Nazis and Russians fight in Black Hammer ’45 No. 3
Gritty sci-fi drama awaits in the pages of Black Hammer ’45.
The Black Hammer universe is a place brimming with superhero hat-tips and deadly serious pastiche, and it’s one of the coolest realms in comics lately. Jeff Lemire did fans a service when he created this reality, where familiar tropes are given fresh, incredibly understandable motivations. The newest aspect is Black Hammer ’45, wherein we look at the last mission of the Black Hammer Squadron, a bunch of hard men who fight weird, mystical Nazi plotlines a la Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. From Lemire and author Ray Fawkes, with art and colors from the talented Matt and Sharlene Kindt, letters by Marie Enger, and a variant cover from Denys Cowan and Don Hudson, with Noelle Giddings, comes a fairly somber tale of the final doomed mission of the Black Hammer Squadron, tastefully written and lusciously illustrated in warm yet sharp watercolors.
Dark Horse Comics
Abraham Slam teams up with the last of the Black Hammer Squadron
At the end of the last issue, J.P. and Hammer Hawthorne requisitioned a Jeep to get them to Vienna, where some German scientists needed rescuing, and they met Abraham Slam for the first time when he turned out to be their driver. Now, the Black Hammer Squadron is zooming through Austria, killing Nazis on the way to Vienna, when three Nazi tanks corner them. The art is, once again, amazingly unique. Over in the prison camp with the scientists (actually a family of scientists), the Russians are attacking the German facility in giant red robots, led by a woman named Nazarova. The Ghost Hunter, a notorious German pilot, engages the robots and destroys a couple with his expert flying, but Nazarova takes out a fighter assisting the Ghost Hunter, showing the two villains to be fairly matched.
Dark Horse Comics
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The Black Hammer Squadron has good timing
Those three Nazi tanks decide to surrender themselves to Abe, J.P. and Hawthorne, causing Abe to stay behind with the new prisoners, while the last two Black Hammer Squadron operatives head the rest of the way to the scientists. In the fighting, the family almost escaped, only to be captured by a lone Nazi. The scientist wife pulls the Nazi’s gun and kills him, and then one of the Russian robots approaches the family, telling them to enter the robot for safety. This is what the Russians want, however; they would keep the German scientist family prisoner just the same as the Nazis were. It quickly becomes a moot point when the Ghost Hunter bombs the robot to pieces, wounding the father. Just at that moment, J.P. and Hawthorne roll up in their Jeep, packing assault rifles and spearguns and scarves and pencil mustaches, looking like total heroes, which was a nice, uplifting ending to the issue.
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There’s probably only going to be two more issues of Black Hammer ’45, which means that whatever tragedy is going to occur is going to occur soon; the two living Black Hammer Squadron members continually refer to the “doomed” aspect of their final mission as they head to a memorial for the squadron in the present day, those scenes intermingled with the recounting of the mission itself. Truly a worthwhile comic to check out; 10/10, highly recommended. Let us know what you thought in the comments section below.