Jeff Lemire & Letizia Cadonici Deliver Superhero Crash Course With ‘Black Hammer' One-Shot In Honor Of Free Comic Book Day

Forbes

01-05-2025

'Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!'
Whether you're a newcomer to the Black Hammer series or a longtime fan of the Eisner Award-winning title, you won't want to miss acclaimed writer Jeff Lemire's one-shot yarn featured in Dark Horse's Free Comic Book Day issue (out this Saturday, May 3).
Illustrated by Letizia Cadonici (Book of Slaughter) and narrated by the dependably time-displaced Colonel Randall Weird, 'Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!' conveniently recaps the Black Hammer saga thus far, while delivering a meta crash course in comic book history, particularly its various Ages: Golden, Silver, Bronze, etc. It's a fun little read that showcases Lemire's reverence for the iconic heroes, stories, and storytellers of yesteryear.
'It's always a thrill to get to be a part of Free Comic Book Day, and doubly so this year because Black Hammer gets to join the party,' Lemire said in a statement over email. 'I saw this as a great chance to introduce the 'Black Hammer Universe' to new comic fans, and anyone who may be stepping into a comic book store for the first time in a while. Amazing artist Letizia Cadonici and I tried to craft something that rewarded new readers and long-time fans alike.'
Lemire launched the comic with artist Dean Ormston in the summer of 2016 to critical acclaim and a pair of Eisner Awards for Best New Series and Best Lettering (Todd Klein). The original storyline dealt with a group of superheroes who find themselves mysteriously trapped in a quaint American town after saving the universe from a Galactus-adjacent baddie known as Anti-God. In the years since it first debuted, Black Hammer has become a larger banner for an entire creative mythos comprising numerous spinoff books.
'I came up with Black Hammer as a love letter to the history of superhero comics and a way [for me to] put my own personal spin on the genre,' Lemire told me in 2019. 'I really wanted to tell a superhero story that wasn't like any other superhero story. I wanted to focus on the characters and put them in a mundane, everyday situation where they were forced to figure out who they were when the 'super' side of their lives no longer had any purpose.'
He continued: 'It really just came from my absolute love of the genre and for the history of the genre. I wanted this book to be a love letter to all the great creators who came before me. Grafting superhero comics history onto real-world history provided a great vehicle for me to juxtapose comic book history and the real world — and find all sorts of interesting parallels and stories. To me, it's not so much about deconstructing superheroes as it is about deconstructing these particular characters and really diving deep into each or their lives and histories.'
Dark Horse was kind enough to share five exclusive excerpts of 'To Tomorrow!' with Forbes Entertainment, which you can check out below…
'Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!'
'Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!'
'Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!'
'Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!'
'Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!'
Dark Horse's Free Comic Book Day issue hits shelves Saturday, May 3