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Hammer: One Big Lie
When ancient death cults and mushroom gods vie with fast food and infomercials for dominance of mankind, a 1500-year-old warrior must don his battle helmet again. Owing equally to 1930s pulp fiction and 1970s horror comics, fan-favorite Batman artist Kelley Jones presents this outlandish hero in an eerie, action-packed tale on the cutting edge of adventure comics. This 120-page book collects the entire 1997 sold-out miniseries, plus the epilogue from Dark Horse Presents.
117 pages, Paperback
First published November 18, 1998
5 people want to read
About the author
Kelley Jones
479 books38 followersKelley Jones is a comic book artist best known for his work on Batman with Doug Moench and The Sandman with Neil Gaiman. A critically acclaimed artist throughout his career, Jones’ recent work includes Swamp Thing: The Dead Don’t Sleep
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January 13, 2022
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. (Collect them all!)
From the August 1998 edition with a theme of "Reprinted and Repackaged":
INTRODUCTION
I'm feeling nostalgic, folks. Howzabout a few trips down memory lane this month?
When I was a young kid buying comics off the spinner rack at the my small town drug store or the magazine rack at the county seat's big grocery store, missing an issue of ARCHIE, RICHIE RICH or SUPERMAN was a tragedy. There were no comic stores with back issue bins in Shullsburg, Wisconsin. And heck, the only other comic book collector in town bought only those trashy Marvel titles, such as X-MEN and FANTASTIC FOUR, which I snubbed. (Hey, I was ignorant of the concepts of appreciation in value and comic book price guides. Give me a break!) If Jackson's Drug Store or Dick's Supermarket didn't get a particular comic, this little farm boy was plain outta luck.
Nowadays, the comics collector has a multitude of solutions available to him. Somewhere in the midst of all the back issue bins, comic conventions, classified ads, mail order companies, fan clubs, and distributor restocking systems, a missing comic book is sure to turn up with a little effort . . . even for little snot-nosed nerds living on isolated Wisconsin dairy farms. As a grown-up, snot-nosed nerd living in isolation in Colorado, I still agonize over a missing issue of a beloved comic book series, but now I'm flexible enough to consider the one solution that is becoming more and more common and, therefore, much easier to obtain. For those willing to bypass first-edition, serialized comics, the Golden Age of publisher reprinting and repackaging is upon us.
FROM THE BACKLIST
DAWN #1-6 (Sirius Entertainment)
KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER #1-4 (Dark Horse Comics)
Good morning, and welcome to class . . .
I read comics. And to me, that means the story is always more important than the art. Sure, it's nice to have a great writer and a talented artist working in tandem, but I will settle for a mediocre artist or even a terrible artist if the script is decent. As a rule, artwork cannot overcome horrendous writing. Unless, of course, the artwork is transcendent. To give you an idea of where I draw the line, I offer the following examples.
First, to prove the rule . . .
KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER by writer/artist Kelley Jones features magnificently stylized artwork by a long-time comics professional. Jones' sublimely grotesque work on DC Comics' DEADMAN and BATMAN titles is simply prologue to his achievement in this Dark Horse Comics limited series. Yet, the pictures are covered with loads of captions and word balloons that draw the eye. And when the eye starts to read the words in the balloons, it discovers a ridiculous story about a parasitic slug which attaches itself to the head of a human host in order to fight demons. As much as my eyes may want to admire the art, the story keeps distracting my mind, sending my enjoyment of the book into a downward spiral.
Now, to provide the exception to the rule . . .
DAWN by writer/artist Joseph Michael Linser is one of the most gorgeous comics I have ever seen. The story involves a forgettable, surrealistic quest by some fellow who has gotten his hands on the halo Lucifer wore when he was still an angel, before he fell from heaven to become the lord of Hell. I'm still not quite sure what the point of the tale is, but the art . . . ohmigod the art! Break out a thesaurus and see how many synonyms you can find for "exquisite." Then move on to "glorious" and "perfect." A list of every one of those words will only begin to touch upon the admiration I have for Linser's art. I have liked Linser's work ever since I first came across the old CRY FOR DAWN black-and-white anthology; having seen his full color pages in DAWN, I worship the man.
The title character of DAWN is the prettiest woman to grace the field of comics and is also worthy of worship. Her powers and background are purposely left vague, but her beauty is well defined. Featured prominently and ravishingly on every cover, Dawn's bad-girl attire and demeanor might make one think this comic is for men only, but even my feminist wife was swept away by the quality of the artwork, making DAWN one of the few comics she has spontaneously picked up in recent years.
To summarize . . .
Jones' artwork on KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER is mighty fine, but the reader eventually begins to linger on those numerous captions and word balloons and attempts to decipher the mess of a plot the words struggle to communicate. This is bad. Meanwhile, Linser's art on DAWN overwhelms the senses, leaving no room for a balanced consideration of the story. Smartly, Linser avoids captions and tells his story through dialogue and wordless sequences, accenting his strength and downplaying his weakness. This is good.
For your homework . . .
Buy DAWN.
Class dismissed.
DAWN - Grade: B
KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER - Grade: D-
From the August 1998 edition with a theme of "Reprinted and Repackaged":
INTRODUCTION
I'm feeling nostalgic, folks. Howzabout a few trips down memory lane this month?
When I was a young kid buying comics off the spinner rack at the my small town drug store or the magazine rack at the county seat's big grocery store, missing an issue of ARCHIE, RICHIE RICH or SUPERMAN was a tragedy. There were no comic stores with back issue bins in Shullsburg, Wisconsin. And heck, the only other comic book collector in town bought only those trashy Marvel titles, such as X-MEN and FANTASTIC FOUR, which I snubbed. (Hey, I was ignorant of the concepts of appreciation in value and comic book price guides. Give me a break!) If Jackson's Drug Store or Dick's Supermarket didn't get a particular comic, this little farm boy was plain outta luck.
Nowadays, the comics collector has a multitude of solutions available to him. Somewhere in the midst of all the back issue bins, comic conventions, classified ads, mail order companies, fan clubs, and distributor restocking systems, a missing comic book is sure to turn up with a little effort . . . even for little snot-nosed nerds living on isolated Wisconsin dairy farms. As a grown-up, snot-nosed nerd living in isolation in Colorado, I still agonize over a missing issue of a beloved comic book series, but now I'm flexible enough to consider the one solution that is becoming more and more common and, therefore, much easier to obtain. For those willing to bypass first-edition, serialized comics, the Golden Age of publisher reprinting and repackaging is upon us.
FROM THE BACKLIST
DAWN #1-6 (Sirius Entertainment)
KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER #1-4 (Dark Horse Comics)
Good morning, and welcome to class . . .
I read comics. And to me, that means the story is always more important than the art. Sure, it's nice to have a great writer and a talented artist working in tandem, but I will settle for a mediocre artist or even a terrible artist if the script is decent. As a rule, artwork cannot overcome horrendous writing. Unless, of course, the artwork is transcendent. To give you an idea of where I draw the line, I offer the following examples.
First, to prove the rule . . .
KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER by writer/artist Kelley Jones features magnificently stylized artwork by a long-time comics professional. Jones' sublimely grotesque work on DC Comics' DEADMAN and BATMAN titles is simply prologue to his achievement in this Dark Horse Comics limited series. Yet, the pictures are covered with loads of captions and word balloons that draw the eye. And when the eye starts to read the words in the balloons, it discovers a ridiculous story about a parasitic slug which attaches itself to the head of a human host in order to fight demons. As much as my eyes may want to admire the art, the story keeps distracting my mind, sending my enjoyment of the book into a downward spiral.
Now, to provide the exception to the rule . . .
DAWN by writer/artist Joseph Michael Linser is one of the most gorgeous comics I have ever seen. The story involves a forgettable, surrealistic quest by some fellow who has gotten his hands on the halo Lucifer wore when he was still an angel, before he fell from heaven to become the lord of Hell. I'm still not quite sure what the point of the tale is, but the art . . . ohmigod the art! Break out a thesaurus and see how many synonyms you can find for "exquisite." Then move on to "glorious" and "perfect." A list of every one of those words will only begin to touch upon the admiration I have for Linser's art. I have liked Linser's work ever since I first came across the old CRY FOR DAWN black-and-white anthology; having seen his full color pages in DAWN, I worship the man.
The title character of DAWN is the prettiest woman to grace the field of comics and is also worthy of worship. Her powers and background are purposely left vague, but her beauty is well defined. Featured prominently and ravishingly on every cover, Dawn's bad-girl attire and demeanor might make one think this comic is for men only, but even my feminist wife was swept away by the quality of the artwork, making DAWN one of the few comics she has spontaneously picked up in recent years.
To summarize . . .
Jones' artwork on KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER is mighty fine, but the reader eventually begins to linger on those numerous captions and word balloons and attempts to decipher the mess of a plot the words struggle to communicate. This is bad. Meanwhile, Linser's art on DAWN overwhelms the senses, leaving no room for a balanced consideration of the story. Smartly, Linser avoids captions and tells his story through dialogue and wordless sequences, accenting his strength and downplaying his weakness. This is good.
For your homework . . .
Buy DAWN.
Class dismissed.
DAWN - Grade: B
KELLEY JONES' THE HAMMER - Grade: D-
Displaying 1 of 1 review