Black Hammer ’45 No. 2: Fearless flying and familiar faces
An action-packed issue of Black Hammer ’45 details more of the last mission.
There isn’t one thing wrong with the Black Hammer universe. Not one indiscretion, not one bad plot-line, no boring issues, no uninteresting characters, and zero filler. Everything that happens seems to connect to everything else, and it’s all so well drawn across multiple series and artists that you’d think this was some higher caliber of comics, and you’d be right. Jeff Lemire knew exactly what he was crafting when he created the first Black Hammer issue, and with the help of writer Ray Fawkes, artist Matt Kindt, colorist Sharlene Kindt and letterer Marie Enger, with a variant cover from the great Glenn Fabry and Adam Brown, Black Hammer ’45 might be most soulful and evocative miniseries of them all. After all, who doesn’t like heroes fighting Nazis?
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Mouthy winged heroes and fraudulent sky deities in Black Hammer ’45
In the last issue, we were introduced to the Black Hammer Squadron, a team of daring pilots who fought the Nazis during WWII, with a mysterious final mission involving scientist retrieval that ended up killing some of the crew. This issue starts out with more reminiscing about the glory days of the war, as Hawthorne and Li pick up the Wingman, an “Angel”-type hero, from his job at the Spiral City Asylum, on their way to the squadron memorial. Kindt’s art and his wife’s colors are beautiful, powerful, true, and exciting; words don’t do them justice. We flash back to the giant “Thor-like” sky god the squadron encountered at the end of the last issue, and discover that it’s just Nazi magic working in tandem with a lightning machine. The squadron makes quick work of the zeppelins carrying the apparatus, but Li’s plane takes rudder damage, forcing him to stay behind and perform repairs.
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Nazi werewolves and die Fledermaus
The Black Hammer Squadron is rushing to get to the family of scientists before the Germans kill them or the Russians capture them, and we see that a werewolf in SS garb is ordering all the important scientific data be gathered up, and then he orders the family shot. Before that can happen, the facility explodes, giving the family an opportunity to flee. The werewolf heads after them, intent on killing them all. Once again, the art is mind-blowingly fantastic. The two remaining squadron planes fly over Nuremberg, witnessing superheroes joining the fight below. Then they are attacked by die Fledermaus, a bat-winged Nazi with a mace, like an evil Hawkman, who destroys Hammer Hawthorne’s engine, causing him to plummet towards the ground. His winged assailant lands on his crashing plane, and the two exchange fisticuffs until the plane flies into a Nazi train. They both are flung to safety, but JP the Frenchman crashes his plane into die Fledermaus, forcing the two pilots to head on foot to the nearest command post.
dark. Next. Underground cities and vulture-gliding in Skyward No. 11!
After a hike to the command post, Hawthorne and JP requisition transportation and the fastest driver they can find. The major in charge gets them a Jeep, and mentions that they might be acquainted with the driver he has for them, who is shown to be a young Abraham Slam. It was a fantastic reveal to include Abe in this WWII story, fleshing out his background some more, since we know he’s an aged hero in the modern-day Black Hammer universe. The next issue looks to feature the Russians, and it will undoubtedly be as thrilling as the first two issues have been. For a third time, the art and colors are just sublime, and you deserve to witness the glory that is the Kindt family’s art. Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.