. Black Hammer: The End was the culmination of the last eight years of storytelling, and now Black Hammer: Spiral City is truly a new beginning. It’s both a great jumping on point for curious readers, and a bold new direction for long time fans.”
The world-ending we saw in Black Hammer: The End leads to the world-building we’ll see in this new title:
Black Hammer: Spiral City picks up after The End, following the Second Cataclysm and the rearranging of the universe. Many of its lost heroes have returned, but there is no homecoming parade as anti-superhuman sentiment grows, fueled by recent events and stoked by Malcolm Gold, the former head of T.R.I.D.E.N.T, now running to become Spiral’s new mayor. Making matters worse, Spiral Asylum has shut down with many of its low-risk, mentally ill superhuman inmates being set loose into the streets. With this reshaped Black Hammer Universe as the backdrop, several new stories begin to unfold and intertwine, creating a rich portrait of some lesser-known inhabitants living on the fringes of Spiral City.
“My first introduction to Jeff’s work was The Underwater Welder, and I immediately started reading his other books,” Kristiansen said. “Suddenly he is doing Black Hammer with an old comic world friend, Dean Ormston, and I could see he has the same passion and love for superhero comics as I have and a big passion for playing with storytelling, so all my boxes were ticked. Then, out of the blue comes a PM on Instagram asking me if I want to do a project together, which became this book. I hope readers will find the same passion and joy in the book as I had doing it with Jeff.”
While Kristiansen drew the main cover, shown above, the first issue will also come with three variant covers by Mike Mignola, Matt Wagner and Duncan Fegredo:
The first of seven issues will arrive in stores Nov. 13.